Identify the original carrier, sold-to country and SIM lock state of any iPhone, Samsung or Pixel from the IMEI. Run it before you order an unlock.
Before ordering an unlock you need three facts: which carrier the device is locked to, which country that carrier operates in, and whether the lock is still active. Getting any of them wrong is the most common reason an unlock order is rejected — and rejected orders for a wrong carrier are not refundable, because the carrier was queried correctly and simply answered "not our device".
These checks return the original carrier, the sold-to country and the current lock state from the activation service, usually in seconds and for a few cents. Run one first, then order the matching unlock tier. The same data also tells you whether a "factory unlocked" claim from a seller is true, and whether a device that was unlocked once has been re-locked by a later carrier replacement.
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Sample carrier identification output.
An IMEI carrier check is the reliable way: it returns the operator the device was sold through, even if the phone is wiped and cannot boot. The Settings → General → About screen only tells you that a lock exists, not which network owns it.
It is the country of the carrier that originally sold the device. Unlock pricing and eligibility are tied to that country, not to where you are now — a US-locked iPhone used in Asia still needs a US carrier unlock, and the tier that applies is the one for the sold-to country.
No unlock is needed, but the check is still worth running before a purchase: it confirms the unlocked state comes from the carrier rather than from a jailbreak or an R-SIM, and it returns the original carrier for your records.
The IMEI was submitted to a carrier that does not own it. This happens when the seller says "AT&T" but the device was sold through Cricket, or when a device was replaced under warranty and the new IMEI belongs to a different operator. A $0.03 carrier check prevents it.
Yes, for Samsung, Google Pixel and most carrier-branded Android devices — the carrier records the IMEI the same way. Coverage is best for US, Canadian, Mexican, UK and Japanese operators, which is where the lock data is most complete.
Last updated 2026-10-28. Prices and coverage are read from the live catalogue; if a service is withdrawn it disappears from this page and its own URL returns a notice.