Question: I have an old Sprint iPhone 4s that hasn't been under contract for around a year now and I have a friend on T-Mobile whose contract doesn't end for another year. He still has a flip phone so I want to give him the old iPhone. Is there a way to unlock the iPhone if it is no longer under contract?

Answer: 
Unlocking is trivial with carrier support.

Here is Apple's article on how to proceed technically once your carrier has unlocked the device:

* <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5014>

We have a nice thread on this Sprint to T-Mobile shift here:

* [Getting an unlocked iPhone 4/4S to work on T-Mobile](https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/27969/getting-an-unlocked-iphone-4-4s-to-work-on-t-mobile)
Assuming your account was in good standing while the phone was under contract with Sprint, you would have to call Sprint Customer Care to get it unlocked. See [Sprint clarifies iPhone 4S unlocking policy](http://www.macworld.com/article/1163003/sprint_clarifies_iphone_4s_unlocking_policy.html) on Macworld.

Sprint customer care representatives on its forums state that unlocking is done primarily for international use. Call Sprint World Wide on (888) 226-7212 to get it done.

Also see the following on the Sprint community forums:  

[Unlock iPhone 4S](http://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/132351)  

[i need my iphone 4s unlock](http://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/132667)