Free library
General instructions, no credit required
Read these before you buy a tool, wipe a phone, or meet a stranger in a parking lot about a “cheap iPhone.”
Basics · 7 min
Locked out is not a diagnosis
Screen lock, carrier lock, account lock, and eSIM trouble look similar from the couch. They are four different systems.
Basics · 5 min
How to find the IMEI when you cannot open the phone
Carriers, Apple, and Google all ask for it. You can usually get it without unlocking anything.
Recovery · 6 min
What a factory reset actually throws away
Read this before you hold two buttons. Some things come back. A lot of things do not.
Buying · 8 min
Buying used: make the seller prove it is theirs
A cheap phone that asks for another person’s Apple or Google account is not a bargain.
Accounts · 7 min
When the iPhone belonged to someone who died
Apple built a path for this. It is slow, documented, and nothing like a passcode bypass.
Accounts · 6 min
Android, death, and Google’s Inactive Account Manager
Google does not hand a surviving relative the passcode. It can hand them some of the account — if it was set up.
Carriers · 9 min
US carrier unlocks: who actually says yes
Most postpaid unlocks are free once you have paid your bill. Prepaid and MVNOs have their own clocks.
eSIM · 6 min
Moving an eSIM without losing the number
Do the new phone first, or the old phone last — never both in a hurry in a parking lot.
Recovery · 4 min
The iPhone says Disabled. That is not a riddle.
Too many passcode tries. The timer is not a back door. Apple’s path is an erase.
Accounts · 5 min
Factory Reset Protection is supposed to annoy you
Google built FRP so a stolen phone is a paperweight. Owner recovery means you still have the Gmail.
Policy · 5 min
What a repair shop can and cannot do
A good shop will tell you no. That is a reason to trust them.
Recovery · 5 min
You are locked out. Is any backup still possible?
Sometimes. It depends on whether the cloud was already doing the work.