What does unlocking an iphone do? - 1

When you jailbreak/unlock an iphone what does it do? Does it let you download all apps for free or what?

Jailbreaking & unlocking are 2 different things.

Unlocking removes the 1 carrier restriction on the phone. Allows it to be used on any GSM carrier in the world.

Jailbreaking essentially is a hack of the phone that allows more options than previously allowed.

  • When unlocking an iPhone 4S does it delete all the pics, messages etc? Okay so I'm thinking of getting my iPhone unlocked from Vodafone to 3, but will it delete all my photos, messages, etc?
  • What does unlocking an iphone do? I'm going to buy an iphone 4s off my friend in a couple of days & he's connected to at&t. I was wondering if i "unlock" it, will i be able to connect it to virgin mobile?
  • What does IMEI mean when unlocking an iPhone? So I need a new iPhone and am currently on sprint I'm still under contract until June. This guy is selling me an IMEI unlocked iPhone 4S for $200. Can I use the phone with sprint? And after my contract ends can I switch carriers to Metropcs he claims that because the phone is unlocked it is permanently unlocked and free to use with every carrier. Is this true? Am I missing any piece of information?
  • Unlocking iphone from rogers? How do i unlock a phone from rogers? My cousin gave me his old iphone 3g but its still locked. I want to use it for koodo, so i bought a new SIM card today, thinking that i could unlock it myself, but it seems really difficult, i don't want to buy software to do it. Do i have to jailbreak it to unlock it? And how do i unlock it easily?