My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: How to Unlock your Apple iPhone - Backup, Erase and Restore with iOS Setup Assistant

Saturday, March 1, 2014

How to Unlock your Apple iPhone - Backup, Erase and Restore with iOS Setup Assistant

Unlocking smartphones is now one step away from being fully legal in the United States of America. The Lower House (U.S. House of Representatives) voting 295-114 on Tuesday February 25th 2014 to pass a Bill for consideration by the Upper House (Senate) to be ratified into Law as reported in the article “U.S. House passes bill on mobile phone 'unlocking'”, published Tue Feb 25, 2014 7:51pm EST, Reuters.


An agreement has been reached on December 2013 between the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and the CTIA, the trade group that represents the carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon Wireless  as stated in “Wireless carriers, FCC agree on 'unlocking' cellphones”, published Thu Dec 12, 2013 12:37pm EST BY ALINA SELYUKH, Reuterssmartphone unlocking all but became legal.

A lot of petitioning by Apple iPhone -loving Americans had put pressure on Congress and the President to allow Americans the right to unlock their smartphones and put it on whatever Network they desired as explained in my blog article entitled FCC and CTIA says Unlocking cellphones legal on Thursday December 12 2013 – Torch Bearing Mob Petition's President and Congress thus making CTIA blink and concede People Power”.

Well, they’re closer to that reality, which is why I did my blog article entitled Free and Paid Professional Software to unlock smartphones unto any Network - The Nut Job on Unlocking any Feature or Smartphone” on the different free and paid software to unlock smartphones. I await the vote in the Senate.

In this article I’ll tackle the unlocking of one particular and very popular smartphone that a lucky few Jamaican can afford to buy unlocked: The Apple iPhone

How to unlock the Apple iPhone – Apple now endorses it with their own instructions

Of late, I’ve been getting request to unlock Apple iPhones. Crazy requests sometimes involving crazy amounts of money! I’ve been using my own advice as laid out in my blog article entitled “How to unlock any phone and put it on any Network - Guaranteed to unlock any Feature or Smartphone on the Chennai Express” and making decent money from unlocking smartphones.

I usually charge JA$3000 to unlock Apple iPhones . Google Android Smartphones, oweing to the ease with which it can be done using the software listed in Free and Paid Professional Software to unlock smartphones unto any Network - The Nut Job on Unlocking any Feature or Smartphone” also attract a similar Fee.

The procedure as laid out in my blog article entitled “How to unlock any phone and put it on any Network - Guaranteed to unlock any Feature or Smartphone on the Chennai Express” is really to restore the smartphone to Factory Settings. Curiously Apple themselves has a similar Procedure to Unlock smartphones on their Website that merely involves Apple iTunes. Thus I’ll use that procedure in the following steps with illustrations.

The steps to unlock an Apple iPhones are as follows:

3.     Complete the Setup Assistant

Before you begin any of these procedures, makes sure you have your Apple iPhone and the following necessary things:

1.     Original Apple iPhone Cable
2.     Access to a computer with Broadband Internet
3.     The latest version of Apple iTunes installed

I usually don’t do this procedure for the client unless they provide their own Cable, mainly because many of my customers, from MICO Teachers College and St. Josephs’ Teacher’s College Students to high profile Executive lawyers tend to be very superstitious and think that if I use my cable it’ll work.

In reality, it really makes no difference. Strange but that’s my procedure as what follow takes approximately three (3) hours hence the JA$3000 charge!

Backup your Apple iPhone – Set good like Ice inna Freeza for Apple iCloud or Apple iTunes

The procedure to Back up your Apple iPhone can involve doing the backup on either Apple Cloud or on Apple iTunes on your local computer. I usually prefer Apple iTunes, as Apple iCloud requires that you have very fast Broadband or you’ll be sitting down for a few hours.

For Backup on Apple iCloud, the procedure is as follows:

1.     Go to Settings
2.     Tap iCloud then Storage & Backup
3.     Turn on iCloud Backup if it's off

4.     Tap Back Up Now


For Backup on Apple iTunes, the procedure is as follows:

1.     Connect your iOS device to your computer via its cable
2.     On the Apple iTunes choose File
3.     Select Devices
4.     Select Back up
5.     Right-click the device from the list and choose Backup Now (Apple iTunes 10.7 or earlier)

Alternately you can also Synch your Apple iPhone to Apple iTunes Backup is the first step. Open iTunes Preferences and select the Devices tab when the onscreen progress bar indicates that the backup is finished. The Backup will be time stamped with date and time Apple iTunes created it

Erase your Apple iPhone – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow for a Fresh Start

Erasing the Apple iPhone comes in two flavours:

1.     Erasure (You know the password for your Apple iPhone)
2.     Restoration (You know the password for your Apple iPhone)

If you know the password for your Apple iPhone, the procedure is an erasure and is as follows:

1.     Connect your Apple iPhone to a charger during the erasure process
2.     On the Apple iPhone tap Settings
3.     Then go to General
4.     Tap Reset and then Erase all Content and Settings

If you don’t know the password for your Apple iPhone, the procedure is a restoration and is as follows:

1.     Disconnect your USB cable to your iPhone and your computer, leaving the other end connected to your computer.
2.     Start the Apple iTunes program that the Apple iPhone will request onscreen in preparation for the procedure
3.     Turn off your iPhone by pushing the Sleep/Wake Button on the top of the Phone
4.     Move the on-screen slider as directed when it appears on your iPhone.
5.     Wait for the device to shut down.
6.     Turn your iPhone on by pressing and holding the Home Button and reconnect the USB cable to the device.
7.     Continue holding the Home Button until you see the Connect to iTunes on the Apple iPhone screen.
8.     Apple iTunes program will prompt you in your Apple iPhone is locked and is in need of Restoration
9.     Click on the Summary Tab when the Apple iTunes program starts on your computer
10. Click on the “Restore iPhone” Button in the Apple iTunes program.
11. It’ll begin to download the new firmware for the Apple iPhone to update the device. The Apple iPhone may disconnect during this period. Merely repeat procedures 1-8 and start the Restoration using the downloaded iPhone Software Update. 
12. Setting New Passcode
13. Select the “Settings” icon on your iPhone.
14. Click on “General Settings” option
15. Choose the option for the passcode lock
16. Enter a four-digit code that will be used in the future to unlock your iPhone
17. Enter the four-digit code a second time to confirm and set the code
18. Select how often you want your iPhone to require the passcode to be entered.

Restore the Apple iPhone – Apple iPhone arises from the Dead

If you had done a Backup, you can restore it to your erased Apple iPhone using iOS Setup Assistant. The procedure again depends on whether or not you’d stored your Backup on Apple iCloud or in Apple iTunes

For restoring a backup from Apple iCloud, the procedure is as follows:

1.     Initialize the iOS Setup Assistant 
2.     Select Restore from iCloud Backup when the iOS Setup Assistant asks you to set up your iPhone
3.     Select the backup you created earlier

4.     Wait patiently until the procedure is complete



For restoring a backup from Apple iTunes, the procedure is as follows:

1.     Connect your iOS device to the computer that has Apple iTunes and you previous backup
2.     Select File from the top menu
3.     Then select Devices and then Restore from Back up.
4.     Right-click your Apple iPhone device from the list

5.     Choose Restore from Backup (Apple iTunes 10.7 or earlier)


Finally to unlock your Apple iPhone, you’ll need the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identification) number for your Apple iPhone. There are a variety of ways to obtain the IMEI for you Apple iPhone.


By far the best way is to use #06*# (if you know the password for your Apple iPhone) or look on the Micro or Nano-SIM (Subscriber Identification Number) of your Apple iPhone 4 or on the back of you Apple iPhone 3GS or older, which will have the IMEI and Serial Number etched.

Once you have it, go to the following free websites to obtain a free unlock code for your Apple iPhone:

2.     Cell Unlock
3.     Unlock River
4.     Unlock Panda
5.     Iphone OS Unlock
6.     UnlockThatPhone


That’s it dear reader!

Your Apple iPhone should be unlocked and in the process updated with the latest version of iOS for that Apple iPhone. Best of all, for this procedure, which usually last a good 3 hours, I only charge JA$3000, not JA$6000 like other places!

Remember Apple fans, Think Different!

For more information, read the below instructions direct from Apple on Unlocking your Apple iPhone:



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