Sorry you have to go through that. Tinnitus can hang around for a while but after some time it does get better and even goes away. I wish you get through it soon

Rub it on my pants

It’s like going from one outhouse to the next trying to find one that isn’t full of crap.

Clorox wipe

damp towel, wipe it down, wipe it down again with dry towel

That's at&t only. if you buy an unlocked iPhone or Apple and you put a T-Mobile Sim or Verizon it won’t lock like that.

If your near a border, buy from Canada. By law all our phones are unlocked & its illegal for a carrier to lock them.

It's really not difficult to get an unlocked phone in the US. This story kinda makes a mountain out of a molehill. I always get unlocked phones directly from Apple and just swap the sim or lately activate an esim.

Providers lock their phones bought through them because the vast majority of people in the US finance their phones through the provider. They simply don't want people financing phones then selling them and not paying the bill. Retailers like Best Buy do this because they're basically just middlemen for the providers. You can't buy an unlocked iPhone at Best Buy for example, all they sell is locked.

I've never heard of this AT&T taking ownership thing of unlocked phone, but one thing to note: don't everget AT&T at all. AT&T is probably the most expensive and at the same time useless provider. I have no idea why anyone has them except people like my dad who have never changed provider since he got his first cell phone in 1994 (Houston Cellular -> Cingular -> AT&T), I wouldn't be surprised if he was on some $240 for 2 lines and 5GB of data plan, he's that kind of person. Those are the only people I know who actually have AT&T.

eBay always sides with the buyer, get a refund by opening a claim assuming it was sold as not locked. If it was sold as non working because of it being locked then it’s on you for not reading more about the item before you bought it. Also, “buyed” is not a word and should be replaced with “bought”.

Everything in the world is infected with bacteria. Wait until you hear what the inside of your pockets are filled with, or door handles, cups at restaurants, etc.

Sure, if something specific arises I’ll clean my phone, but common every day bacteria is the least of my worries.

In fact, over sanitizing leads to stronger, more resistant bacteria.

I clean mine by using PC/keyboard/mouse wipes… seems a sensible idea.

Thank you so much for this simple explanation! I really appreciate it :) I have tried to do it following your instructions and unfortunately I keep error messages; I cannot get past the identity verification.

For reference, the first page asks for the details of my son, like name and birthday and then in the next screen I need to verify my own identity. I cannot get past this screen.

I logged in online via web browser and corrected some of my data, which I saw was outdated (expired credit card). Then I restarted my phone. However, it’s still not working.

I contacted Apple via chat and they were not able to solve it, so they asked me to contact customer support via phone call.

It's always unlocked in an apple store I think. I would be dead before I buy a locked phone

Can you fathom that employees can be wrong? Is it so hard to understand that Apple does not lock devices activated on AT&T unless you choose to use AT&T financing?

I don’t like being restricted to a carrier so I have bought most of my iPhones from the Apple Store fully paid and unlocked. I have travelled abroad and never had the lock issue. However, with this new eSim thing, I’m not sure. I might buy an international unlocked version if I plan to upgrade. I really like the flexibility of buying a sim at the airport and swapping it when traveling abroad.

What about an unlocked android device? Is it just Apple that does this?

That’s a good question. Can you use 2 different esims while the phone is considered “locked”?

I was at the Apple Store and a second employee gave me the same info. He went to ask his supervisors and they were not even sure. They said 30 to 60 days. So seems they are posting one thing and yet another thing is happening.

I find that Apple puts some of the settings in weird places.

A lot of them (like promotion or the headphone messages) are found accessibility when they should be in display settings or the airpod settings

I’ll use a disinfecting wipe periodically. And an old soft bristle toothbrush to clean the speakers and charge port

If you're traveling and you just need additional sims, you can add up to 8 esims to the iPhone and have two active at any time. Don't know if that helps in this situation or not. My understanding is that if you don't activate it at Apple, and just move your esim over, it will not be locked to ATT.

wet a microfiber so it’s wet, but not soaking. then, use another dry microfiber to polish. last, keep a third microfiber below the phone when ur doing this so it’s not scratched on a table, etc.

Breathe on it?

A couple of weeks ago I would’ve posted the same as what OP did…always wanted to rid the notification, always having volume at full when working out, commuting etc.

Now I have tinnitus and am severely uncomfortable the vast majority of the time. Safe to say I should have listened to the apple sound warnings

🙌🏻