how do i know if my iphone is unlocked

I just wanted to confirm with everyone here, that I too had to do a "restore to factory settings" 3 TIMES before I finally got the "Congratulations..." message. You have to be patient. Each time you do it, be sure to NOT restore from backup, and select "setup as new iphone."

Now that I have the confirmation, I am restoring from backup and content that my phone is unlocked. So, when I get my iPhone 5, I can give this iPhone 4 to my sister, and she apparently will use "Straight talk" for $45 a month! Looks promising, but I would rather stay with AT&T :-(

Anyway, I just thought I'd confirm that this thread's "3 time" restore is pretty accurate based on my experience.

Thank you!

Third time was, indeed, the charm. I restored twice, and each time, the restore had to be restored again because it evidently was compromised when installed. The third time, finally, I received the message that my iPhone had been unlocked. I think it was probably unlocked initially, but it is comforting to get the message.

hi

I've looked at several threads on this topic, here and at independent sites. This thread is best so far.

But the incredible question remains- is there no way to look at your phone or iTunes and tell if it's locked?

You can see who your carrier is, you can see lots of information that you will never need, but you can't see if it's locked! You'd think Siri could tell you or there would be an app for that... Judging by the number of confused owners, the app should be worth a dollar. I'd guess that an experienced hacker would take an hour to create the app. I know that the hours we've all spent on the puzzle are worth much more than a dollar.

I'm travelling some distance today to meet someone who will change my subscription settings (I'll still be with ATT but without the data plan). I was told to unlock the phone first. I THINK I've unlocked my phone (no confirmation) and I'll be ****** if I waste more time, gasoline and energy and come home without the changes I need.

I did not use the Restore to original settings, I used Restore from Backup. Don't trust the other to recover all my settings and files afterward. Remind me to update you when I know for sure. Also I don't intend to install IOS6 on my old phone and 'original settings' might do that (Apple has an interesting way of doing whatever it wants with our equipment and telling us about it afterward, if at all).

I had used the Restore to Original Settings, then Restore using Backup and my settings and files were fine.

Now I had posted previously that I had not received the unlock message. Here is an update. I got my new iPhone 5 so I backed up my iPhone 4, then loaded the iPhone 5 with the back up. Once I was satisfied that the new phone had all the settings, I did a reset on the iPhone 4 via the General Settings/Reset to Original button. Then I decided I wanted to charge it up before I sold it. When I plugged it in to my computer, iTunes presented me with a message saying "Congratulations - You're iPhone is Unlocked". Finally....

I had tried, mistakenly, to unlock my phone using Restore from Backup. The Apple and AT&T instructions are both pretty clear that this will not work for unlocking the phone. You have to use Restore To Original Settings.

Just want to add that I actually had to restore 5 TIMES before I got the "congrats, your phone is unlocked" message.... Followed the instuctions to setup as new phone and then restored each time. Finally ended up working... I guess 5th time's a charm.

I've been restoring my phone for a while now since I got the email from AT&T saying that it was unlock, in their instructions they say I need to put a sim in, but which sim?, my old sim doesn't work anymore and the my iPhone 5 has a different type of sim. I've tried opening iTunes first and then connecting the phone like some of you recomended, but still get the same result.

What else should I try?

What I did was use my old sim card even though it was deactivated. I put it in, plugged my old iPhone in to my computer - iTunes flipped up the message saying Congratulations - your iPhone is unlocked.

Here's some follow up from this earlier comment:

October 1 - "I did not use the Restore to original settings, I used Restore from Backup. Don't trust the other to recover all my settings and files afterward. Remind me to update you when I know for sure. Also I don't intend to install IOS6 on my old phone and 'original settings' might do that (Apple has an interesting way of doing whatever it wants with our equipment and telling us about it afterward, if at all)."

October 5 - Yes, had to use Restore to original settings (not 'from backup'). A long scary process that wipes the phone clean leaving it just like a new phone. Then, in a separate process you have the option of restoring your personal data. It's a complex process with a million things that can go wrong, but by some miracle it usually works.

So I did it. It worked first time and in less than an hour I was unlocked.

I lost all my music. (I don't sync music. Prefer different music in phone than computer.) Lost my photos (don't use photo sync). Lost my iBooks. All these are backed up by other means. Don't seem to have lost any data in third party programs.

I lost Google Map and YouTube. Gained Apple Map which seems OK in my city.

Gained some more Apple Apps I don't want and can't delete- Passport & something else.

(I put them in a junk folder, but can't even do that with some stubborn ones.)

And I was forced to accept IOS6, a huge load of stuff my old phone can't use.

When it was finished I discovered a bad pixel (a green one that won't turn off). Might have been there before.

In the end I got lots of bad and nothing good except for an unlocked phone. Next step is to gain some control over the phone with a jailbreak and perhaps a downgrade to IOS 5.1.1. Whether I keep it or sell it, it's value and usefulness will be greatly increased. I love Apple engineering & the user interface, but I want my phone to be mine not theirs or the carrier's to do what they want with. So far this phone has cost me $3,000- I have a right to be in control.

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Just another data point:

I have an iPhone 4 that went out of contract. I called AT&T to unlock it, and then received the email from them with instructions.

I was running iOS 5 and iTunes did not allow me to perform a 'restore' without upgrading to iOS 6. Pretty annoying given that I'm currently traveling internationally and the download is almost a gig. So, after an overnight download on my hotel's slow Internet, I upgraded iOS. Then I did 'sync' to backup, and did a 'restore'. It seemed to go ok but I didn't get the message.

Based on what applegirl17 advised, I unplugged the phone, quit iTunes, reloaded iTunes, then plugged the phone back in. Then based on SW02Cryppie's advice I first did a restore to factory settings. At that point I got the congratulations message, so one or both of those pieces of advice is what did the trick.

Afterwards the full restore worked normally, although I lost a few apps due to them not being in Apple's China app store, which is a new problem since one of them was fairly criticial.

So my protip is: if you want to unlock your phone because you plan to travel internationally and want to use other sim cards, make sure you do the full unlock when you're in your home country. That will make life easier, even though you'll still be forced to upgrade.

I forgot to mention - my unlock worked with an AT&T SIM card in the iPhone, so in my case I did not need to first change out the SIM card like some people have suggested.

Hello,

For all those that are still having no luck unlocking their iPhone with the instructions provided by ATT. Try this method. I have an iPhone 4 and it took me hours of backing up and factory restoring thru iTunes before i tried this method (by accident!!). I finally got the "Congratulations. Your iPhone Has Been Unlocked" message. It worked for me. Hopefully it'll work for you.

Make sure your iPhone is backed up if you want to keep your info. You might also need to update it to the latest firmware if it is required. I'm already on 6.0 so i didn't have any issues

1. Open iTunes (let it completely load)

2. Plug in your iPhone

--- Then on your iPhone--

3. Select "Settings"

4. Select "General"

5. Select "Reset"

6. Select "Erase All Content and Settings"

7. Select "Erase iPhone" to confirm

8. Select "Erase iPhone" to confirm again

The process of wiping out all data and resetting your phone to factory default has been started. Keep it plugged in and don't touch it. Once its done and reboots you should see, in big black bold letters in iTunes, saying "Congratulation. Your iPhone is Unlocked". It was a relief that iTunes finally confirmed my phone was unlocked. Good luck y'all!!

This worked for me, thanks! I restored the iphone, did the above user's suggestions on the iphone,saw the congrats in iTunes, and then restored from the backup I had made.

So... I have 5.1.1 on my iPhone 4, and have received the email from AT&T that my unlock has been approved.

I don't want to lose 5.1.1. I would rather keep 5.1.1 than upgrade just to unlock the phone. I'm not in any hurry to do so -- I plan on keeping the phone for the forseeable future, and get a discount on service through my employer.

Does anyone know if the "Erase all Content" action will preserve my current OS? I'd be willing to try that if that's the case.

No it will not. You have to Restore your iPhone as New anyway to clear the unlock and you will end up with iOS 6.0.1.