Check your phone’s condition
Your phone needs to be in a good condition to upgrade with O2 Switch Up, no cracks, chips, deep scratches or any other kind of damage like water damage. See our phone condition guide.
If your phone doesn’t meet our grading criteria, we’ll let you know what other options are available.
Get ready to Switch Up
When you exchange your old phone, you'll need to transfer your data and reset the device. See our checklist for preparing your phone.
What happens next?
Once we’ve checked it’s in good nick, we’ll pay off your current contract and you’ll start a new custom plan or custom plan for whichever phone you’ve picked. We’ll make sure all the data on your old handset has been wiped and refurbish it for someone else to enjoy as one of our Like New phones.
Just so you know, if you choose to Switch Up by post and don’t return your old phone, you will continue to pay for that phone’s device plan until it ends – along with your new one.
Is your phone suitable?
Check our phone condition guide before you visit us.
Before you Switch Up
Before you exchange your phone, make sure you've followed these important steps:
Back up everything you want to keep, like contacts and photos. Apple and Samsung provide cloud back-up systems to manage this.
Turn off any passcodes you’ve set. See the Apple and Samsung websites or check your phone’s user guide for more information.
Remove any security software you've installed.
Double-check that you’re exchanging the correct device. The unique IMEI number needs to match the one we supplied. You can check your IMEI by dialing *#06# on your phone app’s keypad.
Additional steps when exchanging an Apple device:
Make sure 'Find my iPhone' is disabled. See this guide on Apple's website for more information.
If you have an Apple Watch, unpair it from your phone.
You can transfer directly between Apple phones using QuickStart.
FAQs
Once you’ve decided to swap your phone for a new one, you’ll need to check your current phone meets our grading criteria (if it’s in good enough nick). If it does, remember to back up all your contacts, pictures, videos and whatever else you’ve got on your phone so you don’t lose them. You’ll also need to turn off any passwords you’ve set.
If you’re not sure how to do any of these things, pop into an O2 store and one of our advisers can talk you through it.
You can only switch the phone you originally bought as part of your Plus Plan, Ultimate Plan or Classic Plan. The only exception is if you’ve had a replacement phone through an insurance claim, as long as it’s the same make and model, or better.
You can switch your current phone for any other one you like, including our range of Like New phones. You can’t currently switch your phone for laptops, tablets smartwatches or any other connected devices.
Don’t forget, you’ll need to make sure you take out a new Plus Plan or Ultimate Plan (getting Switch Up automatically at no extra cost) or a Classic Plan (and adding Switch Up as a Bolt On for an additional monthly cost) if you want to switch your phone again.
We can’t give your old phone back once you’ve switched it for a new one, as we’ll have already started to refurbish it as one of our Like New phones. The good news is, as long as you’re still on a Plus Plan, Ultimate Plan or a Classic Plan with O2 Switch Up added as a Bolt On, you can switch your phone to a new one, every 90 days.
You can swap to a new phone every 90 days with O2 Switch Up.
Our Custom Plans are flexible. This means you can change your airtime plan up or down, once a month. Find out more about our flexible tariffs and other benefits.
If you move from your existing Plus Plan or Ultimate Plan to another Plus Plan or Ultimate Plan, you’ll keep Switch Up as normal.
You’ll also keep Switch Up if you’re on a Classic Plan (with Switch Up added as a Bolt On) and you move to another Classic Plan or either a Plus Plan or Ultimate Plan.
If you’re on a Plus Plan or Ultimate Plan and move to a Classic Plan without upgrading or resigning, you’ll lose Switch Up as a benefit.
If you’ve already got O2 Switch Up, you're free to swap to a new phone every 90 days. If you don’t have O2 Switch Up, you can still upgrade your plan early.
We don’t accept stolen or barred phones. The same goes for any with fake software installed on them.
