Verizon Just Changed The Rules For Unlocking Your Smartphone

Before January 20, 2026, you only had to wait 60 days before you could unlock your Verizon phone and bring it to another carrier. However, DroidLife noticed that Verizon had changed the policy for several of its prepaid brands, including TracFone (one of the many affordable phone carriers on Verizon's network), to say "For all cellphones Activated on or after January 20, 2026, the cellphone will be unlocked upon request after 365 days of paid and active service."

This change reverts TracFone's policy back to what it was before it was purchased by Verizon in 2021. Once it was bought out by the major phone provider, it reduced its lock period to 60 days to match Verizon's policy. As of this writing, Verizon hasn't changed its policy on its own website yet, but it is expected to do so in the near future since it received a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission on January 12, 2026. What its policy currently says is, "After 60 days, we will automatically remove the lock unless the device is deemed stolen or purchased fraudulently."

The FCC required a 60-day locked period from Verizon after the carrier bought $9.4 billion worth of analog-TV spectrum in 2007. That policy continued without contention until 2025, when the carrier reached out to the FCC (link downloads a PDF to your device) with a letter, saying "Verizon estimates that it lost 784,703 devices to fraud in 2023, costing it hundreds of millions of dollars annually." It added, "Verizon reported that device fraud increased by 25% in 2024, causing an estimate of $12.5 billion in worldwide losses."

The FCC acquiesced to the phone carrier's request when it found that it was the only major provider that had such a short lock period. While fraud is a concern for Verizon and other major network providers, extending how long a phone is locked prevents users from augmenting their device in a couple of ways, including adding an eSIM from another service.

One critic wrote to the FCC to point this out, saying, "Permanent locks would make it harder for consumers to switch carriers, use dual-SIM features, or take advantage of emerging services like SpaceX's Starlink Cellular." Starlink launched its first satellites for cell service to give users network capabilities in what would otherwise be dead zones, so they would have service just about anywhere on the planet. A locked phone doesn't just prevent users from switching to another provider, it stifles their ability to take advantage of a smartphone's full capabilities.