topic Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone? in Apple Devices

Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

sorins — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:05:10 GMT

I want to purchase a second hand Iphone from a reputable second hand phone retailer and I noticed they have the model I want but it's locked in EE network. Will I be able to unlock it easily or risk the phone to be stolen or have debt on it and EE to refuse to unlock it for me?

Thank you!

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

James_B — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:57:51 GMT

Hi @sorins,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

Which model is it? Unless it is very old, it will already be unlocked.

If it is reported lost or stolen by the original owner, it would be blacklisted across all networks, rather than network locked.

James

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

NW_Saint — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:11:35 GMT

Hi,

If it’s from a reputable second hand phone retailer, I can’t imagine it’s stolen or have debt against it. Who are you looking to buy it from, do they have an unlocked version?

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

sorins — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:15:23 GMT

The phone is an iphone 11. Only buying as my new car only has apple carplay and no AA. Never bought a sh phone before.

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

sorins — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:19:35 GMT

Buying from CeX. I already have an £80 voucher for trading in some games. I don't know if they do any checks when buying phones. They have unlocked versions too but they are 65 more and I read online that should be easy to unlock a phone so I was thinking maybe I can get away with buying cheaper locked one and I will do the legwork for unlocking. I am afraid that EE won't agree to unlock it though since I don't have any experience doing this

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

James_B — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:27:47 GMT

That phone should have been proactively unlocked, @sorins

If not, you can unlock it at myaccount.ee.co.uk/app/device-unlock.

James

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

sorins — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 19:04:39 GMT

Thank you for your answers!

Would I need an EE sim to be able to unlock it? Or the phone info is enough? If you know.

Thanks

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

Christopher_G — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 07:57:00 GMT

No, you don't need an EE SIM to unlock it, @sorins 🙂

Chris

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

gaz2024 — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:40:53 GMT

@sorins I'm looking to do exactly the same as you too, buy an iphone 11 from CEX. My only concern is that it's a blacklisted phone and EE won't unlock it. Deffo going to check the CEX returns policy stuff before trying it!

Re: Can I unlock a second hand Iphone?

sorins — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 16:18:53 GMT

I went to CeX to exchange an old phone for voucher and asked about the unlocking and the guy there said I shouldn't have a problem and they usually take all your details and do some checks (took some 30 mins to check my phone before they said it's ok for them to buy it). There is a caveat though, he said that if I buy a locked phone and unlock it I loose the 2 year CeX waranty it comes with, even if the problem is a technical one. They advised me to wait a few weeks to make sure the phone is behaving OK before unlocking it. To me it doesn't matter as the pay-as-you-go deal I have my eyes on is from EE anyway and doesn't matter so I went ahead and ordered the phone. Should be here next week.