Can I sell an AT&T-locked iPhone?

Yes, as long as it is paid off and has not been reported lost or stolen. Carrier locked means the phone only accepts AT&T SIMs — it does not mean you don't own it. You can sell it locked, or unlock it first and sell it for more. The only two things that genuinely block a sale are an unpaid installment balance and a lost/stolen report on the IMEI.

What are AT&T's requirements to unlock an iPhone in 2026?

AT&T lists four requirements for a postpaid AT&T Wireless device: it must have been purchased more than 60 days ago; the installment balance must be zero, either paid in full at purchase or paid off; the device must not have been reported lost, stolen or involved in fraud; and if you are a current AT&T customer, your bill cannot be past due. AT&T Prepaid is different — it requires 12 months of paid AT&T service.

How long before Verizon and T-Mobile will unlock a phone?

T-Mobile postpaid requires the device to have been active on the T-Mobile network for at least 40 days on the requesting line, with any financing or lease paid in full and the account in good standing; T-Mobile prepaid requires 365 days since activation, or more than $100 in refills per line in that period. Verizon postpaid devices unlock once they are bought at full retail price or the device financing agreement balance is paid in full; Verizon prepaid stays locked until 365 days of paid and active service. Metro by T-Mobile requires 365 days since activation.

Should I unlock my iPhone before selling it?

If you qualify, yes — carriers do it free and an unlocked phone sells to a much larger pool of buyers, so it is worth more. If you don't qualify, because you are inside the waiting period or no longer have access to the account, selling it locked is a normal transaction. Just sell it to a buyer who prices locked stock properly rather than one that treats locked as a defect.

Does an AT&T-locked iPhone work on Verizon or T-Mobile?

No. A locked iPhone only accepts SIMs and eSIMs from the carrier it is locked to, so an AT&T-locked handset will not take service from Verizon, T-Mobile or most MVNOs until AT&T releases the lock. Check yours under Settings, General, About — if the Carrier Lock line says 'No SIM restrictions' it is already unlocked.

How to sell an AT&T-locked iPhone (and what it's actually worth)

Written by Fusion Upgrade LLC, a Rochester-based electronics buyer operating since 2018 · Last updated August 2026

Short answer: You can sell it. An AT&T-locked iPhone that is paid off and has never been reported lost or stolen is yours to sell like any other phone — the lock restricts which network it uses, not who owns it. You have two routes: ask AT&T to unlock it first (free, and it raises the price), or sell it locked to a buyer who actually has an outlet for locked stock.

AT&T will unlock a postpaid device once it was bought more than 60 days ago, the instalment balance is zero, it is not reported lost, stolen or fraudulent, and your bill is current. If you fail any of those, don't panic — you can still sell it locked. The one situation with no legitimate route is a phone you still owe money on or that has been reported stolen.

First: is it locked, financed, or both?

Most people who search for this are actually dealing with two overlapping problems at once, and they need different answers. Sort it out before you do anything else:

Carrier locked is a software restriction. Check it in Settings → General → About → Carrier Lock. "No SIM restrictions" means it's already unlocked.
Financed means you still owe on an instalment plan. It lives in your AT&T account, not on the phone. Check your remaining device balance in the myAT&T app or on your bill.
Blacklisted means the IMEI was reported lost or stolen to the GSMA registry. Check free at stolenphonechecker.org.
iCloud / activation locked means Find My is still on. Different problem again — and one you can fix yourself in a minute if it's your Apple Account.

We break all four apart in detail in who buys carrier-locked iPhones. Notice the ordering: AT&T won't unlock a phone with an outstanding instalment balance, so if you're financed and locked, the finance question comes first.

AT&T's unlock requirements, exactly as AT&T states them

From AT&T's own device unlock page, for a postpaid AT&T Wireless device:

Device bought 60+ days ago. "You purchased your AT&T Wireless device more than 60 days ago."
Device paid in full. "Your installment balance must be zero before unlocking."
Not reported lost or stolen. "Your device hasn't been reported lost, stolen, or involved in fraud."
Account is current. If you're still an AT&T customer, the bill can't be past due.

Two variations worth knowing. AT&T Prepaid is much stricter: it needs 12 months of paid AT&T service, and the device must not be active on another AT&T account. AT&T Business devices additionally need any contract or term agreement completed, and a device upgraded early off a two-year contract carries a 30-day wait.

You do not need to still be an AT&T customer. AT&T accepts unlock requests from former customers too, so an iPhone sitting in a drawer since you switched networks is usually still unlockable. You'll need the IMEI — dial *#06#.

Carrier-by-carrier unlock requirements, 2026

These are the carriers' own published policies as of August 2026. They change; check the source links before relying on them.

Carrier	Time requirement	Payment requirement	Other conditions
AT&T postpaid	Purchased more than 60 days ago	Instalment balance must be zero	Not reported lost/stolen/fraud; account not past due
AT&T Prepaid	12 months of paid AT&T service	—	Not active on another AT&T account; not lost/stolen/fraud
Verizon postpaid	No waiting period stated	Bought at full retail price, or device financing balance paid in full — then unlocks automatically	Devices reported lost or stolen are not unlocked until cleared
Verizon prepaid	365 days of paid and active service	—	Auto-unlock unless flagged stolen or fraudulent; 60 days for deployed military
T-Mobile postpaid	Active on the network 40 days on the requesting line	Financed or leased devices paid in full; cancelled accounts must have a zero balance	Sold by T-Mobile; not lost/stolen/blocked; account in good standing
T-Mobile prepaid	365 days since activation — or less, with more than $100 in refills per line in that period	—	Max 2 unlocks per line in any 12 months
Metro by T-Mobile	365 days since activation	—	Purchased from Metro; not lost/stolen/blocked

The pattern across all of them: prepaid is roughly a year, postpaid is weeks-to-immediately but hinges on the device being paid off. If you remember one thing, remember that the finance balance, not the calendar, is usually what's actually stopping you.

What changed in 2026, and why it matters

For years Verizon was the odd one out. As a condition of its 2007 purchase of 700 MHz C Block spectrum, Verizon alone was barred from locking handsets on those frequencies, softened by a 2019 partial waiver that let it lock for 60 days after activation. AT&T and T-Mobile were never bound by anything equivalent.

On January 12, 2026, the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted Verizon's request to be released from that obligation (order DA 26-43), on the argument that the automatic 60-day unlock was being exploited by organised device-theft and trafficking operations. In its place, Verizon committed to the industry's voluntary CTIA Consumer Code:

"Verizon has committed to fully comply with the unlocking policies in the CTIA Consumer Code for Wireless Service, which includes handset unlocking commitments" — under which carriers unlock prepaid devices "no later than one year after initial activation" and postpaid devices "after the fulfillment of the applicable postpaid service contract, device financing plan, or payment of an applicable early termination fee." — Federal Communications Commission, Order DA 26-43, released January 12, 2026

The waiver "will remain in effect until such time as the Commission decides on an appropriate industry-wide approach." That approach is still undecided: the FCC's July 2024 rulemaking, which tentatively proposed a uniform 60-day unlocking requirement for every carrier, remains pending — and AT&T and T-Mobile both filed against it.

The practical upshot for a seller: there is no longer any US-wide legal deadline by which your carrier must unlock your phone. Everything now runs on each carrier's own published policy plus a voluntary code. That's why the table above matters more than any general rule you may have read, and why anyone telling you "carriers have to unlock after 60 days" is working from pre-2026 information.

Is it worth unlocking before you sell?

If you qualify: yes, almost always. Carriers don't charge for it, requests are typically processed within a couple of business days, and an unlocked iPhone can be sold to any buyer anywhere rather than only to buyers with an AT&T outlet. More bidders, higher price. That's the whole argument.

If you don't qualify, the calculation flips. Waiting weeks to clear a 60-day window costs you real money, because used iPhone prices fall continuously and fastest right after a new model launches. In most cases selling promptly at the locked price beats holding the phone for a month to sell at the unlocked price.

Do not pay a third-party "unlocking service." Apple is explicit that it cannot unlock an iPhone for another carrier and that only your carrier can — so anyone selling you an unlock outside the carrier's own process is selling something they don't control.

What an AT&T-locked iPhone is actually worth

Less than unlocked, and we're not going to pretend to a precise universal percentage — there is no credible public dataset behind the numbers you'll see quoted, and the real figure swings hard by model, carrier and month. What we can tell you is the mechanism, which is more useful anyway:

An unlocked iPhone can be resold to anyone on any network. A locked one can only be resold by someone with a channel for that specific carrier. Fewer bidders, lower price.
The gap is widest on current flagships, where unlocked demand is strongest, and narrowest on older models, where the lock matters less to the eventual owner.
A locked phone that is unlock-eligible — paid off, past the waiting period, clean IMEI — is worth more than one that isn't, because the next owner has a realistic path to unlocking it.
Who you sell to changes the number more than the lock does. A retail-facing buyback site reselling one unit to one US shopper has almost no use for locked stock. A wholesaler that aggregates locked units into lots does.

The tactical advice: get a quote for your exact model, storage, carrier and condition rather than trusting a blanket percentage, and be upfront about the lock. Sites that quote you an unlocked price and re-grade the device on arrival are the single most common complaint in the mail-in buyback category.

Verizon-locked and T-Mobile-locked iPhones

Everything above applies, with the requirements from the table swapped in. Two differences worth flagging:

Verizon postpaid is the easiest case in the industry right now — pay the device off, or buy it outright, and it unlocks automatically with no waiting period. If you have a paid-off Verizon iPhone that still reads as locked, check Settings → General → About → Carrier Lock before assuming; it may already have released.
T-Mobile prepaid and Metro are the hardest — a full 365 days, and T-Mobile caps you at two unlocks per line per year. A Metro phone bought six months ago is realistically going to be sold locked.

Locked Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel handsets follow the same carrier policies; the checks differ (on Android, Settings → About phone → SIM status, or try a SIM from another network).

Where we fit, and what we won't buy

Fusion Upgrade LLC has bought and resold devices from Rochester, New York since 2018 and is rated 4.9 out of 5 across 174 Google reviews. We buy carrier-locked iPhones — AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and others — because we also operate as a wholesale distributor with export and specialist buyer channels, so locked stock has a real destination rather than being an awkward exception. We buy sealed, used, cracked, water-damaged and non-working devices too, plus Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, AirPods and Beats.

You get an instant online quote, the price is locked for 3 days, and you either ship free with a prepaid worldwide label or drop off locally by appointment in Rochester, Syracuse or Buffalo. Payment goes out within hours of arrival and inspection by PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, Apple Cash — or cash in person.

What we cannot buy, in any condition or at any price:

Phones with an unpaid instalment or financing balance. The lender still has a claim on the device. See selling a phone that's still on a payment plan for the legitimate routes.
Devices reported lost or stolen, or blacklisted on the GSMA registry.
iCloud / activation-locked devices — parts-only quote, and only where the seller is the verified owner.

Selling an AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile locked iPhone? Pick your model, storage, carrier and condition and see a real number in about a minute — no email required.

Get your instant quote

Price locked 3 days · Free prepaid shipping worldwide, or local cash drop-off by appointment · Call or WhatsApp (585) 397-5455

Who buys carrier-locked iPhones? Can you sell an iPhone still on a payment plan? Where to sell your phone in Rochester, NY

Sources

AT&T, Device unlock — eligibility and request, and "Unlock your AT&T phone or device".
Verizon, Device Unlocking Policy, updated February 18, 2026.
T-Mobile, SIM Unlock Policy.
Metro by T-Mobile, Phone Unlock Policy, updated August 11, 2025.
Federal Communications Commission, Order DA 26-43 — Verizon 700 MHz C Block handset-unlocking waiver, released January 12, 2026.
Federal Register, "Promoting Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Through Handset Unlocking Requirements and Policies" — the FCC's 2024 proposal for a uniform 60-day unlocking rule, still pending.
Apple Support, "How to unlock your iPhone for use with a different carrier".
CTIA, Stolen Phone Checker — free lost/stolen IMEI lookup.
Fusion Upgrade LLC — Google Business Profile rating, 4.9/5 across 174 reviews, retrieved August 2026.