OS X Daily: “Unlock an AT&T iPhone From the Web with AT&T Technical Support” plus 3 more

Unlock an AT&T iPhone From the Web with AT&T Technical Support
Instantly Scroll to the Top of a Web Page, App, or Screen in iOS
Mac Setups: iMac 21″ & MacBook Pro 13″ with Lots of iGear
Stop iOS Asking to “Verify iCloud Password”

Unlock an AT&T iPhone From the Web with AT&T Technical Support

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 11:26 AM PDT

Unlock an iPhone through AT&T online chat

If you own an iPhone that is not part of a contract with AT&T, you can now officially unlock the device for use on other networks. We’ve discussed this before and our previous guide on unlocking the iPhone through AT&T focused on calling a special direct line, but now we’ll show you how to unlock an iPhone entirely through the web with the help of AT&T’s online technical support chat. This method is extremely quick, there are no wait times, and it’s easier for international users or for those without access to an active phone line.

Requirements

Any out of contract iPhone
AT&T Login – if you’re not a current AT&T customer we’ve heard reports that you can create a new AT&T login but YMMV
The iPhone IMEI number found in Settings > General > About
A valid email address to receive updates from AT&T
About 5 minutes of your time

Assuming you meet all the requirements, jump ahead and start the simple unlock process.

Unlocking an iPhone with AT&T Web Tech Support

Go to AT&T’s online account tech support page, login with a valid AT&T ID, and click on “Technical Support” to start a chat with a live representative
State that you would like to unlock an off contract iPhone and provide the iPhone IMEI number
Let the AT&T representative check if the iPhone is indeed without a contract and give them an email address when asked

If everything checks out, the AT&T rep will provide you with a case number and an estimated date of completion for resolution. The date they provide is a rough estimate and by no means represents the date you will get an email from AT&T. Sometimes AT&T sends the unlock emails out within an hour but it can take up to 10 days as well, the time varies widely based on the volume of unlock requests. I have completed this process several times with multiple different iPhone models and it has worked every time, though the time between request and completion has varied.

Unlock iPhone from AT&T via Web Chat

There are a few potential situations that could complicate the otherwise simple unlocking process:

Did you buy an iPhone used, or through a service other than AT&T or Apple? You may need to provide a receipt of purchase
Is the iPhone still on a contract with another AT&T customer? You may need to wait until that customers iPhone contract period is up
Do you have a past-due balance on an AT&T account? You will need to pay that before AT&T will unlock the iPhone

Once you do receive the unlock instructions from AT&T , they are basically telling you to restore the iPhone to activate the unlock. Backup before doing this so you can get back to where you were, and you’ll know the unlock worked because after restoring you get a “Congratulations, your iPhone is unlocked” message in iTunes.

Instantly Scroll to the Top of a Web Page, App, or Screen in iOS

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 10:23 AM PDT

Instantly Scroll to Top in iOS

The next time you’re scrolled far down on a web page in Safari, at the bottom of a Contacts list, deep in Mail, or just buried down the screen of any other iOS app, simply tap on the title bar clock in iOS to immediately scroll to the top of the screen.

This is one of those tips that is hard to live without as it’s much faster than manually sliding on the screen to return to the top of a lengthy web page or list. The feature works the same on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and is supported by all Apple apps and most third party iOS apps too.

Mac Setups: iMac 21″ & MacBook Pro 13″ with Lots of iGear

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 10:11 AM PDT

It’s rare to find a Mac user that doesn’t have other Apple gear, and this Mac setup from Steve B is no exception. The setup includes a little bit of everything:

21″ iMac (late 2011)
13″ MacBook Pro (late 2011)
iPad (3rd gen)
iPhone 4
iPod touch (1st gen)
iPod Touch (latest gen)
iPod Shuffle (1st gen)
iPod Shuffle (latest gen)
Magic Mouse
Wireless Keyboard
Apple TV (2nd gen)
AirPort Extreme

Like Mac pron? Who doesn’t! Check out more Mac setups, and don’t forget to submit your own Apple gear shots to osxdailycom@gmail.com, please take a decent picture, include a list of hardware shown, and include a brief mention of what you use the gear for.

Stop iOS Asking to “Verify iCloud Password”

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 02:42 PM PDT

Verify iCloud Password message on iPhone

Many iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch users are annoyed with a constant message asking to “Verify iCloud Password: iCloud Backup requires that you verify your password.”, the popup dialog shows up randomly but most often when unlocking a device after periods of inactivity. Clicking OK and entering the password makes it go away for the time being, but it generally comes right back after another period of inactivity.

The solution is fairly simple, click “OK” when the popup shows and rather than entering the password click “Cancel” and do the following:

Open Settings and tap on “iCloud”
Tap the Account name and delete the stored password, then reenter the iCloud password and click “Done” to verify
Close out of Settings

This resolved the problem for me, but if you’re still geting nagged about the iCloud password you may need to just reset all iPhone settings and restore from a backup.