How to Check an IMEI Number (Free Blacklist, Carrier Lock & iCloud Check)

IMEI stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity. It's a unique 15-digit number assigned to every phone, and unlike a phone number or a SIM, it stays with the handset for life. Carriers and networks use it to identify a specific device, which is why an IMEI check can tell you what a phone is, which network it's tied to, and whether it's been flagged as lost, stolen, or unpaid.

You can run a free check in seconds with our IMEI checker — enter the number and it reports the model, carrier lock, blacklist status and activation lock.

There are four reliable ways to find the IMEI on any iPhone or Android:

• Dial *#06# — the IMEI appears on screen instantly, on any phone, locked or not.
• iPhone: Settings → General → About, then scroll to IMEI.
• Android: Settings → About phone → IMEI (or Status).
• The box or SIM tray: the IMEI is printed on the original packaging and etched on the SIM tray of many phones.

Dual-SIM phones have two IMEIs — either one works for a check.

This is the check that matters most. A phone is blacklisted when it's reported lost or stolen, or when a carrier bill or installment plan goes unpaid. Blacklisted phones are blocked from activating on most US networks, which makes them nearly worthless and impossible to sell to a reputable buyer.

Running a free IMEI blacklist check is how you catch a stolen or blocked phone before any money changes hands. A clean result means no lost-or-stolen report and no unpaid balance on record. If you're buying used and the IMEI comes back blacklisted, walk away — no price is worth a phone you can't activate.

An IMEI check also reports whether a phone is carrier-locked — tied to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or another network — or fully unlocked. An unlocked phone works on any carrier and is worth more, because it has a bigger pool of buyers. On an iPhone you can also confirm this under Settings → General → About → Carrier Lock; "No SIM restrictions" means it's unlocked. If your phone is paid off, your carrier is required to unlock it on request, and doing that before you sell usually adds more than the ten minutes it takes.

If Find My iPhone — or Android's Factory Reset Protection — is still switched on, the phone is activation-locked to the previous owner's account. A locked device can't be set up by a new owner and can't be resold at full value, and it's the most common reason a trade-in quote gets revised down.

Before you sell, sign out of iCloud or your Google account and turn off Find My / FRP, then your IMEI checks clean. Before you buy used, never hand over money for a phone that's still activation-locked — ask the seller to remove it in front of you.

You may see other identifiers. IMEI is used by GSM and all modern phones; ESN and MEID are older numbers used by CDMA carriers. For checking purposes they do the same job: the important question is whether the device comes back clean — no blacklist, no unpaid balance, no carrier block. Our checker handles the number your phone reports.

A phone with a clean IMEI, unlocked, and signed out of all accounts is a phone worth its full value. If you're selling, that's exactly the device that gets top dollar. We beat any written quote by $2, pay cash the same day we inspect, and cover shipping both ways — get an instant cash quote to see what yours is worth.