Your iPhone may be blacklisted due to unpaid bills, blocked by the carrier, lost, or stolen. The best and most common method to unlock is to contact the previous owner and solve the issue. But the fact is that most sellers avoid and ignore your request. So there may be issues you’ll face when you’ve purchased a blacklisted iPhone. However, there are solutions available to activate your blacklisted iPhone.
How to Check Whether Your iPhone is Blacklisted
Many sites and third-party applications are available to check whether your iPhone is blacklisted. Before doing so, you’ll need the IMEI number.
1. First, find and locate your IMEI number.
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2. Go to the WipeLock iPhone Blacklist Checker website and enter your iPhone’s IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number to get all the details regarding your iPhone.
If you find that your iPhone is blacklisted, you can unlock or activate it by contacting the carrier, replacing the IMEI chip, and using third-party applications.
Contacting Carrier [Free Method]
You can check with the respective carrier for the reason behind the issue. For example, consider you are using an AT&T carrier. If the reason is outstanding bills, pay the bills to remove your iPhone from the blacklist. However, if your iPhone is lost or stolen, then the carrier cannot be able to remove it from the blacklist.
Activate a Blacklisted iPhone [When it is lost or stolen]
With the help of third-party services, users can remove their iPhones from the blacklist.
[1] Download the Directunlocks or ExpressUnlocks service that supports all models. Also, it unlocks permanently and legally.
[2] As the third-party software is paid service, you can ask for a refund if it fails to unlock your iPhone.
[3] Visit the IMEI blacklist removal service page.
[4] Choose the network and country where your iPhone is locked.
[5] Enter your iPhone’s IMEI number, select the model, and tap on the Continue button.
[6] Wait until the process finishes. It might take more than 24 hours. Later, you’ll get proof of being successfully removed from the blacklist.
Replace IMEI Chip
[1] Replacing the IMEI chip can help to activate your device, but this doesn’t work well with the latest iPhones.
[2] The success rate is significantly less as it only works on older models, and the method is quite complex.
Apart from this, you can even resell your iPhone once activated. If the above processes don’t resolve the issue, ask for a refund from the previous owner.
Useful Links
FAQ
Ask the previous owner to activate your iPhone. If the person doesn’t respond, use a third-party software service to activate your iPhone.
Unless you remove your device from the blacklist, you cannot be able to get connected to any other wireless carrier.
For example, you can use it as a glorified iPod or gaming console, swap the Logic Board, sell it as spare parts, sell it on eBay internationally, or make a YouTube video of smashing it into pieces, etc.
Yes. You can use it seamlessly in another country as it is blacklisted only in the provider’s country.
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