How to Buy a Blacklisted iPhone that You Can Use to Save Money

The economy is bad during this COVID-19 pandemic, so if you’re looking on how to buy a blacklisted iPhone that you can use to save money, you came to the right place.

We all love great deals online because they can help us make the most for our money.

A few years ago, most of the carriers in around the world have started working together on blacklisting iPhone that are reported lost, stolen, missing or if it has unpaid bills.

In other words, these are iPhones with bad IMEI.

Due to this, iPhones that are blacklisted cannot be used on any carrier in the USA and sometimes at some South American countries such as Brazil.

Most of the time, a blacklisted iPhone is sold at amazingly low price.

How to Buy a Cheap Blacklisted iPhone?

Some people are not aware the implications of buying a blacklisted iPhone due to impulse purchase.

We often encounter people who got screwed after mistakenly buying such iPhone.

We would like to share with you on how to properly buy a blacklisted iPhone so that you can still use it elsewhere around the world.

The following tips are written based on our experience handling with blacklisted iPhone.

Find out the Carrier

Firstly, it’s important to find out which carrier the iPhone is locked to.

There’s also a possibility that the iPhone is already unlocked.

As an example, the 4 biggest carriers in the USA are AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon. There are some other smaller carriers as well.

Knowing the carrier first will give you some indication on what it takes to make the phone usable again.

Check the IMEI Status

What IMEI status do you need to check exactly? This is when you check whether it’s blacklisted or not.

The IMEI is the 15-digit identifier that’s unique for each iPhone. It can be found under Settings > General > About.

iPhone that’s not blacklisted is known as clean device, clean IMEI or good IMEI.

There are free tools available online for you to check the status. Most US carriers have made their tools available online:

• AT&T IMEI checker (free) – a clean IMEI will show as eligible for activation
• T-Mobile IMEI checker (free) – it will show device as blocked or financed
• Sprint IMEI checker (paid) – returns result as financed (unpaid bills), lost and stolen
• Verizon IMEI checker (free) – this will show whether device is eligible for activation or not
• Generic IMEI checker (free) – provides free check for all carriers but results may not be 100% accurate

Check the Unlock Eligibility

Most iPhones can be unlocked nowadays compared to a few years ago.

Those who have purchased unlocking service from some of the carriers need extreme patience especially if they are reported lost or stolen as it requires time to be unlocked.

Nonetheless, not to worry as mostly can be unlocked.

Check the iCloud Activation Status

This is extremely important. If you buy an iPhone that needs activation using iCloud account, there’s a risk that you can never use it.

Check with the seller if the iCloud activation has been removed or deactivated.

Otherwise, it will be very costly to remove the iCloud but it’s still possible. You can order the iCloud unlock here.

iPhone Blacklist Removal Eligibility

iPhone from the following carriers can have the blockage or blacklist removed using the services here.

T-Mobile blacklist removal service currently has the best turnaround time. Other supported carriers

Our Recommendation – What’s the Best Carrier to Buy a Blacklisted iPhone?

After handling iPhones for the past 9 years, we recommend that you get an iPhone that is locked to T-Mobile USA, UK O2 or even AT&T.

This is because it’s possible to remove the blacklist in a timely manner and the unlock service is also stable and fast.

All the information above is valid as at June 2020.

I hope that you find this article in time before making your purchase of blacklisted iPhone. If you find this article useful, please like or share it!