Phones bought on a contract or instalment plan are often locked to the carrier that sold them. A locked phone restricts which networks it will register on — including eSIM profiles from anyone else.
How to tell
- Ask your carrier directly. They can check the lock status against your IMEI and they are the only ones who can remove it.
- On an iPhone, Settings → General → About → Carrier Lock. “No SIM restrictions” means you are unlocked.
- If a friend’s SIM from a different carrier works in your phone, it is unlocked.
If it is locked
Most carriers unlock a phone once the contract is paid off, usually free and usually within a couple of days. Do this before you travel — it is much harder to arrange from abroad.
This affects refunds
We cannot tell whether your phone is locked before you buy. Once a plan is provisioned, the validity has started and it is no longer refundable, so please check first.