If you plan to change telephone operator and want to know if you can continue to use your current mobile or if you want to resell your mobile (or buy a second-hand one) and know if you can use it with your SIM current, you will need to know if the mobile is free or not.
If your mobile is locked, that is to say it is not unlocked, you can only use a SIM card from the mobile network to which it is subject. It will be inconvenient if you have to use a SIM card from another operator.
If you bought your phone without a SIM card (and you bought it new rather than used), it will almost certainly be unlocked so you can decide which SIM card you want to put in it. However, if you buy a contract phone from a store or phone network, it may be locked from the start.
Locked phones are much less common now than they used to be, and it’s also much easier to unlock them than before, so there’s no need to worry if you find that your phone is missing. does not accept SIM cards from other networks from the start.
You may have to pay a small fee and sometimes wait until your contract expires to unlock your phone, but these factors really depend on the network your device is connected to. smartphone.
How to check if your mobile is unlocked
If you have the mobile in your possession, be it iPhone or Android, the easiest way to check if your phone is unlocked is to try different SIM cards from other networks/carriers on it.
Borrow a SIM card from a friend or family member from a different network than the one you used and insert it into your phone to check if you have a signal. If not, your phone is probably locked. You may also receive a message asking for a SIM card unlock code, which is also proof that the phone is locked.
We also recommend that you restart the phone before checking because sometimes a restart is required for the SIM card to be recovered by the device itself.
If you can’t easily determine whether the SIM card you just inserted is working or not, try making a phone call. If the call does not connect, your phone is probably locked.
If you don’t already have the phone because you bought it yourself, you’ll have to ask and trust the seller to find out. However, even if it turns out to be locked, in most cases it’s easy to fix, so your new phone is unlikely to be unusable.
Note: You may find apps that claim to tell you if your phone is unlocked, but we would avoid using this method as they are not necessarily reliable. The best option is to try different SIM cards.
You can also use a third-party unlock app like DoctorSIM. We recommend that you be careful and only use an unlocking service you trust.
We tried DoctorSIM and found it successful and reasonably priced, but other similar services charge a lot more and not all services are legit, so do your research before parting with cash if you follow this way.
We have more information on how to do this in our article how to unlock a phone to use any SIM card.
