Soracom Air for Cellular

IMEI Lock

The IMEI Lock option provides a straightforward method for securing your IoT SIM, ensuring that in the case that your IoT SIM is stolen, it cannot be used inside another device resulting in unwanted data usage charges.

When an IoT SIM card attempts to connect to the network using an IMEI that does not match the one registered with the IMEI Lock configuration, an error with the following format will be shown in the Error Logs:

Subscriber {IMSI} is not allowed to create session: Device IMEI {IMEI} does not match configured IMEI {IMEI}

If you enable or change IMEI lock for an IoT SIM that is already online, the existing session will still remain active. The updated IMEI lock settings will only apply when a new data session is established. To enforce the IMEI lock immediately, delete the current session or restart your device to initiate a new session.

Enabling IMEI Lock

You can set an IMEI Lock for multiple IoT SIMs simultaneously by clicking the for each SIM you want to configure before proceeding with the steps below. Each SIM will be locked to the IMEI number of the device it was most recently associated with.

  1. Login to the User Console. From the Menu, open the SIM Management screen.

  2. From the list of subscribers, click the for the SIM you want to modify.

  3. Click the Actions menu, then select Enable IMEI lock.

    https://console.soracom.io

    Enable IMEI lock

  4. In the dialog, enter the IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity) of the device the SIM should be locked to, then click Lock.

    Set IMEI lock

If a local network that the SIM is connected to does not report the IMEI of the device, with IMEI Lock enabled, Soracom will block the connection by default, which may result in unexpected downtime. To enable IMEI Lock, but still allow connections when a local network is not reporting the IMEI information, check the box to Allow connections when IMEI is temporarily not available

temp imei lock

Removing IMEI Lock

You can remove an IMEI Lock for multiple IoT SIMs simultaneously by clicking the for each SIM you want to remove before proceeding with the steps below. The IMEI Lock will be removed for each selected SIM, regardless of its session status.

  1. Login to the User Console. From the Menu, open the SIM Management screen.

  2. From the list of subscribers, click the for the SIM you want to modify.

  3. Click the Actions menu, then select Remove IMEI Lock.

    https://console.soracom.io

    Remove IMEI lock

  4. In the dialog, click Remove Lock to confirm that you want to remove the IMEI Lock.

    Remove the IMEI lock from your SIM via the dialog

Programmatic Usage

You can also use the Soracom API, Soracom CLI, and Metadata Service to enable or disable IMEI Lock.

Soracom API

To access the Soracom API, first use the auth API to obtain an API Key and Token. Refer to the API Usage Guide for instructions on how to use the API Key and Token in API requests.

Then, use the setImeiLock API to enable IMEI Lock on an IoT SIM:

curl -X POST \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-API-Key: <MY-API-KEY>' \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-Token: <MY-TOKEN>' \
|  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
|  -d '{
|        "imei": "860000012345678"
|      }' \
|  https://g.api.soracom.io/v1/subscribers/<IMSI>/set_imei_lock

If the subscriber is online, you can omit the payload in order to lock the subscriber to the current IMEI.

To remove the IMEI Lock from an IoT SIM, use the unsetImeiLock API:

curl -X POST \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-API-Key: <MY-API-KEY>' \
|  -H 'X-Soracom-Token: <MY-TOKEN>' \
|  https://g.api.soracom.io/v1/subscribers/<IMSI>/unset_imei_lock

Soracom CLI

To use the Soracom CLI, you must first configure it to authenticate with your account information, authorization key, or SAM user credentials.

Run the following command to enable the IMEI lock on an IoT SIM:

soracom subscribers set-imei-lock --imsi <IMSI> --imei "860000012345678" --coverage-type g

If the subscriber is online, you can omit the --imei flag in order to lock the subscriber to the current IMEI.

To remove the IMEI Lock from an IoT SIM, use following command:

soracom subscribers unset-imei-lock --imsi <IMSI> --coverage-type g

Metadata Service

The Metadata Service allows an Air SIM device to access and configure its own settings without the need for authentication. For more information, refer to the Metadata Service documentation.

Because the Metadata Service allows an IoT SIM to access its own subscriber settings, this can be used as part of an initialization script so that a device sets its own IMEI lock when it connects to a network for the first time.

To enable the IMEI Lock on an IoT SIM, the Metadata Service Readonly option must be disabled. Then, from the IoT SIM device, use the setImeiLock API:

curl -X POST \
|  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
|  -d '{
|        "imei": "860000012345678"
|      }' \
|  http://metadata.soracom.io/v1/subscriber/set_imei_lock

Since the subscriber will be online, you can also omit the payload in order to lock the subscriber to its current IMEI.

To remove the IMEI Lock from the IoT SIM, use the unsetImeiLock API:

curl -X POST http://metadata.soracom.io/v1/subscriber/unset_imei_lock