Microsoft Did NOT Relock Chevron Unlocked Phones

The guys that make up the Chevron team have confirmed that Microsoft has NOT relocked phones. To the contrary, the phones do periodic checks to confirm they are supposed to be locked and since the server responds with a ‘no’ the phone relocks. So MS did not take any action to relock any phones. Here’s how they put it:

In our preliminary discussions with Microsoft, we were surprised to hear that after a short amount of time — approximately two weeks — phones unlocked via ChevronWP7 would revert back to their original locked state. We couldn’t verify this claim at the time and didn’t look into it again.

Our bad. Don’t panic, though!

Contrary to circulating reports, Windows Phone 7 devices unlocked via ChevronWP7 are not being targeted by Microsoft. Instead, the phone is reverting back as a result of a periodic check. Simply put, the phone rings Microsoft and asks “Hey, am I supposed to be unlocked?”. If Microsoft responds with a “No, what are you thinking?”, the phone apologizes and initiates a lock down.

Unfortunately, while in this state, an unsigned application launch results in a misleading (and scary sounding) error message:

“[application name] has been revoked by Microsoft. Please uninstall it.”

This is not the case.

Anyway, as far as MS taking some action…nothing to see here. move on folks.