When an iPhone is activated by serial number. How to find out the iPhone release date by serial number and other options

Today in the article we will get acquainted with iPhone activation date. When the user turns on the device for the first time and registers it on the company’s servers, the phone considers this as the activation date of the device. This is the moment when the phone becomes used.
Knowing the activation date can be important at the time of purchasing a phone, because when you are offered a new phone, and by the activation date you see that it was a year ago, it looks like a scam. And you’re unlikely to like learning about it at home...
For those who do not want to be deceived, we will figure out where to look for this date.

I hope everyone has heard what it is Phone IMEI and how to look for it? We will need the serial number to find this important date.

Apple takes care of its customers and provides a service on its website to check all the company’s devices. To do this, we follow the points:

— We find "Checking eligibility for service and support" and enter the serial number of the device
— Drive in "Security Code"
— Click "Continue"

In the window that appears, look for a mention "right to maintenance and repair". There will be a possible date when the insurance service ends. But that is not all. Now carefully, subtract 1 year from the date you see and add 1 day. This will be the activation date of the device.
Now consider the two most common options that you may see when checking your phone, in addition to a specific date:

— You need to activate your iPhone. This phrase is issued by a new, never activated device
- Expired. The phone was activated over a year ago. The warranty has expired.
If you see the phrase “Expired,” but you definitely want to know when your phone was activated, read on.

2.Special sites for verification.

You can find it on the Internet checker sites, on them you can find a lot more information about your phone. Data on these sites is stored longer than on the official one, and on them you can find out where and when the device was purchased. However, it is important to understand that this is not an official site, therefore this is not an official source of information and we would not recommend trusting them 100%.
Let's move on to practice. You can find many similar sites on the Internet. In this article we will look at the iUnlocker.net resource

1. Find and go to the site
2. Enter the serial number
3. Finding the activation date value

You will be able to appreciate the amount of additional information about your phone. We are not affiliated with this site in any way.
When purchasing a phone, you have the right to check the activation date. If you see that the phone was activated 2 years ago, and the seller claims that he is selling you a new/refurbished device. Think carefully, perhaps this is not the right option and you should refuse to purchase this device.
As you can see, in certain situations it is useful to know the iPhone activation date. Good and profitable shopping to you!

If your iPhone was purchased second-hand, then you will certainly be interested in date of its production. Firstly, sellers may deceive you in order to pass off an ancient device as a more recent one. Secondly, even if the iPhone looks great on the outside, this does not mean that it was not actively used. Please remember that the device's battery is designed to last 300 cycloV fully charged and discharged, after which it begins to gradually die. Therefore, knowing the age of your iPhone is very important.

Well, if you bought your iPhone officially - in a store - then you will also be interested to know how long it was gathering dust in the warehouse, and then on the showroom shelf, wouldn’t it?

Today we will tell you how to find out date of production and activation of the device. To do this, you do not need to know any additional information other than the iPhone serial number. By the way, everything written below is also relevant for the iPod Touch.

For those who have not held an iPhone in their hands, but really want to buy it, we explain how to find out the iPhone serial number right when purchasing. Find a silver icon on one of the device’s desktops "Settings" and click on it:

Scroll down and select the first item in the third section of settings - "Basic", click on it, then select the top item - "About the device". Scroll down to "Serial number" and you will see an 11-character code like:

8892 9 KST4NS

You and I are interested third, fourth and fifth digits this serial number. The third digit shows the year of production. 7 - 2007, 8 - 2008, etc.

The fourth and fifth digits are the serial number of the week of production of the device. This number can range from 01 to 52.

Now you can easily determine that the iPhone with the serial number given above was manufactured at 29th week 2009, i.e. during the period from July 13 to July 19.

If you are interested, the first two digits of the serial number are the identifier of the plant where the device was assembled, and the last six are a code unique to each device.

For reference, here is the 2009 calendar with week numbers:

That's not all. By serial number you can also check iPhone legality. Go to https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do and enter the serial number. The location you choose in the list below does not play a special role.

You will see something like this:

Follow the link See full coverage details:

Pay attention to the inscription Estimated Expiration Date: September 12, 2010. This means that the iPhone was first activated in the store on September 12, 2009, and the one-year warranty countdown began from this date.

If the iPhone has never been activated, which is quite possible if it is locked, then you will see an error like Please activate your iPhone. We are unable to display coverage details because your iPhone has not been activated.

Good luck with your iPhone purchases and no less successful use of it;) Don’t let the sellers deceive you.

Buying a used device is a good way to save money, since many people sell their phones and tablets almost immediately after purchase, but you still have to reduce the price, and at the current prices for equipment from Apple, this will be a decent discount. But when buying a used device, there is one big risk - paying for a broken or non-original iPhone or tablet. To avoid falling for scammers, you need to check the device before purchasing and follow several rules, which will be discussed in the next part of the article.

How to check an iPhone when buying second-hand

If you nevertheless decide to purchase an iPhone, iPad or iPad touch from your own hands, and not from an official store, then the first thing you should pay attention to is the seller himself. This is a weak indicator, but before you buy something from a person, see if he inspires trust. If this is a supplier that is engaged in mass resale of used devices, then read reviews about it, contact its former clients: ask them if they were satisfied with their purchase, if the device broke some time after activation. But remember that many scammers fake reviews, which means not everything said about a seller on the Internet may be true.

If the issue is resolved with the seller, then the next thing worth checking is the device itself.

Appearance

Before buying, go to the official store and hold the desired device in your hands, study the tactile sensations of the material from which it is made. Find out the approximate prices at which you can buy an original device; if its used version differs in price too much, then it’s worth considering.

Items required to test the device

So, if you are making a deal, then in order to be completely confident in the functionality of the device, you need to have the following things with you:

Working headphones, you will need them in order to check whether they work with the device you are purchasing. Do not hesitate to ask the seller to give you the device for testing, this is a mandatory step. You can't buy a device without checking to see if it runs the programs you care about and activates certain features.
A laptop on which iTunes will be installed, which will allow you to check many of the characteristics of the device. How to do this will be discussed below in the same article.
An external battery that can be used to check whether the device is charging or not.
A phone with stable mobile internet.
SIM card - this is useful for checking cellular and Internet connections.
A paper clip or a special key that comes with Apple devices. These items will be needed to remove the SIM card tray from the device body.

Having the above things, you can easily check the operation of all functions and applications of the purchased device. What parameters you will need to pay closer attention to will be described further.

How to distinguish the device model

If this is not your first time encountering Apple devices, you can skip this point. But if this is your first time buying equipment from Apple, then this information will be very useful for you. It's easy to distinguish an iPhone 5 from an iPhone 6, but it's a little more difficult to distinguish an iPhone 4 from an iPhone 4S.

The two models are distinguished by their model number, which can be found on the back cover when turning the device face down.

Also distinguishing one model from another is the appearance of the rear camera and the Home button. The iPhone 5 has a narrower camera, while the iPhone 5S has a square on the Home button, which indicates the presence of the Touch ID function.

iPhone 6 and 6S

It is easier to distinguish these two models - just wrap the front side of the device with the screen down, and on the back check for a diamond-shaped icon with the English letter S.

Here the situation is similar to the iPhone 5, since you can check the device model using the code on the back of the case:

The device model can also be determined by the location of the antennas.

You can read more about all device models on the official Apple website by clicking on the following link - https://support.apple.com/ru-ru/HT201296.

Checking the water sensor

Before purchasing a device, you need to make sure that it has not been recessed. If water gets inside your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, it can either break down every second or corrode the metal, leading to failure weeks or months later. Another important factor is the fact that a device exposed to water will automatically void the warranty.

Apple devices have a special external sensor - Liquid Contact Indicators, a humidity indicator. If water has ever gotten inside the device, this sensor changes color from gray or white to bright red. More details about where this indicator is located on different phone models are outlined in the table:

Equipment

Now let's look at what should be in the box, besides the phone itself:

All other accessories must be purchased separately. If one of the components of the package is not in the box upon sale, then this must be separately agreed with the seller and will affect the price of the product.

Authentication

The next step is to verify the authenticity of the device using the serial number and unique IMEI code. This data can be found on the back of the box, on a special sticker. But this data should not be trusted, since the box may be from another device or the sticker may be fake.

There is a more reliable way to find out this information - through the settings of your phone or tablet, where no one can falsify them.

We take the device in our hands and open the “Settings” application.
Let's move on to the "Basic" section.
Go to the “About this device” subsection.
Here you can find two lines: serial number and IMEI. You can check these numbers with those indicated on the box presented by the seller. If they do not match, it means that the device does not belong to the box, and this is a reason to think about the seller’s honesty.

Another way to find out the codes we need is to pull out the tray where the SIM card is located and read the serial number and IMEI indicated on it. You can remove the tray using a paper clip. This method has one drawback - not all device models have codes indicated on the tray.

The last way to find out the IMEI is to turn the back of the device and look at the small letters and numbers at the bottom of the cover, among which our treasured number is located.

As soon as you are done finding out the numbers and codes, you should go to one of the sites suggested below and enter the necessary data there. The site will show you detailed information about the device: color, release date, contents and filling, model number. Compare all the data with what you see on the device itself and with what the seller himself told you. If everything matches, then you can understand further. List of sites that provide similar services for providing information about Apple devices:

Checking for recoveries

Checking for blocking

There are three types of Apple mobile devices:

Lock - phones that only work with one pre-defined carrier. That is, if you purchase such a device, you will be able to use the services of only one company that provides cellular communications and mobile Internet, and no other.
Neverlock is a device without any restrictions in the field of operator choice.
Softunlock is a device that previously belonged to the Lock group, but then was “unlocked” by software, that is, it now has all the parameters characteristic of Neverlock.

Of course, Lock devices are a little cheaper than Neverlock, but this saving will not lead to anything good, and there will be quite a lot of problems with a predefined operator, without the right to change it.

How to identify an unlocked device?

There are several characteristic signs that help to identify a device that was unlocked software:

Functional and physical testing

Now there is the last, but practically the most important stage - checking the standard capabilities of the device and its appearance.

Frame

Check if there are any noticeable dents, cracks, or broken pieces on the case. All of these parameters can tell you how often the device has been dropped and subjected to other physical impacts. Particularly dangerous are damage to the antenna area, which can lead to communication interference.

Screws

There should be two unscrewed screws near the USB cable input. If they are missing, then we can safely say that the device was disassembled manually and, accordingly, the warranty does not apply to it.

Buttons

Check how well all the buttons perform their functions, since replacing buttons in the service can require a lot of money.

Camera

Check the front and rear cameras for external damage. Try to photograph something with both cameras. If you notice inaccurate colors, the camera sensor may be damaged.

Screen

Open various applications, restart your device, check for dead pixels (black dots). If when you press the screen there is a crunch, or you feel unevenness or emptiness, then the screen is not original, it has been replaced. Pay attention to the uniformity of brightness and color reproduction.

Screen sensor

Move icons around your device menu, making sure they move smoothly. Try using the device in horizontal and vertical positions. If possible, quickly type the message on the keyboard, and all the letters you press should appear on the screen. If this does not happen, then the device has obvious problems with the sensor.

Battery

Start shooting a video and check how much the device shrinks in 2-3 minutes. A range of 1–5% is acceptable, all other parameters mean there is a problem, and no one wants to change the battery immediately after purchase.

cellular

Speaker

Everything is simple here - turn on any melody and check how well the device reproduces it. There should be no interference, no jumping, no rustling. You can also check the speaker during a telephone conversation.

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Check if these two functions work. Remember that Bluetooth only works with other Apple devices; it will not transfer files with Android. The device must quickly connect to the Wi-Fi network and be able to download files through it.

Charger

For this item, you took a third-party battery with you. Connect it to your device and check if it charges.

Connecting to iTunes

If you happen to take your laptop with you, try syncing your device with iTunes. This will confirm its authenticity. You should not buy a phone or tablet that is not recognized in iTunes.

Sign out of your Apple ID account

The last thing you should do before paying money for a device is to completely sign out of the old Apple ID account that belongs to the previous owner. Otherwise, he can declare the device missing at any time and block it remotely, without asking your consent at all.

Open the Settings application.
Go to the iCloud section.
Turn off Find My iPhone.
Let the previous owner enter the password for his account, this is necessary to disable the function.
So, before you give money, thoroughly check the device using the instructions described above. Be very careful, give money only for what you personally held in your hands and tested. Demand a complete set or an explanation of why this or that item is missing. The main thing is to remember to log out of the previous owner’s account, since most scammers make money from this oversight of buyers.

If you are interested in the question of how to find out the iPhone release date, this article will be a good guide. This question is usually asked by those who purchased an iPhone secondhand. It is important to find out when it was manufactured, as well as when it was activated.

It is also necessary to be able to distinguish a real smartphone from a Chinese counterfeit. Sometimes it is absolutely impossible to do this externally. In order to obtain the information we need, a serial number is required. We will tell you how to find it out and how to see the activation date of the device, as well as its production.

How to find out the activation date of an iPhone of any model

The activation date is needed for more than just knowing when the user purchased it. With its help, we will determine whether the iPhone is under warranty or no longer. Lack of warranty can sometimes be a reason to refuse a purchase. Time of use is like mileage on a car: the device also wears out over time.

Finding out the iPhone serial number in iTunes

So, it's time to find out the serial number. The first method is to connect to iTunes. If you have never done this before, you need to download/install the latest version of this program and connect the device using the original cable. We connect, launch, look: in the “Overview” tab there is data on the serial number. Let's copy it.

Increase

Find out the serial number on the iPhone itself

We need to go to the main settings of the iPhone and select the "About this device" tab. Information about your iPhone will appear there. There will also be a serial number. Hold your finger on it and copy.

Increase

We receive information about the release date

It doesn’t matter from which device you access the Internet. You will need to follow this link. In a special window you must enter the device number. Then you will see one of the messages:

If the warranty period has not expired, information about its expiration will appear. We subtract the year and get exact information on the date when the user purchased and activated the iPhone. Now we know exactly how long the iPhone was in constant use.
If the warranty period has expired, you will have to take the former owner’s word for it. The only proof can be a receipt. But not everyone keeps receipts even for such expensive purchases if the warranty period has expired. The only thing we can do is find out the production date of the iPhone.

How to find out the production date of an iPhone

This is done quite simply: follow the link to a special service. We insert the serial number there. Press one button and all the data is in front of you. The year of production and week are displayed. That is, if we know both the activation date and the production date, we can find out how long the iPhone spent in warehouses. When there was no such service, decryption had to be done independently. There are instructions on the Internet on how to do this, there are special tables. But you won't need it.

Apple smartphones are traditionally famous for their high degree of security. For this reason, criminals are so attracted to “apple” products - the forbidden fruit is sweet. Activating your smartphone becomes an important part of protecting your device. In fact, activation is the first full activation of the phone when the user enters an existing account or creates a new account. From this moment the service life is counted. If a buyer is going to purchase a used smartphone, it is important to find out how to find out the activation date of the iPhone - do not let unscrupulous sellers deceive you.

Official verification method

It is worth giving credit to the smartphone manufacturer for making sure that there is less temptation to steal or fraudulently sell the device. The thing is expensive, people don’t want to pay for a damaged device. This is not a Chinese “miracle of technology” for three thousand rubles - iPhones are bought by people who care about quality. If the seller says that they have never used the phone, but activated the device a year ago, then it is better to turn around and leave - they are blatantly lying to the buyer. To avoid such situations, Apple has provided a reliable option to quickly check iPhone activation.

Checking iPhone activation is easiest and fastest on the manufacturer's official website. There is even a separate menu item for such cases. To find out the date of first activation of the device. Follow the link to the official Apple website https://checkcoverage.apple.com/ru/ru/. A menu will open to check your eligibility for service and support - unfortunately, the warranty also expires over time. To start checking, be sure to indicate the serial number in the field provided, which can be found in several ways:

on the back cover of the smartphone;
in iTunes, if connected to a computer;
in the phone settings (“Settings” > “General” > “About device”);
the serial number is also indicated on the box in which the smartphone was supplied;
information is printed on the receipt or invoice.

Then you will have to enter a verification code - if the user does not see what is written there or cannot recognize it, then the code can be updated. For the visually impaired, there is also a “Listen to the code” function. You just have to wait a little while a window with the test results appears. Please note the “Estimated expiration date” section. For example, if the date in this paragraph is 09/30/2018, then feel free to add one day and subtract the year - this is how the date is determined. In this case, the iPhone was activated on October 1, 2017. If the seller claims that he activated the device much later, it is better to politely say goodbye and look for another smartphone to buy.

If you receive an error message instead of a response, immediately contact Apple technical support. The Chinese have learned to make such high-quality copies that they are indistinguishable from the original. When buying smartphones secondhand, there is a high probability of running into such a skillful fake, and technical support staff will help you determine whether the user’s device is genuine.

Third Party Resources

Users claim that third-party sites provide more information about device activation. Moreover, instead of the serial number, the activation date of the iPhone is determined by IMEI. These are different identification codes - smartphones with SIM cards are not produced without IMEI, but Apple sets serial numbers solely for its own convenience; both numbers are specially made unique for other devices. It is not possible to check the iPhone activation date by IMEI on the company’s official website, which is why “checkers” appeared - sites that check the activation of the device using various unique identifiers, at the user’s choice.

There is a lot of information on such sites on how to find out when an iPhone is activated - in addition to the activation date, the date of purchase, main technical characteristics, information about the right to provide warranty repairs and technical support are indicated. It is worth remembering that most of these resources are not even remotely related to the official Apple website, so no one will be responsible for the truthfulness and legality of the information provided. Using such services is easy:

go to the website;
in the windows, indicate identification information (IMEI) or serial number;
wait until the operation is processed.

Along with the start date of the warranty period, the user will also have access to other useful information, including whether the Find My iPhone function is activated. Both methods are equally good, but users themselves advise not to stop at one, but to check the device in all available ways; extra precautions will not harm anyone.