AT&T is the carrier that generates more "can this be unlocked?" questions than any other, because its devices turn up everywhere: sold new, sold refurbished, traded in, resold on marketplaces, and locked to a network the new owner has never had an account with. The symptom is always the same — a working iPhone that refuses to activate on a non-AT&T SIM with "SIM Not Supported" or a carrier-lock notice in Settings.
AT&T iPhones are locked the same way every US iPhone is: Apple's activation service holds a policy for the IMEI, and AT&T controls that policy. There is no code. The phone is not damaged and it is not stolen-by-default; it is simply not allowed to activate on another network until AT&T (or a supplier with carrier-side access) changes the record.
AT&T also runs the strictest eligibility screen of the US carriers, which is why so many devices fall into the "locked but not eligible" gap: the device may be out of contract, paid off and years old, and still be refused because the line was closed with a balance, the IMEI was reported, or the account went to collections after the phone was sold.
AT&T publishes its requirements on att.com/deviceunlock. The current list, in plain terms: the device must be paid off with no active instalment plan, the account must be in good standing, the IMEI must not be reported lost or stolen, and the line must have been active for AT&T's published minimum period (60 days on postpaid; six months of paid service on prepaid, at the time of writing). Devices bought on a business account need the account administrator to submit the request.
AT&T then runs that IMEI through its own database and returns one of a small set of answers. Those answers are the useful part, because each one maps to a different paid tier — or to "nothing will work".
Policies change without notice. The current wording is always on the carrier’s own page: AT&T Device Unlock — eligibility requirements and request form.
When AT&T answers "unpaid", "active on another account", "no longer active", "account2 locked" or "we can't locate it in our database", the free portal is done — it will keep returning the same sentence. Each of those states has its own paid tier, and the price reflects what the supplier has to do: a clean out-of-contract release is cheap, an unpaid or under-contract release costs real money because the supplier is absorbing the balance risk, and a device AT&T cannot find in its own database is a different problem again (usually a replaced unit whose IMEI was never registered).
| Service | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| US AT&T Unlockl Check Pro -「Charge No Matter Unlocked or Not」 | $0.07 | Status check first — $0.07, returns AT&T’s exact wording for the IMEI. |
| US AT&T no longer active Unlock - iPhone & Generic | $4 | For IMEIs AT&T reports as “no longer active” — the most common resale case. |
| US AT&T Active on other account Unlock - iPhone & Generic | $1.60 | For devices still attached to a previous owner’s account. |
| US AT&T Account2 Locked | No longer Unlock | $9 | For the “Account2 locked” state reported by AT&T’s system. |
| US AT&T Active | 60 days Unlock - iPhone & Generic | $1.60 | For devices inside the 60-day window that are also attached to another account. |
| US AT&T Unpaid Semi Premium Unlock 100% Success - iPhone 13 Series | $130 | Unpaid balance tiers — priced by model generation; the current ones are on the iPhone carrier unlock page. |
Yes, once the device meets the published requirements. There is no fee. The paid route exists for devices that do not meet them.
Yes. It is written into Apple's activation policy for the IMEI, so it survives restores, DFU recovery and iOS updates.
That is what the unpaid semi-premium tiers are for. Run the $0.07 status check first to confirm the exact state, then pick the tier that matches the model generation.
The line the phone was sold on has been closed. AT&T's portal treats that as ineligible; the dedicated no-longer-active tier is built for exactly this state.
The free portal: up to two business days. The paid tiers: minutes to a few hours for clean devices, up to a few days for account-level cases.
Last checked 2026-10-28. Carrier rules are quoted from the operators’ own policy pages; if a rule has changed since, the carrier’s page wins.