Q: Unlocking Sprint Phone (eBay)
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Apr 2, 2016 1:20 PMby imobl,Apple will not assist with Activation Lock on a second hand iPhone.
If the eBay auction did not describe the iPhone as Activation Locked,
immediately open a claim to get a refund. If the iPhone was described
as Activation Locked, you are now the owner of a useless iPhone unless
you can get the original owner (who may not have been the seller) to
remove the Activation Lock.
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Apr 2, 2016 1:35 PMby sberman,Unlocking an iPhone for use with another carrier has absolutely nothing to do with unlocking an Activation Locked iPhone.
Your iPhone is Activation Locked. You must obtain the original owner's consent to unlock the iPhone (from Activation Lock) or you will never be able to use it, and nobody including Apple and any cellular carrier can ever help you.
Get your money refunded if you can.
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Apr 2, 2016 1:40 PMby BubbieCheeks,Just found this on the original listing.
IPhone 4s Sprint - This item has a CLEAN ESN, which means it is ready to be activated on Sprint & Ring Plus network. This is NOT AN UNLOCKED phone.
I don't want to get a refund as originally I was using this as a wifi phone. Only recently I wanted to try and use it with a cell carrier.
EDIT: I already contacted Apple they said only Sprint can unlock the phone to be used on other carriers they cannot.
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Apr 2, 2016 1:41 PMby KiltedTim,If Sprint won't unlock it, then you're out of luck. Sell it to someone who can use it if you don't want to sign up for service with Sprint. They "own" the lock. Sprint is within their legal rights in refusing to unlock it if you are not a current customer in good standing.
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Apr 2, 2016 1:45 PMby BubbieCheeks,I sent a message to the eBay seller. I felt uncomfortable asking them as they were clear in their listing...this is why I won't ask for a refund it's not their problem. Maybe they will be generous enough though to get it unlocked for me.
Once I get unlocked (if I can) is it unlocked for good?
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Apr 2, 2016 1:47 PMby sberman,If you visit http://www.icloud.com/activationlock from a computer's browser, you can enter the iPhone's serial number and determine if it is Activation Locked. If it is, then if not now, then at a point down the road you are certain to have issues with this iPhone.
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Apr 2, 2016 1:58 PMby sberman,BubbieCheeks wrote:
I'm not sure what you mean by activation locked.
This could hurt you ... please try to understand. I'll explain a bit below, but there is more info in the above links.
iPhones with iOS 7 or later have Activation Lock. The owner of an iPhone, by registering it in Find My iPhone (which almost everyone does), adds a layer of protection if the iPhone is ever lost or stolen (which is the point - perhaps you purchased a previously stolen iPhone on eBay). Once you attempt to re-activate and use your device, if the original owner did not disable Find My iPhone (which would be the case if you purchased a stolen iPhone), you will not be able to use the device.
Again, you can check to see whether the iPhone is activation locked at the website http://wwwi.icloud.com/activationlock
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Apr 2, 2016 2:15 PMby BubbieCheeks,Again I've already said when I got the phone I was able to use my own Apple ID and I was able to use it with find my iPhone and everything. It's not activation locked to the last owner it's activation locked to me.
It is not icloud locked and find my iphone was disabled when I got it. It was ready to use.
I turned off find my iphone and checked it's not activation locked.
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Apr 2, 2016 2:53 PMby Lawrence Finch,With all of the posts, it's still not clear about which lock you are talking about. If it is SIM locked you will see a message to insert a valid SIM. If this is what you see you are out of luck, as Sprint will only unlock phones for current or former customers, and even then they put up a fight about it. The only way you can use the phone is in the US on the Sprint network.
