Want to highlight a helpful answer? Upvote!
Did someone help you, or did an answer or User Tip resolve your issue? Upvote by selecting the upvote arrow. Your feedback helps others! Learn more about when to upvote >
Did someone help you, or did an answer or User Tip resolve your issue? Upvote by selecting the upvote arrow. Your feedback helps others! Learn more about when to upvote >
Newsroom Update
Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, matching watch face, and dynamic iOS and iPadOS wallpapers as a way to champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more >
Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, matching watch face, and dynamic iOS and iPadOS wallpapers as a way to champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more >
We know, there are some companies who claim to unlock an operator locked iPhone. There is no authorised iPhone reseller in my country. So is there any way to know if I am buying a new iPhone that was initially locked by an operator and the seller unlocked it with the mentioned companies?
iPhone 6s Plus
No one but the carrier that it is locked to has the authority to unlock a phone. It would be wise to avoid so-called third party "unlock services," as they often hack the phone, or try to scam users.
You are right. I am worrying if the seller uses the so-called third parties. Like X has a shop beside my home, he "unlocked" 5 iPhones from that third parties and then placed in his shop saying "factory unlocked iPhone". Now my question is Isn't there any way to reveal the truth that this is not originally factory unlocked from Apple?
There aren't really any easy user-accessible ways to do it. You would have to update or restore the phone, in which case it would revert to being locked if it was hacked to unlock it. The seller is being misleading by using the term "factory unlocked," as that implies the phone was never locked to a carrier.
Can you please answer the following two questions, they will clear all my confusions.
1) "Erase All Content and Settings" does not load a new copy of the operating system, so it wouldn't get rid of the hack. You would have to do a restore in iTunes or an iOS update in order to get rid of it. If you do that and it still appears to be unlocked, then it's probably safe to buy it.
2) If hacked, it could re-lock, but it would not happen "suddenly." It would only happen after doing one of the above (update or restore).
CoolBrain wrote:
Can you please answer the following two questions, they will clear all my confusions.
- You mean if I can successfully "Erase All Content and Settings" before buying, I can safely buy that iPhone?
- Let, it's so so difficult to unlock with those third parties but they anyhow did it, is there any chance to get suddenly "locked back" in it's life time?
1. No. Erase All Content and Settings is not a restore. You would have to connect the device to the computer and iTunes and perform a Restore. That loads a fresh copy of iOS and if the device had been hacked to unlock, would re-lock the phone.
2. Yes, there is always a chance, since most, if not all, of those sites hack the phones to unlock them. It very well could lock back any time that you update and/or restore the device.
Sorry stevejobsfan0123, wasn't sure if you were still here, but it seems we were on the same page with the response.
No worries.
Check if iPhone had initially operator lock
