Unlock iPhone After Contract Ends

Two years ago, for the first time ever, Apple made the decision to sell officially unlocked iPhone directly to the public without the need to sign any form of contract. A factory unlocked iPhone such as this can be used on any network, anywhere in the world. The only drawback in purchasing an officially unlocked iPhone is the price - often multiple times more expensive than the carrier locked alternative. A network locked iPhone can cost as little as 20% of the MRP of a factory unlocked variant. The only restriction these handsets have when comparing to their unlocked counterparts is they can only be used a single network.

Getting your hands on the latest model of iPhone for a fraction of the MRP seems like a win-win situation, right? May be you have to travel internationally on business? We all know how expensive international roaming charges can be. It's not unusual for people to return from holidays or international business trips to face massive cellular bills as they have failed to consider the hefty cost charged for cellular and data roaming charges. The sensible thing to do is use a local carrier to provide your phone and internet service while you are overseas. However, you will need to get your iPhone unlocked before you can do so.

Unlock iPhone Service

Technically there are two ways you can unlock an iPhone; either using an iPhone software unlock, or via the iPhone IMEI unlock method, often referred to as official iPhone unlocking, or an iPhone factory unlock. The first option, the iPhone software unlock, is now virtually obsolete. If you want to software unlock an iPhone you need to be aware that the software can only be installed on a device that has previously been jailbroken - a hacking process that enables the installation of software that has not been approved for sale in the App store. By installing this software it is possible to trick the phone into thinking it is unlocked so if you put a SIM card from another network in it, it will work as if it were unlocked.

About 3 or 4 years ago it was possible to unlock the older models of iPhone (pre-iPhone 5) by installing unauthorized third party software. The primary problem with this software was, rather obviously, it was not approved by Apple. Unless of course a handset has been jailbroken. The jailbreaking process is basically the exploitation or hacking of the iPhones via security vulnerabilities, to enable unauthorized software to be installed. It is no longer possible to jailbreak an iPhone, and to be honest it is not recommended that you do so if you intend to use your device to access any kind of accounts on-line because of the security risk it poses. In fact Apple closed the loophole which made software unlocking possible back in 2011, with the release of iOS 5.1.1.

We would advise anyone interested in unlocking an iPhone to choose the factory unlock method. Using this method your iPhone will act exactly as if it were purchased at full retail price directly from Apple. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume Apple would offer customers the options to have their iPhones unlocked by them. Unfortunately they don't. Apple have never offered a factory unlocking service and are highly unlikely to in the future. Until recently the only way to have an iPhone IMEI unlocked was to try to convince your carrier to do it for you. The majority are understandably reluctant to do so. Some will (under certain conditions) other flatly refuse.

Just recently a few independent organizations have started to offer IMEI unlocks with virtually no conditions in place for them to be successful. As long as your iPhone hasn't been reported as lost or stolen, known as an IMEI blacklisting, they will be able to unlock it.

If you are interested in learning more about how to unlock an iPhone, if your iPhone can be unlocked, or where to get it unlocked, make sure you contact us with all your questions or enquires at iUnlox.