How To Fix The iPhone SIM Card Not Supported Error




A couple of months back, I published a guide on activating your iPhone from an unofficial carrier using legitimate activation certificates from iTunes. This is achieved by using a jailbreak package called Subscriber Artificial Module (SAM, for short) which would benefit the user in many ways, since having legitimate activations certificates for your iPhone will not only fix push notifications and YouTube issues, it also improves battery life. SAM is free and works for a lot of people.

The SIM card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported

A few of our readers have since complained that iTunes refuses to recognize their SIM card since they’ve used SAM. The error they received was “The SIM card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported”. Apparently, they’re not the only ones – this ‘iPhone SIM card not supported’ error has been associated with those who activated their iPhones using SAM for a while now and luckily, there is a fix available. In this article, I’ll explain how to work around iPhone SIM card not supported error when using SAM.
iPhone SIM card not supported error



Before we begin, let me give a brief recap of what the iPhone SIM card not supported error is and why. Some users receive the error “The SIM card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported” while activating their iPhone 4/3GS/3G on iOS 4.x.x with SAM. This error arises because SAMPrefsdepend on the original carrier on of the iPhone, and not on the ICCID or IMSI of the inserter SIM card. Hence, the user needs to follow a slightly different approach towards activation to successfully using SAM.


Getting around the ‘iPhone SIM card not supported’ error

First, you need to check the Model number of your iPhone. On Springboard, go to Settings >> General >> About and look for Model information.


Search for your Model number in Google to find out the official carrier of your iPhone, and hence the network to which the phone is locked. Note down this information.

If you haven’t installed SAM on your phone yet, do so by following the guide here. You need to select Revert Lockdown to Stock in SAM’s settings, following which you should see a Stockification Success message. A failure prompt here can result from installing an incorrect version of SAM.



Next, navigate to the main configuration panel for SAM (the first settings screen) and tap the Method menu. Select By Bundle Name in here.



Tap the SAM button in top left to go back, and tap on the Bundle option. Here, select the correct carrier and region based on your Google search of your iPhone’s model number.


In some cases, you may have a SIM ID menu as well, where you’ll be required to choose your SIM ID. Let the first option be the choice here (if it exists, at all).

Now, with lockdown reverted to stock and Method and Bundle Name correctly configured, go to More Information in SAM settings and ActivationState should say Unactivated. Connect your iPhone to your PC or Mac and run iTunes. Legitimate activation certificates will be generated for your device, so make sure your computer has an active internet connection at this point. Once the activation process is complete, ActivationState should turn Wildcard Activated.


Solving the ‘iPhone SIM card not supported error’

That’s it. The iPhone SIM card not supported error is gone, and your phone is fully activated with genuine activation packets. This means your push notifications are fixed as well as YouTube, and you can make FaceTime calls, too – all this with an improved battery life. You may check that the push notifications are working using the free iPusher app from the App Store.

Did this method fix the iPhone SIM card not supported error caused by SAM? Do you know of another method? If you found this article useful, please share it with your friends.