Lost Verizon Features with Unlocked Refurbished S21 Phone?

[rkruz]

I want to get a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to replace my current S20+.

If I get an "Unlocked" version of the S21 Ultra, are there any Verizon features that will not work on the unlocked phone?

The unlocked versions are less expensive than the Verizon refurbished phones which is why I ask.

In the past when I used an Unlocked phone its seems there were some voicemail or other features that did not work and I ended up returned and getting a refurbished Verizon phone.

Any experience here with the Samsung S21 Ultra or S21+?

[vzw_customer_support]

Great question! There are some Verizon features that may not work properly with an unlocked device. Voicemail and Wi-Fi Calling may not work as well on an unlocked device. In my experience I"ve had some issues with Wi-Fi Calling on an unlocked device. It may work well, or it may not. ~Peter

[SynthpopAddict]

In a nutshell...if you are used to the Verizon features such as Visual Voicemail, Call Filter, Digital Secure (or whatever it's called now because I think they may have changed that one)...those won't be available on an unlocked phone.  You can download the My Verizon app and that ought to work, but you would have to use either the native features built into the S21 or download 3rd party apps for the other stuff.

Samsung has been moving away from using their own apps built into phones in the last year or 2, so very recent factory unlocked Samsung phones (I think it started with the S23 and newer) rely a bunch on the Google apps installed.

[rkruz]

Thanks. I have no loyalty to Version features. Of those features you mention, the only ones I would use are plain old analog voicemail and call filter.  Do you think I would get what I need with an unlocked and its native features or would I need to download an app and suffer the advertisements it brings?

[SynthpopAddict · Accepted solution]

You're welcome.  Your voicemail should be fine, although you may need to make sure it's set to call *86 to get to the plain old voicemail.  I have some basic features to block spam or unwanted callers in the Samsung phone app, but my phone is a carrier version from another company, which I had unlocked when I switched to Verizon.  I want to say the native Samsung software or Android software ought to provide something to filter out some junk calls/texts, but if you want something more sophisticated, you'd need a 3rd party app.