Free unlock codes for Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge

[imm1304]

Hello everyone!  

Samsung is giving unlock codes for free for the S7's: 

1. Start a live chat session from Samsung's Contact Us page: http://www.samsung.com/ca/info/contactus.html?CID=AFL-hq-mul-0813-11000170
2. Inform the rep that you would like to unlock you S7 or S7 edge and provide the IMEI & Carrier info
3. In a few (2+) days, you will get the unlock code via email.  

Hope this helps.  I am not sure if they would give unlock codes for free for other Samsung phones.  

If anyone wants to try their luck with other models, please post an update here.  

EDIT:  Confirmed to be working only for S7, S7 Edge, Galaxy Grand Prime.  Not other models. 

[Ride_GSXR]

Just received the unlock code for my Telus GS7 today. I used the online chat and pretty much received it right away.

[frytzu]

Anyone try it to get a free unlock code from askunlock.net....is not exactly free,they say is a win win situation, but I dont know what to say...I registered and expect..to get.

[kav2001c]

I bought a Telus branded Samsung prepay from Bestbuy

Called Samsung up and they had no problem giving me unlock code since I was not under a contract / tab

That was just this week

[imm1304]

Hi @jam!

Happy to hear that you got your phone unlocked for free from Samsung. 

Last year, people had success getting free unlock codes regardless of where they bought the phone from.   It was reported that telling the Samsung rep that you had bought your phone at Costco also guaranteed success.  

[jam]

I just got samsung to unlock my s7 this morning. Maybe it was because i had purchased it at a samsung store? I was locked to virgin mobile. I'm now using it with public mobile! 🙂

[jam]

 Thank You,  for the information. I got ahold of samsung and they unlocked my s7 for free, now i can use it with public mobile. 🙂

[imm1304]

Hey @StarLord,  thanks for the update.

I started this thread a really long time ago and its definitely outdated/irrelevant now.  A number of people took advantage of the free unlock codes back in the days when this was still relevant.  Cheers.  

[StarLord]

Unfortunately they just don't give unlocked code for any provider, reason being is they have a limitation under the provider and manufacturer agreement, I did try but they will just direct you to call your own provider. Don't waste your time! They don't give unlocked code as they said they are just opening doors for stolen hand set to be operatable. Make sense! They are lots of company online that offers to unlocked your phone for under $10 and it's still cheaper compare to what the provider will charge you as I believe about $50. For me when your contract is up, providers must unlocked the phone as the contract has reach it's agreement, it just that they are all part of the circle of greedy business practice protected by law.

[badlt007]

Just got off chat with Samsung. They no longer offer free unlock codes as they have authroized the carriers to do so. I am with Fido, and they want $50 for the code. I told them to forget it as I can get it done for $20 at any local cell shop.

[Makayla]

I tried this and it did not work

[imm1304]

Good luck @Pasharu, if this doesn't work, you can try other vendors online on eBay, etc.  

[Pasharu]

thanks for the info, trying it out!

[imm1304]

Hey @leak, its great to hear that this is still working.

You will most likely get the unlock code via email soon.  They would have refused to take the request if they weren't gonna provide the unlock code.  Cheers.

[Korth]

Follow the unlock instructions religiously.  If (for whatever reason) it doesn't work perfectly after you've (correctly) made a couple attempts then don't persist.  Most smartphones will allow only a small number of failed unlock attempts (usually 10 or so, maybe fewer) before permanently bricking the firmware - this feature is designed to thwart phone theft - and the limited number of remaining attempts is not always displayed.

All that being said, it's as easy as just inserting a SIM, entering the specific code(s), and restarting the device, lol.

[leak]

Holy crap! It worked! well, I guess we will see in a few days when my code should be getting emailed to me.

I have a Rogers galaxy s7.  I chatted with a rep at samsung. told them i heard I could get a code, and that I bought my phone from Costco, and she said I should get the code in 4 days.  Crossing my fingers!

[Korth]

Free unlock codes are available for a large variety of older smartphones, including a lot of other Samsung models and some LG models.  Unconditionally free.

Although some of the code generators are traps, loaded with paywalls or payloads, trojans and ransomware and spyware and loggers and malware.  Download only from reputatable sources, scan with extreme prejudice, and run only in a quarantined sandbox, lol.

But don't get sucked in - newer "premium" devices are always costly to unlock.  And registry systems are in place which will actually deny access to unlocks until the device is fully paid for.  Anyone who could afford to buy such a new device outright will indeed buy a fully unlocked one straight from the manufacturer - the only devices which will need unlocking will be the ones purchased through (and locked by) the carriers on a not-yet-completed-not-yet-paid-out contract basis.

[imm1304]

Thanks @fktw for the very helpful suggestion.

@smack, this thread is very old and no longer relevant.  If your phone was bought unlocked and then locked to the first sim you put in, these phones came with unlock code in the box.  

Otherwise try e-bay, I have had very good experience from there as well.  Good luck!  

[fktw]

@smack, I'm assuming your problem is not able to get your Samsung unlocked? The quickest way is to go on ebay and search for "unlock code" and your phone model. For example, "unlock code Galaxy S7" would yield many results. It usually costs under $5 to get your phone unlocked and most sellers respond within a few hours, if not minutes. That's my usual route when I want to get my phone unlocked.

[smack]

I did Live chat with samsung both Canada & US since by device was bought in US they could not help , chat with the US and they need told me to call customer care . So I need help asap 

[homer]

You are right @kav2001c. However, people on RFD have reported not receiving the code after many days, even the online rep said the code would be sent to them... 

So I ordered a code from eBay... Time is valuable. Hopefully it would work. 

[imm1304]

Thanks for the clarification @kav2001c

[kav2001c]

Samsung has always had ability to unlock any device.

They choose not to do so.

The recent devices had an auto lock feature.

If you bought it unlocked from Samsung store, then inserted certain carrier SIM card the phone will lock itself to that carrier.

So Samsung was forced to offer unlock codes to clients.

This deal still works but just be smart about it.

Don't tell them you bought a locked phone on a 2 year term from a carrier.

Tell them you bought an unlock device and not it is no longer unlocked.

(They even warn you about this on retail packaging, go check out the J1 at your local Costco store to see what I mean)

[homer]

It seems this method no longer works anymore. Samsung has fixed it... 

[lordcody420]

this is not true in the US i dont know about canada though

[7789849803]

@Griff Thanks for chiming in. I do recall reading about this new setup in S7 before.

[Griff]

There is a slight difference in the way the locking with the S7 works versus the prior models of Samsung phones. The S7 comes unlocked in box and then locks to the first sim card inserted, it reformats and deletes the information so if you set up the phone and then put in your SIM card it's time wasted. 

I'm not sure how that connects exaclty to Samsung being able to unlock the device themselves but prior to that when Samsung phones were carrier locked it was done prior to activation.

[7789849803]

@imm1304 I used the same hex dump reading technique to unlock an HTC device (I think it was the Evo) years ago. Based simply on price considerations, I suspect that the vast majority of the unlocking companies are not subscribing to any official database. Samsung and other large conglomerates would surely not deal with small time vendors who charge $10-$30 for unlocking a device. I suspect these providers are largely using a computational mechanism to generate (find) these unlock codes themselves.

[imm1304]

You are also right @7789849803.  There are underhanded ways of calculating the unlock codes as well.  But, I learned as a long term Sony phone user, that there is such a thing as Sony unlock code database that other companies subscribe to.  I am sure Samsung has an equivalent.  This would be the sure way of getting correct codes from the source.. used by the reputable unlocking services.  

Interestingly, I had unlocked several Samsung devices myself by reading out a hex file from the phone following instructions on the XDA developers forum.. that was 5-6 years ago.  I think they made unlocking harder since then.  

[7789849803]

@imm1304 Interesting. I always thought the 3rd party unlock code providers were using underhanded means to obtain the unlock codes. If they've been obtaining them from the manufacturer the whole time, then that is very bewildering to me.

I don't know - I feel cellular carriers and phone manufacturers make strange bedfellows. I wish more people would buy their devices unlocked straight from the manufacturer. Which is one of several reasons to love PM - they let you use any device, as long as its unlocked. Plus, they don't sell their own devices.

[imm1304]

I think Samsung are capable of providing unlock codes to all devices they made.  They must be making up for something they did for the S7's. 

This is just me speculating but I read that Samsung chose to provide these unlock codes for free because some error on their part resulted in a huge batch of the S7 devices not getting unlocked using codes that people normally pay to purchase. Normally the unlock service providers subscribe to a database.