What does SIM–free mean?

And is my phone locked?

Adam L avatar
Written by Adam L
Updated over a week ago

A phone is SIM–free if it does not come with a SIM card. Instead, it’s up to you to provide a SIM card for the phone. 

  • A SIM–free phone can come locked or unlocked. 

  • If it is locked (some networks do this), then you must insert a matching SIM or unlock the phone usually at your cost. 

  • If it is unlocked, then any SIM card that physically fits will work.

What are the benefits of having a SIM–free phone? It means that you become SIM–only which is cheaper and more flexible, here's why;

  • By ‘decoupling’ the SIM and device you’re free to choose from a wide variety of great SIM–only deals that suit your actual data usage needs.

  • Secondly, it’s more flexible. With a SIM–only contract you don't get locked into lengthy contracts. A lot can change in 24 months, and the price of data has been falling consistently over the last few years.


All Raylo phones are both SIM–free and unlocked, meaning they come without a SIM card, and will work on all networks.

Did this answer your question?