Used iPhones, the best choice to enjoy the power of iOS on your palm with less money from your pocket. For used iPhones, you can check for cosmetic or display screen damage and hardware damages when you get iPhone in hand. There are a couple of other things that should check on the iPhone before paying money to the seller.
When you buy used iPhones from online stores, there is no freedom to check all these details. However, there are a couple of other details like warranty check, Activation check, etc., which you can perform if you can obtain the Serial number or IMEI number from the seller.
We have listed used iPhone software checklist for online buyers who have limited freedom to check the details before they get the phone in hand.
1 Check iPhone IMEI Number & Serial Number
2 Make Sure iPhone is Original
3 Check iPhone is Compatible with Your Provider
You have to make sure the phone is compatible with your service provider. You may require iPhone model number to check this. Usually, iPhones are coming in either GSM or CDMA or both in the same model. For example in the US, AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM and phones are compatible with each other. These phones won’t work with Verizon or Sprint; both providers are CDMA.
You should know what type of phone you are going to buy and you can verify with iPhones’ model number. Once you have the iPhone model number (can get back case of the iPhone or from iOS Settings > General > About > Model) there is an article Identify your iPhone model published by Apple that describes the technology used in each phone model.
Related: Make Sure These Pins are Unlocked When you Buy Used iPhones.
4 Make sure the iPhone is Career Unlocked
Apple was selling two types of iPhone before, locked version and an unlocked version (check best-unlocked iPhones from Amazon) with IMEI Number. There are a couple of choices to check the phone is career/SIM unlocked or not.
Test with a Different SIM
If you already have the phone with you, turn off the phone and replace the SIM with a different career network. Turn on the phone back you will be able to make calls with a new SIM if the phone is unlocked one.
Contact Original iPhone Service Provider
This is another worry-free method. When you buy a used iPhone, you have to contact the current network provider with phone serial or IMEI number. This way you can make sure the network provider unlocks the phone.
Check with Online Tools
If you don’t have the freedom to do the above two methods, the last option is to depend on an online tool like IMEI INFO that displays the iPhone status if you provide the IMEI / Serial number of the phone. We prefer this is the last resort, because this online report may not be accurate always.
5 Check iPhone Warranty
6 Make sure iPhone is Not Stolen or Activation Locked
