AT&T iPhones successfully unlocked, restore process will remove jailbreak

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

Members of the iMore nation started hitting AT&T yesterday, the moment the previously announced official unlocks for iPhone became available, and so far the results have been successful but mixed. Forum member Irish Rose reports a successful iPhone 4 unlock, tested and working on T-Mobile EDGE. Reader Juan Tarrio, however, was told his iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G unlocks would require approval and that he'd hear back by April 16.

Once AT&T has entered your iPhone IMEI number into Apple's database, you'll receive the following email confirmation:

Thank you for contacting AT&T Customer Care about your unlocking your iPhone.

We have reviewed your request and determined you are eligible to have the requested iPhone unlocked.

To complete the unlock simply:

  1. Open iTunes on your Mac or PC and verify that you have internet connectivity
  2. Connect your iPhone using the dock connector to USB cable that came with your iPhone
  3. Backup and restore your iPhone using iTunes

Note: Since the unlock process requires your iPhone be restored via iTunes, that means it will remove any jailbreak currently on the device. If you were only jailbroken in order to be unlocked, that won't matter and you can go ahead and restore to your heart's content. If you have an iPhone 4S and have been holding back on iOS 5.1 until a nicely packaged, untethered jailbreak is released, you may want to hold off on restoring, or do without your jailbreak for a while.

Did you get your iPhone officially unlocked by AT&T? Jump into our forums and let us know how it went.

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.