Hidden iOS about-box properties

TidBITS Talk
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While looking for some information about my iPhone, I discovered that the “About” page (Settings → General → About) has hidden values that you can get by tapping on the displayed lines.

The ones I found on my phone are:

  • Software Version. Tap on it to switch between just the version number (e.g. 15.5) and a version with the build number (e.g. 15.5 (19F77)).
  • Model Number. Tap on it to switch between the “M” number (e.g. MLAD3LL/A for my iPhone 13 mini) and the “A” number (e.g. A2481).
  • Carrier (in the “Physical SIM” section). Tap it to switch between:
    • Carrier. Identifies your mobile network operator and the version of its carrier settings (e.g. Verizon 50.0 on my phone). See also Manually update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
    • PRL. This is the “Preferred Roaming List”, identifying the set of bands (and priorities) the phone should try when your carrier’s network is not available. In my case, it is 1, which I assume is either a dummy placeholder or simply represents version 1 of Verizon’s 5G PRL. See also PRL definition (Phone Scoop)
    • IMS Status. This (I think) defines the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) services that can be run over the mobile data network. In my case, it says Voice & SMS, which (I think) means VoLTE is supported. See also IMS definition (Phone Scoop)
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As is often the case about something like this, I thought everybody knew this. Anyway, Apple does document this. The carrier items depend on your carrier. I think that only the old CDMA carriers (Verizon and Sprint are the big ones) have PRL, for example.

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Apple’s lingo for this calls only one the model number (A…), the other (M…, on Macs often Z…) they call the part number.

It’s often also actually spelled out that way on the barcode sticker they put on the boxes of brand new Macs when shipped to customers.

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My AT&T eSIM has them.