globally unlock Sony Xperia XZ1 series smartphone manually (if not unlocked at factory)?

[waysidesc]

is it possible to globally unlock (for gsm) a Sony Xperia XZ1 series smartphone manually (without it being factory unlocked)?

 

i tried to search for information but details were ... conflicting ...

... and i am not proficient with such ideas ...

 

also would there be any difference between factory unlocked or manually unlocked? would factory unlocking and manually unlocking be identical? even after a factory reset or so?

 

please let me know.

 

i'm sorry for asking of so many things.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

part of your confusion may be the fact that there are different types of unlocking. are you wanting to carrier unlock the phone so you can move carriers or are you wanting to unlock the bootloader so you can load custom ROMs?

[waysidesc]

3 hours ago, Brandon H said:

part of your confusion may be the fact that there are different types of unlocking. are you wanting to carrier unlock the phone so you can move carriers or are you wanting to unlock the bootloader so you can load custom ROMs?

i'm so sorry.

 

carrier unlocking is what i meant.

 

custom roms are unnecessary to me at this point as Android 9 is still supported.

 

it just has me so confused.

 

i worry about unlocking to a specific carrier (if that is even possible)?

 

i just want to use any gsm carrier anywhere in the world.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

as long as you're not locked to a contract anymore you can usually contact the carrier it's locked to and request an unlock code. they'll usually provide the code for free and instructions on how to use it.

 

if they give you pushback or you bought the device 3rd party and never activated it on the carrier then you can get one from a 3rd party unlocker service; some are free, some you have to pay a small fee. looks like this one is free https://sim-unlock.net/simlock/Sony/Xperia_XZ1/

 

edit: here's another site you can try as well https://www.unlockradar.com/unlock-sony/xperia-xz1

[waysidesc]

36 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

as long as you're not locked to a contract anymore you can usually contact the carrier it's locked to and request an unlock code. they'll usually provide the code for free and instructions on how to use it.

 

if they give you pushback or you bought the device 3rd party and never activated it on the carrier then you can get one from a 3rd party unlocker service; some are free, some you have to pay a small fee. looks like this one is free https://sim-unlock.net/simlock/Sony/Xperia_XZ1/

 

edit: here's another site you can try as well https://www.unlockradar.com/unlock-sony/xperia-xz1

are third-party unlocker services safe? and do...they do the same thing that a carrier would?

 

also, would there be any difference from a factory unlocked phone (other than not being unlocked at the factory)? no security issues or the like?

 

and factory resets would not affect the unlocked status?

 

i'm sorry for such 'out there' questions. i've not manually unlocked a phone before and want to be sure of things before proceeding.

 

thank you for your help !

 

please let me know !

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I usually buy unlocked models since I tend to use no-contract carriers but from what I've heard no factory resetting should not effect the lock status.

 

the 3rd party services are as safe as any other; I believe it's an algorithm that generates the codes based on the phone model and IMEI on the phone. whether or not these 3rd parties are supposed to have the algorithm or not I can not tell you but I can say they became quite common around the time carriers became ###### about unlocking devices because they didn't want people moving carriers. since then the carriers have laxed up a bit but the 3rd parties still stay around just in case.

 

edit: as the sites say though; just pop in your SIM card and see if it works. If it does you're good to go and don't need to worry. If it needs unlocked then it will usually popup the prompt asking for the unlock code

[waysidesc]

On 3/3/2020 at 12:53 PM, Brandon H said:

I usually buy unlocked models since I tend to use no-contract carriers but from what I've heard no factory resetting should not effect the lock status.

 

the 3rd party services are as safe as any other; I believe it's an algorithm that generates the codes based on the phone model and IMEI on the phone. whether or not these 3rd parties are supposed to have the algorithm or not I can not tell you but I can say they became quite common around the time carriers became ###### about unlocking devices because they didn't want people moving carriers. since then the carriers have laxed up a bit but the 3rd parties still stay around just in case.

 

edit: as the sites say though; just pop in your SIM card and see if it works. If it does you're good to go and don't need to worry. If it needs unlocked then it will usually popup the prompt asking for the unlock code

I wanted to come back to this to write that managed to purchase one that was already unlocked ... actually more than one, but ...

 

Thank you so much for this reply though ! I recall it when thinking of unlocked phones and it always makes me know that I am more knowledgeable because of you !