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hi, need to tap your collective wisdoms.

I have 3 iphone 12 pro, all from t-mobile, one of them was replaced by apple store, under warranty. 
Account in good standing, all 3 EIP finished on May 2023, i can unlock 2 of them, but the one that was replaced in the apple store is not showing up in T-Mobile database. 
It shows, STATUS UNKNOWN, Device is not in our system. 

About 3 weeks ago—my first call, the CS “forced” the imea to unlock in the system. I said “forced”, because the first time she inputted the number, she said the system would not accept it, then after 2 more tries, the system accepted it. 

Since then, after numerous calls with other CSs, T-force, conference calls with Applecare. T-mobile says that IMEA is fully unlocked, but the phone still shows SIM LOCKED in the status page of my account, after erasing the phone ddd 7+ times, with a sim in w/o a sim in. 

Applecare says the phone works, no hardware errors. The phone has been working over 1 year and half, since it was exchanged under warranty. T-mobile CS, says it’s fully unlocked, and there is no more tools at their disposal to “unlock” it. This is from T-mobile level 2 tech support, not from the CS reps.

I thought about letting it slide, since i will probably trade it in in the future anyway, but this happens to be my daughter’s phone, and she is hopping onto a plane this Friday, heading abroad, (thankfully my blue iphone pro is unlocked). Beside she doesn’t want the blue iphone when she is back, she wants her silver iphone.

In case you suggest i go to a t-mobile store, I did. They didn’t even want to touch the phone. There is nothing they can do or run any short of diagnostics. Same thing with Apple store, Applecare level2 said the store would not be able to do troubleshoot it. Applecare and apple store would have the same record. I offered to go to apple store, applecare said I don’t have to.

Today, I am waiting for a call back from the level 2 tech support again, he said he will escalate it. This would be my 7x calling about the same issue. It won’t be my last.

Perhaps, i should file a complaint with the fcc, they can push t-mobile to resolve this. There is a law that said carrier must unlock phone at the end of EIP, when account is in good standing, no balance owes, etc.

Meanwhile, what’s your take on this? Even if there is no solution, this would good for the records, for posterity. Maybe it will help someone else later. 

The problem is that it was a warranty exchange through Apple and the imei was never in Tmobile's data base as being sold by them.

Apple needs to contact Tmobile and have it put into their system. Don't let Apple tell you that they can't because they can. This is a Apple issue  in how they control their phones imei’s.


Hi gramps28,

The tier2 t-mobile tech I spoke to on Sunday said he was going to reset the imei, and have apple resubmit it. I didn’t hear the conversation between him and apple, he put me on hold. Obviously, either he didn’t speak to apple or resubmitting it did not work either.

The tier2 tech I spoke to today called me back a moment ago and said he used all the tools at his disposal to unlock the sim slot, and upon a new wipe once again, it’s still sim locked. The t-mobile tech on Sunday said the same thing, btw.

He escalating it this time to the t-mobile engineer team, I will get an answer in 48 hrs. 
I did mentioned that apple wants to talk directly to their support team.

Apple can surely unlock it, but it might be a contractually no/no. i’ll let them slug it out. My only interest is to get this resolved.

I will provide an update when that happens. Thanks for the insight.


Apple has to release it for the reset to go through.

Apple feels the need to control all aspects of their phones unlick  Android. You can buy an unlock code from a 3rd party vendor on the web to unlock a phone but you can't do that with Apple.


I’m having the same issue as nyc_1, regarding my iPhone 12 which was also a replacement thru Apple since it was still covered under warranty. Although, my device is locked, in the T-Mobile application not only does it say the status is unknown, but it say’s that my device is a 1st generation SE gray. Also, when I dial *#06# to get the imei and attempt to copy it, it takes me directly to the Fed Ex page. Any ideas as to what is happening with my phone?


Hi PinkAmber, 

Sorry for the late reply, i don’t monitor this thread as frequently as I should.

I finally contacted T-force through facebook messenger, and they managed to unlock my phone, after 72 hrs. I will summarize the story.

I have called T-mobile numerous time, talked to their tier 2 tech supports 3x, they all said the phone is fully unlocked, blah, blah. The phone status still says SIM Locked, after numerous “erase all”, with sim/without sim.

I also used the message option at the T-mobile app, apparently this is the not the same team as T-force. 
The app team also said the iphone is fully unlocked, but it’s still SIM Locked.

I spoke to apple’s tier 2 support, and they said unlocking is done by T-mobile (there is a debate here who actually does it). 

Finally, HeavenM in this forum urged me to contact T-force. Thank you HeavenM!
After reviewing my IMEI, the first positive sign was that he said “I can see that the iphone is trying to unlock but it’s still locked in our system.” I said, “That’s progress!” lolz. He then said, don’t worry, i will submit a ticket to our team that handles replacement iphone from apple store to have it unlock in 72 hrs. Today, i erased it again, and the iphone shows that it has No SIM Restrictions. Yes!!

So what happened is that when i first initially called, the CS manually put in the IMEI number. She “forced” the IMEI number in, Her words. What should have been done is that the IMEI number should go through a vetting process, so T-mobile system will accept it as theirs. Ironically, this is what i suggested the last 2 tech supports i spoke to. I told them to erase the IMEI number and submit it as new. Now. i don’t know if this matter, but the tech support team i spoke to were all after hours. I feel like they should know about this type of issue, and have access to the tool T-force has. My 2 cents. 

I leave my experience here, so others can learn from it. 
Thank you all, especially HeavenM.


I’m having the same issue as nyc_1, regarding my iPhone 12 which was also a replacement thru Apple since it was still covered under warranty. Although, my device is locked, in the T-Mobile application not only does it say the status is unknown, but it say’s that my device is a 1st generation SE gray. Also, when I dial *#06# to get the imei and attempt to copy it, it takes me directly to the Fed Ex page. Any ideas as to what is happening with my phone?

Especifically in you situation, contact T-force through facebook messenger and give them your imei number. You can get the imei number from Settings > General > About, scroll down to where your imei number is shown.


I’m having the same issue with T-Mobile. I’ve called 5 times to get my iPhone unlocked. @nyc_1 i am now following your advice by trying to communicate via messenger. Hopefully they can resolve this problem. I’m so ready to dump T-Mobile and go elsewhere.


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