Wednesday TechCrunch discovered that non-contract AT&T iPhone 5s can be unlocked through a simple iTunes rest.
The process reportedly works with iPhone 5s purchased at full price from AT&T. The process is unbelievably simple, especially when compared to AT&Ts traditional unlocking procedure which involves submitting a form online, sending an actual fax (yes fax machines still exist), and waiting a week for a restore.
TechCrunch confirmed the procedure with AT&Ts tech support and completed the once-step process without any problems. After the iTunes reset, TechCrunch’s Romain Dillet simply trimmed down a compatible T-Mobile micro-SIM card to fit in the iPhone 5’s nano-SIM tray.
However, it appears there are still some catches resulting from Apple adding a device's IMEI to their database at the time of purchase. TechCrunch was able to successfully unlock an iPhone 5 purchased through Apple’s retail store, but was unable to perform the unlock on a unit pre-ordered through AT&T even though the device was purchased at full price. The catch appears to be the device tied to an existing AT&T account during the pre-order process according to TechCrunch.
The simple unlock process is encouraging, especially when accompanied by reports that Verizon iPhone 5’s ship unlocked for GSM networks.
Source: TechCrunch [via AppleInsider]
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