How to SIM Unlock the iPhone 12

• Tyler Lee
• 4 years ago

Last year, Apple launched their brand new iPhone 12 series. It came with impressive new hardware like a souped up chipset, brand new cameras, and it also came with support for 5G, about a year later than most of the Android competition, but better late than never, right?

It is no secret that the iPhone is expensive and as such, it wouldn’t be surprising if you bought your phone through your carrier’s installment plan. The downside is that now your iPhone’s SIM is locked to that carrier which means that changing out a SIM card or moving to a different carrier can be troublesome.

The good news is that it’s actually not that hard to get your iPhone 12’s SIM unlocked. You have the option of using a free method, but if it doesn’t work, using services like Android SIM Unlock would be the perfect alternative.

Unlocking your iPhone 12’s SIM for free

If you’d rather not pay for a third-party service, we get it. Why pay for something when it could be free, right? Your carrier will actually help you unlock your phone’s SIM, but before you get too excited, there are several requirements you’ll have to meet first. This includes:

• The iPhone 12 needs to have been paid off in full. If you bought it fully unlocked then this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you bought it on an installment plan, then you need to ensure those monthly repayments have been paid in its entirety.
• You will also need to make sure that you have owned the device for at least 60-90 days, so if you just bought the phone, you might be out of luck
• You will need to be in “good standing” with your carrier. This means that your bills need to be all fully paid up and that you don’t owe them anything else.

Assuming you meet those requirements, then here’s what you need to do next:

1. On your iPhone 12 device, launch the Phone app and dial *#06# to pull your device’s IMEI number and write it down somewhere you can easily access later on
2. Call your carrier’s customer care hotline and ask request for a SIM unlock
3. You will then be asked to provide the service rep with your iPhone 12’s IMEI number which you should have already written down
4. Assuming you have met all the requirements that we mentioned above, the SIM unlock code will be sent to the email address you provided in the next 2-5 days.
5. Once you’ve received the code, take out the current SIM on your iPhone and put in the new one
6. You will be prompted to enter the SIM unlock code
7. Enter the SIM unlock code that you received in your email and you should be set

Getting the unlock code from Android SIM Unlock

In the event that you don’t meet the requirements or if your carrier refuses your request to unlock the SIM of your iPhone 12, that’s where third-party SIM unlocking services like Android SIM Unlock come in handy. For a small fee, you will be able to get the SIM of your iPhone 12 unlocked in no time.

1. On your iPhone 12 handset, launch the Phone app and dial *#06# to display your phone’s IMEI number
2. Write the IMEI number down somewhere where you can refer to it easily
3. Go to Android SIM Unlock’s website
4. Select the country you are in and the carrier you bought the phone from and also the currency you wish to pay in
5. Enter the device’s IMEI number
6. Complete the checkout process with your payment and contact information
7. Once that’s all settled and done, you should then receive the iPhone 12’s unlock code in a matter of hours up to a few days (depending on the package you’ve chosen)
8. The moment you’ve received your code, you can then swap out the SIM on your phone with a SIM from another carrier
9. When you put in the new SIM, you should be prompted to enter the SIM unlock code that you received in your email, and once you’ve done that, you should be good to go

Once you’ve entered the SIM unlock code, your iPhone 12 should now be unlocked and you will not have any issues with swapping between carriers or using a local telco when you’re overseas. This will be handy, especially in other countries where purchasing a local SIM card is much cheaper than paying for roaming.

We should remind you that this does not release you from your contract with your carrier, but at the very least it does give you some degree of freedom.