iPhone locked to first sim and network used?

That's very strange.

When an iPhone is locked to a carrier it issues a message like this:

It should not go back to activation if it has not issued this error. If it is returning to activation even though no error is being shown, then something else is going on.

Have you tried restoring the iPhone?

That makes a lot of sense. I actually had to reserve the iPhone 7 at a few Target stores (before the iPhone 7 came out), before I could find a store that was willing to sell me one, without activating it on one of the "Big Four" cell phone carriers (i.e., AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon). I got the impression that they weren't contractually allowed to do so, but I eventually managed to find an employee who was either (a) willing to bend the rule, or (b) wasn't aware of it.

I also have a possible solution:

After many dozens of phone calls — some of them hours long — to Straight Talk, Verizon, and Apple, I finally got an Apple senior advisor to get feedback from an Apple engineer. After waiting a few days, I heard back:

The Apple senior advisor told me that the Apple engineer said that the key that had apparently been missing for me is that the Straight Talk SIM needs to be in the iPhone, while the iPhone is restored to factory settings, in order for the phone to be unlocked.

Obviously, one has to ask Straight Talk to unlock the phone first, and get them to actually do their part to get it to happen — which, as I explained in my previous message, may take a number of phone calls to their unlocking department (which can be reached directly at 888-442-5102 from 8am to 11:45pm EST), and may take up to 48 business hours.

In the process of trying to unlock the phone, I had restored it to factory settings a number of times, but not with the Straight Talk SIM in the phone.

For better or for worse, I threw in the towel, after a week with no service — before I heard back about the Apple engineer's advice — and switched back from Verizon to Straight Talk. As soon as my friend gets a chance (it's her phone, not mine) I will guide her through the unlock process, and post the result here.

To confirm whether the phone is unlocked, without signing up for new service, all you need to do is call Apple (or, more accurately, ask them to call you, through their support site), ask to speak to a senior advisor, and ask them to look up in their system whether your phone is unlocked. I plan to do that after going through the unlock process prescribed by the Apple engineer.

What is not clear to me is whether Straight Talk's service needs to be active, in order for the unlock to work. So if you switch to Verizon (or another carrier), and cancel your Straight Talk service, can you still unlock the phone, without first switching back to Straight Talk? That is not clear to me. If one of you wants to try that, and let us know whether it works, I imagine that would be very helpful to most of us struggling with this problem.

moskovit wrote:

By the way, Apple strongly advises not removing or inserting SIM cards while one's phone is powered on. They say it can destroy the SIM card. I, like you, did so, a few times, with no ill effect — so apparently, the risk is minimal. Still, to be safe, I would advise everyone here to power down your phone, before inserting or removing a SIM.

Really? Never heard say ro recomment that. In fact even their support documents make no mention of turning off the iPhone before removing the sim card.

There is no reason to, as there is no real power going from the card to the iPhone or the iPhone to the card.

If anybody is recommending powering off the iPhone they are mistaken.

Remove or switch the SIM card in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

In fact the manual even has you turn on the iPhone before inserting a sim card.

iOS 11- iPhone - User Guide - Apple Support

Straighttalk support is either lying or mis-informed. Escalate through

the Straighttalk support chain. Apple employees have told you

the iPhone is locked to Straighttalk - in that case only

Straighttalk can unlock it and you will have to resolve the matter

with them.

FYI: sim-free is not the same as unlocked.

What does it say when you look at Settings>General>About>Carrier?

You may have to scroll to see the entry for Carrier.

There’s nothing that Apple can do for you in this situation.

If it’s locked to a carrier, only Straight Talk can unlock your phone. Log into your Straight Talk account using a web browser. You can see the status of your contract there. That’s also where most carriers have a form to request an unlock.

Be warned, that if you signed a contract, you might be bound to ST until you meet all conditions for unlocking.

There’s nothing that Apple can do for you in this situation.

If it’s locked to a carrier, only Straight Talk can unlock your phone. Log into your Straight Talk account using a web browser. You can see the status of your account there. That’s also where most carriers have a form to request an unlock or end your service.

cccourttney wrote:

. This phone was not a Straighttalk iPhone (Straighttalk doesn't sell the 128gb model) it was a "sim free" phone so I thought.

While Verizon can use any unlocked iPhone 6/6+ or 6S/6S+ regardless of the network for which they were first sold, they won't accept an iPhone 7 that was not intended for sale on their network. That includes a "sim free" or unlocked iPhone that you might buy from Apple. In other words, the version of iPhone 7 you have cannot be made to work on Verizon's network.

cccourttney wrote:

Verizon had already assured me the phone was acceptable and ready to be used on there network.

I'm pretty sure whoever told you that was misinformed. If that were true, all you would need to do would be to put the Verizon SIM in the phone. The fact that you can't do that means the phone is not one that will work on Verizon.

Did you talk to Verizon customer service over the phone? Or did you talk to someone in a store? If so, was it a corporate Store? Or an authorized reseller?

That is the model designed to work with Verizon but Walmart does not sell unlocked iPhones. You will have to talk to someone at Straighttalk to start the unlock process, no matter how far up their chain you have to go, to do so.

Just to clarify.

Most iPhone re-sellers do not sell truly unlocked iPhones. They sell sim free, iPhones that will generally lock to the first carrier used to activate them.

The iPhone from Walmart could have been activated with any U.S. carrier and it would have locked to it upon activation.

In your case the carrier was StraightTalk.

At this point its locked to StraightTalk and only they can unlock it.

Just as a test, can you borrow a sim card from a different carrier and try it in your iPhone?

It can be any carrier you want that is not Straighttalk.

Once you insert it, make note of any messages that appear on screen.