Unlocking Iphone 7 , Does the sim need to remain in the phone until it is unlocked ?

[justwondering16]

Okay, we requested the unlock service from Vodafone for my wifes current phone Iphone 7, they have sent us a message stating it could take up to 48hrs to complete (that time has now passed) but main reason for unlocking the phone is so we can sell the phone as unlocked as my wifes new Iphone XR is been delivered today, she would like to use the XR with her current sim and not cause any unlocking issues with the Iphone 7.

But we are concerned that the vodafone sim will be required to be left in the Iphone 7 until we have been sent a message to say the device has been unlocked for all networks.

So can my wife remove the sim from the iphone 7 before it is unlocked and use the sim card on her new Iphone, or wait for the unlock notification from Vodafone as we do not want to mess up the unlock for the iphone 7.

I fully understand that my wifes sim will work in either phone without the unlock code as both phones are on Vodafone, but it is the unlock procedure that is the question.

We have called Vodafone a couple of times with regards to our query but we always seem to get conflicting adivce, infact one customer services member told us we would be sent a unlock code to type into the phone.....NOW i know that is totally incorrect as that is how you unlock an Android based phone....

Help and advice please ty.

[jeffkinn]

No you don't need to leave the Vodafone sim in it. But the timing of the unlock isn't certain. You will get a success message from Vodafone but that isn't the end of the process. It's Apple that actually finalises the unlock and you don't know when that's happened until a sim from another network is used in the phone and you get a success message. Apple can take a few days (sometimes many days) to process the unlock.

[justwondering16]

Hi Thank you for your reply, so would it be best to leave the phone switched on , connected to wifi until we receive the unlock message, will it comes as a email or a on screen system type message ?

We do have a spare sim from EE that I used in my dual sim Android phone, so I presume we can test to see if the phone is currently unlocked by using that sim in the phone?

[Theakstone]

The best thing to do is, put the EE sim in the 7 and switch it off. Then switch it on, say, each day until you get the EE service logo in the top left corner. By the way, there is no unlock code on an iPhone. 

[justwondering16]

Hi, Thank you for your reply, we recieved the your phone has been unlocked email yesterday, tried with an O2 spare sim and hey presto it worked a treat....just need to sell the old phone now