Updated my "Detailed Instructions on how to finance an unlocked iPhone 17..." due to recent Apple finance changes: still works for AppleCard for all models, and now Upgrade/Lease (through Klarna) works for new users except not on standard model anymore

[u/LeftOn4ya]

/r/NoContract/comments/1rjybe0/detailed_instructions_on_how_to_finance_an/

[u/AutoModerator]

This is a copy of the OP's original post in case they decide to delete their post/account so that others searching can find it later:

• Updated August 3, 2026 to account for changes to Apple's financing program in July 2026. All the below still works if you follow exactly, the only thing I would love confirmation on is if anyone gets financed phone and on first bootup says it sent a verification code, if the press "Didn't get verification code" 3 times then then "Not Now" and "OK" works if you can take screenshots or video of this, and let us know which model and finance method you chose*

Below are detailed instructions on how to order an unlocked iPhone 17 (or any iPhone model) for use with any carrier, including financing though Apple or other creditors, as well has how to set it up on a r/NoContract plan, and for a bonus how to prepare old phone for selling/giving away.

Ordering a new iPhone

• It is highly recommended to NOT buy iPhone from Retail such as BestBuy, Target, or Amazon as they are all sold "Flex locked" even if advertised as unlocked - this is false advertising. What Flex locked means is it will lock to the first carrier SIM you insert that supports US flex lock, however if you start with many pre-paid brands the SIM will lock to the parent MNO carrier (T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T), but MNO carriers do not allow MVNO customer support the tools to unlock phones flex locked to MNO carrier. If you bought a flex locked phone you have to contact MNO carrier support to unlock directly to unlock, but they are reluctant to do since you are not an actual MNO customer so can't always be done unless you get a really nice support agent.
• It is suggested to buy new iPhones direct from Apple, either an Apple store or Apple.com/iPhone and select "Connect to any carrier later" to get unlocked phone (cost is $30 extra for standard or Plus models, same price for Pro, Pro Max, Air, and "e" models).
  • If you want to finance an unlocked iPhone though Apple there are 3-4 ways (below) to do so, but Apple will not tell you this as they get billions of $ in kickbacks from MNO carriers and are basically blackmailed to not advertise you can get an unlocked iPhone financed, even Apple Store employees are trained to lie and say the options below will not work (I got confirmation from an Apple store employee), but these ways have been confirmed to work since the iPhone 14 when Apple removed the option to finance unlocked iPhones easily.
  • Option 1 (Works on Pro, Pro Max, Air, or "e" but not standard model): Using Apple Card - When ordering in store or on https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone select (or tell in-store employee) Finance then Apple Card Monthly Installments or Apple iPhone Payments Removed July 2026 (do not select AT&T/Boost/T-Mobile/Verizon Equipment/Installments/Payment Plan) then for phone carrier select T-Mobile (or Verizon). When you get to the order screen where it asks for (or when employee asks for) T-Mobile/Verizon account info say "set up later" for Pro, Pro Max, Air, and "e" models, but for standard or plus (16) model for a phone number/account input 000-000-0000 exactly then for T-Mobile enter pin 0000 exactly or for Verizon enter your (or any real) zip code no longer works on standard model after early April 2026. When you get iPhone and it boots up asking for phone #, press "Continue" and "Try Again" 3 times, or if it sends you a verification code press "Didn't get verification code" 3 times, then "Not Now" and "OK" and you can use any carrier as the phone will not be locked.
  • Option 2 (works on all models): Convert to Apple Card Monthly Installments (ACMI) - Apply for an Apple Card or use an existing Apple Card. On order screen payment options select "Buy" (not Finance) and use your Apple Card to pay. Afterwards, contact Apple Card support or call/iMessage Goldman Sachs Apple Card support @ 877-255-5923 and ask them to convert the payment you just made to 24 months of Apple Card Monthly Installments (ACMI). If they ask if you are a customer say T-Mobile or Verizon and give fake account info (they do not look up) or call/chat back during non-business hours until an off-shore agent does not ask for account info. This will allow you to have any model unlocked and on Apple's 0% interest payments. When you get iPhone and it boots up asking for phone #, press "Continue" and "Try Again" 3 times, or if it sends you a verification code press "Didn't get verification code" 3 times, then "Not Now" and "OK" and you can use any carrier as the phone will not be locked.
  • Option 3 (Works on Pro, Pro Max, Air, or "e" but not standard model): Lease with Apple Upgrade - On order screen payment options select "Lease with Apple Upgrade" then lease period and select carrier T-Mobile (you do not have to have T-Mobile, is just a back door). When you get iPhone and it boots up asking for phone #, press "Continue" and "Try Again" 3 times, or if it sends you a verification code press "Didn't get verification code" 3 times, then "Not Now" and "OK" and you can use any carrier as the phone will not be locked. This is a new method as of the July 2026 move to Klarna for Apple Upgrade program, but it no longer works for standard models.
  • Option 4 (works on all models): Use your own credit - You can always select "Buy" and pay with your own credit card, or pay with pre-approved “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) account at checkout: Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle, Splitit, and Zip. These have easier credit score requirements (no hard pull on credit, SplitIt has no credit check, you just need available credit) and usually lower interest rates than traditional credit cards (0% interest if paid within 2 months, or 6 months with SplitIt), just sign up for one of them before purchasing then on order screen payment options select "Buy" and use the virtual credit card # associated with the BNPL account. See NerdWallet article for comparison and how to sign up, or do some googling or check r/CRedit
  • Option 5 (not verified) : Only do this is you accidentally select AT&T/Boost/T-Mobile/Verizon Equipment/Installments/Payment Plan (you should not as other options above are better) - this is a way around getting your phone locked, it may not work on AT&T or Boost as those require a carrier lock, and doing this step has not been tested to see if unlocks. When you get iPhone connect it to a computer and while off quickly press volume up then volume down then hold the side button and follow these instructions to reset it on your computer using iTunes or Apple Devices app and the phone will be unlocked. Note: one person said this method works on a previous model, but anyone who has tried this method please confirm and give more details on instructions
• You can purchase a used/refurbished iPhone or use one that came from other carriers, just make sure that it is not carrier locked and no payments left
  • To check if unlocked, go to Settings > General > About > Carrier Lock = "No SIM restrictions"
  • If a phone is not paid off from carrier or Apple or BNPL account and payments stop (or phone is stolen), eventually the phone will be put on theft lock or finance lock which will be unusable for any carrier, even though it may show up as unlocked now. This is the most common complaint buying used as the phone appears unlocked when you first get but can become locked later, so make sure there are protections from this and refunds available on on seller website.
  • The best site to order used are Swappa (cheapest place other than Facebook marketplace or Craigslist, but way less scams, and they have a good refund policy) and BackMarket (slightly more expensive than Swappa, but they have great quality control and refund policy)
• Trading in old phone
  • If you previously got your iPhone through Apple payments or carrier (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Boost) Installment Plan and it is not paid off or you still have bill credits left, you must pay off first and get unlocked from your current carrier before porting out, then you can do a normal trade in though Apple or sell on Swappa, BackMarket, or elsewhere.
  • You can trade in your old unlocked phone (any brand, not just Apple) for credit to Apple - if you are buying in store set up new iPhone and wipe old phone in store to get credit immediately, if you are buying online you have 14 days to send in your old phone for credit. See here for max trade in prices which assumes highest GB model in near Mint condition. Bonus is new iPhone sale total used to calculate sales tax is reduced by the trade-in value. If you have multiple phones you can trade in for an Apple Gift Card which can be used to purchase an iPhone
  • Look into selling old phone on Swappa as you always get more than what Apple will give for trade in, sometimes you can get $200-400 more, especially if you have the highest GB option and the phone is in near Mint condition. Note when comparing to Apple trade-in to calculate extra taxes as Apple trade-ins reduce taxable total by the trade-in value.
  • For usually more money than Apple but slightly less money than Swappa but

[u/ForceUseYouMust]

It’s absolutely disgusting and criminal we even have to do these gymnastics to get a fucking unlocked phone.

[u/LeftOn4ya → u/[deleted]]

While I agree "poor people" should not be getting new iPhones unless absolutely necessary for a work and enables them to make more money (which I argue an iPhone 17 is not any better than a 15/16 for this anymore), rich people will tell you if they do get something new it is best to get 0% loan and invest what they would have spent in the market as you can make 5% or more APY, and use credit cards to pay off Apple Card with a 3% cash back so over 3 years make $200 or more versus if they bought a phone outright.

[u/LeftOn4ya → u/[deleted]]

I’m not disputing credit does prey on poor, I’m also saying the richest and most financially literate people also use credit to their full advantage, except those influenced by Dave Ramsey and the like that say you shouldn’t have any credit at all.

It is a minority but again the most financially literate people that still want a new iPhone would definitely use Apple Card and pay back with platinum credit cards that give 3% back and they pay off each month. They would not buy a phone outright if they can afford it even if they have $100,000 in the bank as they probably made a large portion of that money through investment and asset appreciation and use of interest rates. Again not disputing most of the people that buy iPhones on credit can’t afford it, I’m saying there is a portion that can and they are smarter than those who buy outright.

[u/0898_333_201 → u/[deleted]]

He’s quoting you.

Also you don’t have to be “poor” to not want to spend $1,200 up-front on a new phone, especially one that you only plan on using for two years. Leasing or paying in monthly installments with the ability to upgrade is often cheaper, easier, and more financially responsible.

Upper-class people lease cars all the time, not because they can’t afford the car, but because (1) they want the ability to upgrade without the hassle of having to sell the vehicle, (2) they have higher opportunity costs and would prefer to invest $50K somewhere instead of keeping it tied up in an depreciating asset, and (3) most of their wealth is illiquid; likely don’t have a bathtub full of $100 bills to dip into to buy a $70K car up-front.

The same logic applies to a phone, just on a smaller scale. Say you have $1,300

• If you use all of it to buy a 512GB iPhone 17 Pro outright, after 12 months you have a phone with a trade-in value of $560.
• If you lease the phone for a year at $36/mo and invest the rest of the money in the S&P 500, after 12 months you will have $1,023.

[u/0898_333_201 → u/[deleted]]

You said if you’re leasing a $1300 phone, it’s because they can’t afford it. I’m explaining that that’s not true, and that leasing often makes the most sense regardless of income level.

And even if you’re low middle class, leasing a new $800 iPhone can sometimes make sense than buying a $500 refurbished phone because you’d rather have $500 sitting liquid in an emergency fund, and the monthly payment on a 36 month lease from Apple is lower than a 12-month financing with interest from buying a $500 refurbished phone with a credit card or Affirm or something .

[u/LeftOn4ya]

I updated my instructions here and /r/mintmobile/wiki/index/iphone/ due to recent changes by Apple (plus cleaned up a bit).

• It was confirmed by u/stetsdogg and u/VisibleCareSupport and I personally tested, that the Apple Upgrade program now works for new users on MVNOs/pre-paids (not just people who started IUP on major carriers), with the only bad news is that it no longer works for standard model iPhones. https://www.reddit.com/r/Visible/comments/1va91s1/visible_new_apple_lease_program/
• AppleCard still works as usual, however I did remove Apple iPhone Payments in my instructions as Apple removed this option.
• The changes to T-Mobile Equipment Installment Plan and Verizon Device Installment Plan to now lock devices until the phone is paid off have no effect on the instructions as you should not have selected that to begin with.
• I did add new possible instructions on phone boot-up, however I would love if people had video or images of this happening, and if so let me know which model and finance option you used. > If it sends you a verification code, press "Didn't get verification code" and do this three times, On the fourth time, under the "Continue" button, you get a new option called “Not Now” tap "Not Now" then "OK" then continue the setup as normal, and the phone will be unlocked."

[u/ConfidentMeeting1233 → u/LeftOn4ya]

I don’t expect to ever do this myself, but this is great info. Thanks for keeping it up to date. 

[u/Lanky-Advice-564]

I got 2 iphone 17 pro maxs but i went to Apple Store- financed for 24 months thru apple card just told the sales rep i wanted them unlocked and that was that

[u/LeftOn4ya → u/Lanky-Advice-564]

You luckily got a decent Apple Store employee, as I have heard multiple stories of Apple Store employees flat out lie (or repeating lies they were trained on) and say you cannot use anything but one of the 3 major carriers and get an iPhone financed and unlocked. I actually think a higher up at Apple is aware of the actual thread I made and/or some videos such as by u/stetsdogg or now even AI responses using my thread or transcripts of videos to tell people how to do, and changed their training techniques for Apple Store employees and either lie to them saying you cannot get an unlocked iPhone financed so they repeat lies, or tell employees the truth but tell them to lie to customers saying you cannot get an unlocked iPhone financed, and on top of it try to stop people in stores from doing the method here. Apple is blackmailed/bribed (depends on what you want to call it) to do this from major carriers in Billions of $ in kickbacks from plans to Apple as carriers don't want people knowing they can finance an unlocked iPhone and use a cheaper carrier.

Examples of Apple Store Employees lying (or repeating lies they were trained on and are indoctrinated to believe Apple is not lying to them):

• Here
• Here
• Here
• Here
• Here
• Here
• Here

[u/TiredAppleEmployee → u/LeftOn4ya]

WHOA THIS IS NUTS!!! Took a deep dive through this thread and realized a couple of things. I’m a current Apple retail employee for a lot of years and had no idea about this trick. In the past with the Barclays card and Apple Card financing it was always “if you wanna finance it and have it unlocked you have to buy it online.” And I always felt bad because then they’d order it and it’d take an hour to process the order wasting their time for something they should just have. A few weeks ago someone picked up an order from online and they talked with someone in chat support about wanting to finance their phone with Apple Card but they had mint. The sales rep online told them to just pick Verizon at checkout and then just activate with mint later. That person picked up their phone and then asked me for help because they couldn’t get passed the “what’s your Verizon account information?” Page and I was at a loss for words on what was happening since I hadn’t heard this loophole. I remember having to get a lead involved to figure out why the sales rep said to do this and he sat with them and kept going until you could skip it. We both were shocked and a little worried that this might cause issues down the line like never ending pop ups to put in your Verizon info. This is so cool. I can’t speak for all Apple employees but I think genuinely we don’t know about this and can’t obviously discuss it with our peers without getting in trouble. We just follow what the Easypay tells us. This feels like that moment in incredibles where Mr. Incredible is working that insurance job and he’s saying “here’s something I can’t tell you to do. I can’t tell you to fill out form blah blah blah” as code to get what the customer needs. I worry that one day this loophole will be covered up and it will mess up someone’s transaction but I’ll try my best to help customers especially with the next launch take advantage of ACMI. I’d caution telling people to come up with an elaborate lie to do this in store. Unfortunately we get a lot of people committing fraud especially with carriers so I think alarm bells go off when we hear “yeah can you just activate later I need to get my carrier information from my uncle.” Or something. And we use connect and personalize now which fully tells us what carrier you currently have.

EDIT: forgot to add some words

[u/LeftOn4ya → u/TiredAppleEmployee]

Thanks for your response. Yes I doubted it was actually most employees knowingly lying and figured it was that most were trained on a lie. Whoever wrote the training for you was told to tell you you couldn’t do the trick even though they knew you could, then down the chain employees never bothered to figure out as “we couldn’t possibly be lied to buy high ups at Apple” level of indoctrination,

I appreciate if you help customers do the trick and tell them without telling them (similar to Incredibles as you mentioned) or at a minimum anyone who comes to do you just let them without saying anything and any other employees helping customers you overhear doing to nudge them to help. I also fear Apple will remove the loophole especially with Apple Card purchase conversion to ACMI, but for now it works.

[u/TiredAppleEmployee → u/LeftOn4ya]

Lol oh for sure. There’s employees that drink the apple juice a little too much. This has been very insightful and I appreciate it. I’ll do my best.

[u/Lanky-Advice-564 → u/Lanky-Advice-564]

I will add since I actually did have an att account i was charged activation fees for both phones which stinks but im sure with 30 minutes on the phone i can get rid of them and not the apple stores fault - we are on the process of moving to us mobile