How to unlock Sprint iPhone 5?

Hi

On your network providers website should be the instructions after you have entered the unlock code you need to connect

Iphone to your pc to complete unlocking on Apple website.

Thats how i did it but i live in the uk.

You may get instructions off Google.

Cheers

Brian

The problem that you are facing is that you are using what is a CDMA phone on a GSM network. Sprint is a CDMA carrier and T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, however, you need to follow the instructions from Sprint on how to unlock your phone and this entails connecting to your Mac or PC at some stage so that you go to iTunes to complete the process at some stage. You can then go to the T-Mobile store to get one of their SIM cards and it should work.

No, of course Apple cannot and will not help you - they are not carriers and if your phone is locked to a particular carrier, then it is their responsibility to unlock the phone and is nothing at all to do with Apple - it is solely the carrier's responsibility as they provide your phone service whether this be CDMA or GSM.

Ok, so LOTS of misinformation out there.

1. If you received an "unlock code", your phone will not unlock. Iphones don't have an unlock code. Unfortunately, Sprint support is horrible, just like all the rest of them. they give you misinformation all the time. Unlock of an Apple device comes from Apple itself. Sprint sends a request to unlock the device. When your phone connects to the Apple servers, it updates your phone, and allows the sim card to be unlock. There is no code to deal with. They gave you the MSL code, which is use for Android devices, not Apple devices.

2. Once Apple receives the request from Sprint to unlock the phone, your phone needs to communicate with the Apple servers. That can be done in many ways. The easiest, is to simply drop in your sim card, and the new software automatically searches and updates the carrier settings, and your phone simply works. This works about 90% of the time now days, but it might have something to do with which IOS you are on. If that doesn't work, you can put your sim card in, and plug into iTunes. You should get a message saying Congratulations your phone is unlocked. If not, the last resort is to do a complete restore of your phone from iTunes. At the end, you should get the congratulations.

yes, you can use a Sprint Iphone 5 on a GSM network, even in the USA. Sprint claims that the 4s and 5 are only unlocked for International use, but that is simply not true. @Ethmoid, you mention the problem is using a CDMA device on a GSM network, but there is no problem there, as the Iphone 5 can handle both, as it has both radios. It simply needs a sim unlock. Maybe you were thinking something else.

The bottom line is, that it sounds like your phone is NOT unlocked, due to the fact that you received a code from Sprint. This is not an unlock. You need to go back to them and demand they unlock your phone the "factory" way.

Thanks for being the clear head in this thread 🙂

All iPhones from the 4S and later are dual mode (CDMA and GSM). The iPhone 4 and earlier had separate models for CDMA and GSM.

Brian ,read this

How to unlock your iPhone for use with another carrier - Apple Support

ps there is NO code with iPhones .........................

You yourself added some misinformation:

Dropping in a new SIM and connecting will not update and unlock the iPhone. The only way to unlock it, after Sprint notifies you that your unlock was approved, is to have a SIM in the iPhone, connect the phone to iTunes and do a Restore as a NEW (not from backup) iPhone. You will receive a message, "Congratulations, your iPhone is now unlocked." If you are successful.

deggie, that used to be true. But if a phone is unlocked you can insert a SIM from a different carrier and it should activate without restoring. See: How to unlock your iPhone for use with another carrier - Apple Support

Apparently changed in June, thanks for pointing that out to me Lawrence, appreciate it.

It caught me by surprise, also.

deggie,

I really try hard not to spread misinformation. I only generally comment on things with a "matter of fact" demeaner, I have personally done and know to be true. A LOT of information is old on the internet, and although a lot of the information being passed is correct, it is also sometimes littered with inaccurate information along side the correct information.

The best way to know if something is true is to do it yourself. For example, here is a big misinformation, right on sprints own website and their unlocking policy:

"Please note that requesting an international unlock will not unlock a DSU-capable device for use with domestic (U.S.) SIMs.".

That is completely not true at all, yet it is right there in black and white on sprints unlock policy webpage. That hasn't been true for a long time for Sprint iphones, yet if you ask any sprint employee, they will tell you that an unlocked Iphone 4s or 5 is only eligible for international unlock, and it will not work in the usa. So if you only read, or talk to customer/tech support, you will not have accurate information. Honestly, when it comes to technical issues, about 90% of the people I have physically talked to, and I have talked to a lot of people, provide some sort of misinformation during the conversation.

Thanks to Lawrence for adding that link so you can be informed. But don't believe it, do it yourself, then you will know. ;-)

Lawrence already pointed out this has changed. Sprint only recently began unlocking some iPhones for domestic use and no one has been assigned to make that change. That was true for a long time and you can search here and find a lot of threads where people unlocked their Sprint phones and could not get them to work with domestic carriers.

jaxonfromhouston wrote:

Hmmmm ... somehow the status of my open question has been put in solved status. Hope that doesn't mean that no one else can offer solutions. 😕

TThe only legitimate solution is through Sprint. Any other solution is a hack that will leave your phone vulnerable an will not be permanent.

Which is why the @sierraphones helpful offers has disappeared ..........😉