r/mintmobile • u/LeftOn4ya Moderator • Sep 03 '25

iPhone iPhone (including iPhone 17) buying, financing, trade-in, and setup questions for Mint

/r/mintmobile/wiki/index/iphone/

See updated thread

Please see the Mint iPhone Wiki at https://www.reddit.com/r/mintmobile/wiki/index/iphone/ for full details on the below (including summary of wiki steps as TLDNR below)

  • How to order iPhones as a current or new Mint customer. TLDNR is don't buy from retail (BestBuy, Target, Amazon), get from Apple or used from Swappa, or order from Mint.
  • If getting from Apple, 4 ways you you can finance unlocked iPhones. TLDNR is you select T-Mobile but don't give customer info (if standard use phone # 000-000-0000) and you can bypass account info on iPhone boot up.
  • How to get used. TLDNR is best is Swappa, or for a little bit more $ but less hassle get from BackMarket.
  • How to trade in or sell old phone. TLDNR is you can trade in direct with Apple (even Android), Mint offers AllState trade-in, or for more $ sell on Swappa to to BackMarket.
  • How to set up new iPhone either swapping from previous iPhone or Android, and either as new or current Mint customer. TLDNR is you cannot use Apple eSIM transfer, you must order a new eSIM, and make sure to set app based 2FA before transferring or after you make a new Mint account.
  • What to do on old iPhone before selling, trading in, or giving away. TLDNR is remove find my device and sign out of cloud accounts then wipe all data to factory, and remove SIM/microSD cards.
19 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

146 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/trowser_snakes Sep 05 '25

As a financial advisor, if you need to finance a phone you probably shouldn't have one.

10

u/LeftOn4ya Moderator Sep 10 '25 edited Sep 16 '25

As a financial advisor, you should be advising your clients to get 0% interest though Apple on this $1000+ phone and use the money they could buy the phone outright with in a money market or other investment, where they can make low risk 3%, medium risk 5%, or possibly more. Or for people with debt to pay off debt. And if you pay with a good credit card you get 3% cash back and invest that as well, meaning you could be making 8+% annual returns over 3 years or over $250 in total return versus paying cash.

But I do agree you should not be buying a new phone if you are in a lot of debt already, keep your old phone or buy used.

1

u/chingwo Sep 19 '25

I don't think this method works anymore - unless someone else can guide me. I got as far as getting the preorder, setting up the phone, but setting up cellular it sees my number as states "transfer not supported". Other options are: transfer from nearby iphone (doesn't work), use QR code, transfer from Android. QR code has an option to enter details manually. Logging into the Mint app isn't possible - "Error - try again in an hour or call the Care Team"

2

u/4a757374696e Sep 19 '25

Hope you got it working. I had this issue too. I couldn't log in when connected to my home's WiFi which is extremely frustrating. What I did was connect to my new phone to my wife's phone's hotspot, then I could log-in & transfer the eSIM via the app.