Unlocking iPhone 5S

[TlTANlUM]

I'll need to unlock my iPhone 5S when I move to Thailand and am told it's a pain in the ass to go through AT&T to do so.  Might some tech-guru in TukCom be able to sort out the issue in exchange for some baht, or can it only be unlocked through my carrier?

[JABL]

I just googled that and this came up..

 

 

 

surely it mustnt be that difficult,but I won't want to attempt to unlock any phone in Thailand,I did mine (although an older version 4s) online ...j

[TlTANlUM]

Thanks for the video…completed the steps and will hopefully have it unlocked this coming week (chose the 2-8 business day option).  If it works, which I suspect it will, I'll unlock my wife's iPhone as well.

[gonzodagreat]

http://iphoneimei.info/

 

You can check and sometimes unlock i phone's staight from this website

[Daddee]

I have used AT&T several times, no problems...

[DaffyDuck]

chronicunlock.com is my recommendation. If your contract with AT&T is up they will unlock at no charge.

[flynn]

Mine is out of contract but forgot to tell carrier to unlock it before I came to thailand,can they unlock it if I contact them back in Australia?

[DaffyDuck]

Unlock is usual done through a web portal. You request unlock and 24 hours later you get a notification that you're unlocked.

[TlTANlUM]

Any way to find out if an iPhone is a 5 or 5S?  My wife has one of the two and she doesn't know which.  Apparently this info is needed when unlocking the iPhone.

[DaffyDuck]

All that is needed is the IMEI of the phone, but for what it's worth, the two models of phone have distinctly different colors if you have the black version.

All Black back (iPhone 5), vs Dark Grey back with black top and bottom sections (iPhone 5s).


Otherwise, this can help you as well:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3939?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

http://www.cultofmac.com/244317/graphite-iphone-5s-compared-to-black-iphone-5-in-new-hands-on/

[Monarch]

you can unlock 5s through your laptop also. but it may be time consuming and scary process to go through. and one is not a tech savy, i would suggest you to just spend some money and do it. but if u know your way around computers its not that hard to do it. you just need correct tools to do it.

 

and if you are going to install the latest firmware than it become too easy.

 

 

also to unlock your phone first you need to jealbreak it. that is the scary part. unlocking can be done easily by installing the cydia software.

 

 

if you planning to do it yourself just drop a pm i might be able to guide you through upto my best abilities,

[DaffyDuck]

This is entirely incorrect on almost every single point made by the above commenter.

 

If you only need unlock, there is no need to jailbreak - in fact, you avoid lots of instabilities by not jailbreaking.

[DaffyDuck]

There are various services that will unlock your iPhone for you with the added benefit that you can easily update to iOS 8 and beyond without worrying about crashes or losing the unlock.

[Monarch]

This is entirely incorrect on almost every single point made by the above commenter.

 

If you only need unlock, there is no need to jailbreak - in fact, you avoid lots of instabilities by not jailbreaking.

 

 

the safest way is through jailbreak and i have been doing it from the times of iphone 3g, currently have done to to my 3g, 4 and 5s. i dont know how can you say that i was wrong.  u might be more knowledgeable than me. but i never had any problem with jail breaking or unlocking from my first 3g jailbreak almost 6 years ago until now. all running well and good and non of them crashes for obvious reasons.

 

yes you can do it through various service providers but most of them chargers high prices where as one can do it for free by oneself if he just know how to use a laptop a little.

 

 

also there are various jail breaking software on the net and can be used, i am only recommending redsnow from personal experience.

 

all one is the latest ios downloaded from apple, tinyumbrella and redsnow to do it. have been doing it for long time and done it on many of them for family and friends.

 

 

as i said it is indeed a time consuming process and a chance of things going bad but never had a phone died on me. there may be couple of instance when i had to install the ios twice but other than that no problem at all.

[DaffyDuck]

The safest way is through a legitimate unlock via Apple, which is what the various services (usually around $50) offer.

 

Once the iPhone is tagged as unlocked by Apple via its UDID inclusion in Apple's database, your iPhone is always unlocked, through restores, and new software updates.

 

This does not hold true for jailbreak unlocks - which aren't true 'unlocks' (it's a software program running constantly, telling the iPhone that it's dealing with a legitimate carrier and to ignore the actual SIM).

 

With a jailbreak unlock, the moment the user does any particular iOS update, they wipe out the unlock and end up with a locked phone, or worse.

 

It's not worth the hassles and the risk, particularly when a legitimate unlock is easy and inexpensive - and reliable.

[DaffyDuck]

chronicunlock.com

[jennings]

Had my Verizon Iphone 4s unlocked through a phone call to Verizon. It took maybe 5min. at the most. Once unlocked it will always be unlocked. So you don't have to get it unlocked every time.

 

You probably can get it unlocked at an Apple store also.

[DaffyDuck]

^ Correct, if this is a US bought phone -- and he still has an active contract or account with them.

[stevie1026]

hey daffy....thx for this thread....I have a couple of dumb questions...the wife and I have 2 iphone5s`s...we are giving them to family as gifts...hers is unlocked, bought at apple store, mine is out of contract A.T.&T, should I erase "all content and settings" before unlock? or after? A.T.&T. says I have to go to iTunes and do a "backup and restore"...then the phone is unlocked. Is the only way to check if the phone is unlocked by going to Thailand and inserting a thai sim?  we are getting 2 iphone6+`s, I will go with my A.T.&T plan, im grandfathered in on a good international plan but the wife needs to have her`s unlocked as she stays in Thailand about 4 months a year, seems like, tho expensive, chronicunlocks is the way to goto unlock her phone....you`re thoughts.....thx...stevie

[DaffyDuck]

Basically, you go through iTunes as AT&T suggested. By doing the backup and restore, it will go through the activation process at which point iTunes declares "congratulations your iPhone is now unlocked".

 

You can then restore your data (or just erase all content) and its ready to use.

 

The iTunes message is your confirmation. Otherwise, having another sim to put in will also be your confirmation.