When your phone unlocks: seven carriers' rules, side by side

A phone bought from a carrier stays locked to it until you’ve met that carrier’s rules, and every carrier’s rules differ. Verizon unlocks postpaid phones automatically once they’re paid off. AT&T needs the phone bought more than 60 days ago and paid in full. T-Mobile needs 40 days of service and paid in full. Xfinity, Spectrum and Mint work on about 60 days. Cricket, and Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile prepaid phones, wait up to a year. This page is each carrier’s own policy, read on September 22, 2026.

When does each carrier unlock a phone?

Check this before you pay for a new plan. A locked phone won’t take another carrier’s SIM or eSIM, and the new carrier usually can’t tell until you try.

When does a Verizon phone unlock?

From Verizon’s device unlocking policy (page dated February 18, 2026):

• Postpaid phones are locked at purchase and unlock automatically once they were bought at full retail price or the device payment balance is paid in full. No request is needed.
• Prepaid phones stay locked until 365 days of paid and active service, then unlock automatically unless the phone is deemed stolen or bought fraudulently.
• A phone reported lost or stolen won’t unlock until it’s cleared, and paying with a Verizon Gift Card delays unlocking by 35 days.

When does an AT&T phone unlock?

From AT&T’s unlock page, all four have to be true:

1. The phone was bought more than 60 days ago, and isn’t active on another AT&T account.
2. It’s paid in full, either at purchase or with the installment balance at zero.
3. It hasn’t been reported lost, stolen or involved in fraud.
4. If you’re a current AT&T customer, your bill isn’t past due.

AT&T Prepaid phones can be unlocked after twelve months of service. You don’t need to be an AT&T customer to request an unlock for an AT&T phone; the same page has a request form.

When does a T-Mobile phone unlock?

From T-Mobile’s SIM unlock policy, the phone must have been sold by T-Mobile, not be reported lost, stolen or blocked, and be on an account in good standing. Then:

• Postpaid: active on T-Mobile for at least 40 days on the line asking for the unlock, and, if financed or leased, paid in full. On a cancelled account the balance must be zero.
• Prepaid: at least 365 days since the phone was activated, or, if sooner, more than $100 in refills on each line during that time, and more than 14 days since purchase. Other limits apply, including how many unlocks a line can have in a year.

T-Mobile unlocks eligible phones free of charge, and says that once a phone is eligible it “will automatically and remotely unlock the device within two business days” if the phone supports remote unlocking. A prepaid line can have no more than two unlocks in 12 months.

What if you still owe money on the phone?

On Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Xfinity and Spectrum, a financed phone stays locked until the balance is paid. Paying it off early is usually allowed, and the balance becomes due when you leave anyway, so the order that works is: pay off the phone, get it unlocked, then start the switch. The switching checklist puts that in sequence, and the transfer PIN guide covers the step after.

When does an Xfinity Mobile phone unlock?

From Xfinity’s unlock help page, all of these have to be true:

• The phone has been activated for at least 60 days.
• It’s paid in full.
• The Xfinity Mobile account has no past-due balance.
• It hasn’t been reported lost, stolen or involved in fraud.

“Most of the time, your phone unlocks automatically within 48 hours of being paid off.” Only the account holder, a Primary user or a Manager can ask for an unlock. Xfinity also says a locked phone can’t use another provider’s SIM abroad, so a travel eSIM won’t work on an Xfinity phone that hasn’t met these rules yet.

When does a Spectrum Mobile phone unlock?

From Spectrum’s unlock support page:

• Bought from Spectrum Mobile and activated on a Spectrum Mobile line.
• Paid off in full.
• Active on the Spectrum network for at least 60 calendar days.
• Account in good standing, and the phone not reported lost, stolen or involved in fraud.

Spectrum doesn’t unlock automatically: you call to request it, and it emails a confirmation.

When does a Mint Mobile phone unlock?

Mint’s help page says phones bought from Mint “will automatically be unlocked 60 days after activation on our network,” subject to requirements aimed at fraud, with an exception to the 60 days for deployed military.

When does a Cricket phone unlock?

From Cricket’s device unlock policy, revised July 1, 2026:

• The phone has been active for at least 365 days of paid service on that device.
• It’s locked to Cricket’s network, hasn’t been reported lost or stolen, and isn’t tied to a fraudulent account.

Cricket unlocks on request. That’s the longest wait on this page, and it matters if you’re buying a phone from Cricket in order to switch later: the phone is Cricket’s for a year.

What about Visible and Total Wireless?

Neither page could be read in a form I could quote on the day this was written: Visible’s unlock policy loads blank outside its app shell, and Total Wireless’s unlock page asks for a phone’s IMEI before it shows any rules. They’ll be added when they can be read. If your phone came from either, check the carrier’s app or support chat for your unlock date before you buy a new plan.

What if you bought the phone outright?

If you bought it from the manufacturer or a store that sells unlocked phones, it was probably never locked. Your phone’s settings usually say whether a carrier lock is on.

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Policies read from each carrier’s own page on September 22, 2026: Verizon’s and Cricket’s by direct fetch, the others in a browser because they render in JavaScript. Carriers change these rules; the page linked in each section is the one to trust.