If you’ve bought an AT&T iPhone 5 without a contract then you’re probably aware that you can request AT&T to unlock it.

Few weeks back, AT&T made it easier to unlock the iPhone by launching a new web form where customers can request for the unlock online.

You can also call AT&T’s toll-free number and request for your iPhone to be unlocked.

But TechCrunch reports that you don’t have to wait for 5 to 7 days for AT&T to process your request to unlock your iPhone 5, if you’ve bought it without a contract. All you need to do is restore your iPhone 5 in iTunes and you will get the “Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked.” message.

You can then use the unlocked iPhone 5 on any carrier. Romian Dillet of TechCrunh confirms that his iPhone 5 works on T-Mobile’s network after unlocking it this way.

Dillet goes on to explain:

When you buy an iPhone, the device is added to Apple’s big iPhone database thanks to the IMEI, which is used as a unique identifier. Full price and subsidized iPhone 5 models apparently don’t have the same status in the database as it is flagged as “ready to be unlocked” when purchased without a contract.