Maybe you have found a better deal elsewhere, perhaps the coverage is poor where you live, or maybe you are traveling overseas and want to swap to a local carrier temporarily. Whatever your reason for wanting to unlock your iPhone in the US, it is perfectly legal to do so. The only thing to remember is that if your iPhone is still under contract, you’ll still need to continue to pay your monthly bill.
If you purchased your iPhone in the US, it is probably locked to the carrier you purchased it from. The carrier stores tend to lock their iPhones to stop customers from moving carriers straight after buying the phone, it acts as a holding tactic. The way to tell if your iPhone is locked is to try inserting a sim card from another provider into the cell. If you get a message along the lines of ‘sim not valid’, this means the handset is locked.
If your iPhone is locked to AT&T, T-Mobile, Cellcom, Verizon, Sprint, GCI Wireless, or another US carrier, you will need to unlock it in order to use it with another carrier’s sim. Without unlocking your iPhone, you won’t be able to make a call or send an SMS with a different carrier’s sim. There are many reasons why you might want to unlock the iPhone from its original carrier, some of the most popular reasons include:
- Unlocking your iPhone allows you to swap carriers which may offer better cell coverage, cheaper call charges or more data.
- An unlocked iPhone allows you to insert a local sim while traveling overseas, which can help you skip the high roaming charges.
- It is easier to sell an unlocked iPhone, as second-hand phones will need to accept the new owner’s sim.
Unlock your iPhone by IMEI
Our recommended method to unlock your phone is to use a third-party service. There are many online services offering iPhone unlock services, but not all of them are equally trustworthy or reliable. One service we can personally vouch for is iPhoneApprovedUnlock. This unlocking specialist offers safe, legal and secure iPhone unlock services for all models of iPhone or your money back, guaranteed.
For customers searching for information on how to unlock an iPhone, we think this service is the best option for a few reasons. All you need to give them is your IMEI number and they will unlock your iPhone within 24 hours. The IMEI number is the unique identifying number of your iPhone and it’s easy to find this number. Simply type *#06# into the keypad and the number will appear on the display. Give this to the team at iPhoneApprovedUnlock.com and they will unlock your iPhone. It’s a low-cost service with prices starting from just $20.00.
The great thing about iPhoneApprovedUnlock.com is that their unlock services are permanent, so your cell will never be relocked. They unlock iPhone in the Apple database, which makes it fully official, and your warranty is therefore unaffected. If you are considering how to unlock an iPhone, this is the best service we have found online for unlocking an iPhone in the US.
You could also try this service at IMEI24.com.
Guide to unlocking an iPhone from your carrier
Whether you are looking to unlock iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone 6, iPhone X or another model of iPhone, including earlier and later models, your carrier can help. Your carrier can usually unlock your iPhone, but only if you are out of contract and hold an account with them. US carriers can unlock iPhone for a fee, but they might take a few weeks to complete the unlock.
US carriers usually lock their cell phones because they have subsidized the cost of the cell, meaning you pay a much lower price for the device when you buy it on a contract. Sometimes you can even get the handset for free if you lock yourself into a 24-month (or longer) contract. It is, however, totally legal to unlock the phone, as long as you pay off your contract.
Although it is possible to do, getting your iPhone unlocked by the carrier can be time-consuming. They can also refuse to unlock it if you are still under contract with them.