If you are purchasing a secondhand phone, you will probably want to determine its age. You can do so by using the information included with your phone or web and app-based tools that use the IMEI number. Unfortunately, determining the age of your phone might vary by manufacturer, so you will need to choose which approach works for you.
There are several reasons why you may wish to determine the age of your phone. The good news is that you can determine your phone’s age for free, regardless of whether you’re looking to sell it, purchasing a slightly used phone, or are simply interested as to how many years your phone has existed. This is the reason why we are here.
It may be as simple as examining the phone’s receipt to determine when it was purchased. Assuming you still possess the phone’s retail packaging and purchase documentation, you should be able to determine the date using these items. The IMEI number of your phone is another quick and simple method for determining how long you’ve owned it. These are various methods for determining the age of your phone or how long you have owned it.
Table of Contents
How To Determine How Old Is My Phone?
1. Online Tools
- Go to an IMEI checking tool
- Enter the IMEI number of your device and select Check. You will be informed if your IMEI is invalid, and you will be unable to proceed to the next page. To proceed to the next page, you must enter the captcha.
- Click on Check SN / Warranty / Carrier
- Select SN & Warranty & Carrier
- Next to Production Date, you will see the date your phone was manufactured, which you may use to determine its age. In addition, you will be able to view an estimate of when the warranty expired and how long it lasted.
IMEI.info will also provide further information such as:
- If your phone is covered by a warranty.
- The projected date that the warranty expired.
- The make and model of the phone.
- The production date indicates when your phone was manufactured.
- The phone’s country of origin indicates where it was made.
2. Check The Box
Some manufacturers have been kind enough to put the manufacturing date on the back of some devices. If you purchased your phone and still retain the manufacturer’s sticker, you can flip it over and examine the label for a date. On phones like the OnePlus, the date of production is printed on the sticker, which can be used to determine the age of the device.
3. iPhone’s Serial Number
On smartphones such as the iPhone, the date of manufacturing can be determined by examining the serial number. Each IMEI number is composed of a series of codes that provide further information about the device.
- Go to Settings
- Open General settings
- Go to About
- Look for the Serial Number
- Find the first number within the serial number to determine the date of manufacture. For instance, if it finishes in 9 it was manufactured in 2019 or 2009 depending on the model, 0 in 2020 or 2010 depending on the model, and 1 in 2011. You can use this to determine the age of your device.
4. Manufacturing Code
If you cannot determine the date of manufacture from the box, the IMEI number, or the serial number, you can use manufacturing codes instead. The issue with manufacturing codes is that they can be model-specific, making it impossible to determine which code to apply for a particular device.
You can enter the codes *#197328640#* or *#*#197328640#*#* into your phone’s dialer to determine if they work. This should launch a service menu that provides a manufacturing date that you may use to determine the age of your device.
5. Ask The Person From Whom You Bought The Phone
If you forget how old your phone is, you may always ask the person from whom you purchased it. Frequently, the seller will keep a record of when they sold an item, and it is simple for them to retrieve this information. When asking merchants when you acquired your phone, they may want a receipt or other information that can be used to determine the actual date of purchase.
6. Check The Date On Which The Phone Was Manufactured
It is possible to find the production date of your phone within the retail packaging, which is a quick and easy method. For various reasons, some manufacturers are kind enough to include it in their products. Before you go to the trouble of figuring out how to determine the age of your phone, check the retail packaging. The information may be on a sticker on the exterior or interior of the box, or in a small booklet. To locate the date, simply a brief scan is required. In all honesty, that shouldn’t take too long. Some brands include the date of manufacture on the packaging, whereas others do not.
7. Check Your Email Or Bank Statements
Included in the monthly account statements for your personal or small business bank accounts are debit card transactions. In many cases, you can see these statements electronically, or you can select to receive a hard copy of your monthly statements by mail. When a bank sends an account holder a bank statement, it includes a comprehensive explanation of the account’s activity. It allows the account holder to view all transactions that have been processed on their account. Typically, transactions on a statement are presented in the order in which they occurred.
Additionally, your email can tell you when you purchased your phone. When you purchase a new phone, you will be required to create a Google Play account using an email address. The email you receive after configuring the Play Store will indicate when you began using your phone. If you preserve your emails, you will find information about when you purchased your phone in them.
8. Check “About Phone”
In the majority of instances, Android phone manufacture dates can be located in the device’s settings. To access the “About Phone” page, simply navigate to the Settings menu and select “About Phone.” The section presenting information about your phone may also include the terms Your Phone, About, and Phone Data.
If you know your iPhone’s serial number, you can obtain vital information about the device’s manufacturing date. To retrieve the serial number, you must first visit Settings General About Serial Number.
9. Dial #197328640# Or ##197328640#*#*
It is another method that is not appropriate for everyone. In this method, we will illustrate how to determine the production date of your phone by dialing the on-device manufacturing numbers. There is a catch to this, however. As you are aware, there are a variety of phone types available; hence, there is no universal unlock code. You must thus conduct an online search for the manufacture date code connected with your specific phone model. If you dial the codes *#197328640#*#* or *#197328640*#*, most devices will display the date of manufacture. However, a few devices will not.
In other instances, you may need to dig deeper to locate the manufacturing code. When you enter the above codes on your telephone’s keypad, for example, a service option will appear.
After that, you must select Version Information from the drop-down menu. Then pick ‘Hardware Version’ from the resulting drop-down menu. Then selecting the ‘Read Cal Data’ option from the menu would be helpful. This operation will result in the display of a date on the screen.
Additionally, this is the date your Android device was built. Unfortunately, if these codes do not work, you will need to search the Internet for the unique manufacturing code for your phone model, which will be more challenging.
10. Use The Chipmunk Tool
“Chipmunk” is a free service that enables you to determine the manufacturing year and week of an item:
Access the “Chipmunk” website on your iPhone, PC, or Mac and enter your iPhone’s serial number (as seen above) into the text input field. Then click “Let the information be seen” to view the information.
On the next page, you may determine precisely how old your iPhone is based on the Production week and Production year.
Conclusion
To identify the exact manufacturing date of your equipment, you can Google its serial number or a specific model to see if the search engine provides any relevant information that will assist you to determine when the item was manufactured. If it does not work, you may at least determine the approximate age of your phone by looking up its release date online. The exact production date of your phone may be a little before or a lot after its release date, but you should have a feel of its age at this point. Additionally, third-party applications can be advantageous.
Several tools have been created to scour the Internet for information on the year and month of your phone’s production. Because they are often developed in collaboration with the manufacturers, these applications may be tailored to a specific business. You need only to download and install the program to gain access to the data.
