All-New 'AppleCare One' Plan Compatible With iPhone Upgrade Program

[MacRumors]

A quick addendum to the all-new AppleCare One plan that debuted this week: it is compatible with Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program in the United States.

iPhone Upgrade Program members receive AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss coverage as part of their monthly payment, but they can switch to AppleCare One if they prefer. It might be possible to save a bit of money by doing so.

Dan Moren revealed this news in a Six Colors post today:

Apple spokesperson Anna Mitchell told me that iPhone Upgrade Program subscribers can contact Apple Support and unbundle their coverage from the iPhone financing, then upgrade to AppleCare One.

Read our coverage of the AppleCare One announcement to learn more about the subscription plan, which launched Thursday.

Article Link: All-New 'AppleCare One' Plan Compatible With iPhone Upgrade Program

 

[abatabia]

Confusing mess. I can’t add anything of my recent devices that are less than 4 years old for the simple reason that they never had apple care in the past. Which, to me, makes no sense.

 

[Mlrollin91]

It would only make sense to “unbundle” your AC+ from your IUP if you were planning on exiting the IUP. I plan on remaining on it, so having to unbundle yearly seems counterintuitive for the ease of the IUP.

 

[eXoenDo]

It would only make sense to “unbundle” your AC+ from your IUP if you were planning on exiting the IUP. I plan on remaining on it, so having to unbundle yearly seems counterintuitive for the ease of the IUP.

Agreed. There may also be scenarios where it saves money, but in my opinion i'd rather keep the loss and theft incidents for my iPhone separate from my iPad and Apple Watch. It is odd that if it's possible to use AppleCare One with iUP, they don't currently offer that in the buy flow on the website when buying iPhone.

 

[timmodugdale]

I'm not sure why you would do this. When I set up my AppleCare One account yesterday, my phone (which is part of the upgrade program) wasn't listed as a device to add. I get a new phone every year, so it already comes with AppleCare+ +. I don't think jumping through an unnecessary hoop to get it into my AppleCare One account makes any sense. But maybe I'm missing something.

 

[fatTribble]

I'm not sure why you would do this. When I set up my AppleCare One account yesterday, my phone (which is part of the upgrade program) wasn't listed as a device to add. I get a new phone every year, so it already comes with AppleCare+ +. I don't think jumping through an unnecessary hoop to get it into my AppleCare One account makes any sense. But maybe I'm missing something.

If I could add my iPhone and drop an Apple TV (because nothing else was eligible) and save on my iPhone Upgrade Program payment, that would make me happy

 

[verniesgarden]

Confusing mess. I can’t add anything of my recent devices that are less than 4 years old for the simple reason that they never had apple care in the past. Which, to me, makes no sense.

I can't even add anything that currently has AppleCare+

 

[turbineseaplane]

To me, the only way is to get great deals on lightly preowned stuff and skip all of Tim's various subscriptions.

They construct and offer it all to line their pockets.

 

[Docsta80]

I’m sorry if I missed this, but if I already have AppleCare and then I upgrade to the new model does that overwrite my old AppleCare?

 

[fatTribble]

I called Apple last night requesting for my iPhone coverage to be moved to Apple One. I give the rep credit for really researching this but the final answer was no, they couldn’t do it.

I love Apple but this is a common use case the reps should have been trained on

 

[BigMcGuire]

I’m sorry if I missed this, but if I already have AppleCare and then I upgrade to the new model does that overwrite my old AppleCare?

Yeah they cancel the previous AppleCare+ instantly and refund any remaining credit, then the new one takes over right away.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I called Apple last night requesting for my iPhone coverage to be moved to Apple One. I give the rep credit for really researching this but the final answer was no, they couldn’t do it.

I love Apple but this is a common use case the reps should have been trained on

Yeah my wife's iPhone is on the iUP plan. No way I'm going to waste my time calling to try to ask for this - guaranteed I'll have the same experience as you. <sigh> lol

 

[HDFan]

I'm seeing my Upgrade program phone on my list of eligible products.

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

I don’t understand why people are so willing to pay for warranties the odds say they won’t even need.

If you’re a klutzy and you know it or have children who destroy things, fine. But in 25 years and over 50 Apple devices, I’ve only needed an extended warranty ONCE.

Ok. Twice. The most recent was the gen2 iPad Pro Smart Keyboard which was so defectively designed, they all failed within 2 years.

Buy Apple stock with that money or just save it. You’ll be better off.

Not advice.

 

[Feisar]

I’m sorry if I missed this, but if I already have AppleCare and then I upgrade to the new model does that overwrite my old AppleCare?

Ja, I received an email from Apple stating my existing "Your AppleCare+ plan has been canceled" and device coverage has been moved to AppleCare One.

I just purchased a new 16PM and recently renewed AC+ yearly for my MBP M1 Pro 14" and M1 Max 16" and received cancellation emails for both, and now waiting for follow up email re: refund.

I've used Care+ on both MBP for a thunderbolt / USB-C port going bad.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I don’t understand why people are so willing to pay for warranties the odds say they won’t even need.

If you’re a klutzy and you know it or have children who destroy things, fine. But in 25 years and over 50 Apple devices, I’ve only needed an extended warranty ONCE.

Ok. Twice. The most recent was the gen2 iPad Pro Smart Keyboard which was so defectively designed, they all failed within 2 years.

Buy Apple stock with that money or just save it. You’ll be better off.

Not advice.

I can understand this viewpoint.

I've spent a small fortune on AppleCare+ over the last 10 years. It has benefited us a few times. I had an iPhone red-screen, walked into an Apple Store and <5 mins later walked out with a new iPhone after no $ exchanged. My wife's nearly 3 year old MBP (a month away from losing AppleCare+) had a battery failure and she got a free keyboard/battery because of it. My wife and I both got free iPhones during the 6s+ battery debacle. But yeah haven't had to use it since.

Tell you one thing - this definitely has opened my eyes to how much $ I'm giving Apple per year for that privilege.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Ja, I received an email from Apple stating my existing "Your AppleCare+ plan has been canceled" and device coverage has been moved to AppleCare One.

I recently renewed AC+ yearly for my MBP M1 Pro 14" and M1 Max 16" and received cancellation emails for both, and now waiting for follow up email re: refund.

View attachment 2531909

Same for both my MBP and MBA from yesterday - got the refunds immediately on my Watch and iPhone, but still waiting on the MacBooks (one of them will be substantial as I just paid it recently).

 

[mashdots]

I just moved my phone, watch and macbook to this and saved myself like $6 a month.

 

[Aichon]

I was actually really interested in AppleCare One. We have small kids, it'd save me a few bucks, and it'd make things easier as we cycle devices. Sadly, reality hasn't lived up to the promise. Between the bugs I can't get past and obvious use cases they haven't yet supported, I have no use for this.

Of the three devices I currently have enrolled in AppleCare+ and two more that I considered enrolling in this, all of which are eligible for AppleCare One, I'm only actually able to enroll one of them in AppleCare One.

What a mess.

Details below...

1) With AppleCare+, you can pay for a subscription even if device isn't linked to your Apple account. E.g. My mother's Apple Watch Series 10 is linked to her account, but the AppleCare+ subscription is linked to my account: it shows up in my list of subscriptions in my Settings app because I paid for it using my account. With AppleCare One, that isn't a supported use case, apparently: the Subscriptions screens in Settings provides no mechanism for "upgrading" to AppleCare One, her device isn't available to select during AppleCare One onboarding on either web or via Settings, and when I tried to manually look up her device via its serial number the website didn't provide me with an option to upgrade (it instead just told me that her device isn't eligible for coverage, presumably because it's already covered by AppleCare+).

2) Another device I'm paying for is linked to my wife's account. She's a member of our Apple Family and uses the same credit card for her subscription that I do for mine. Despite that, there's no means by which to migrate her iPhone into a plan linked to my account. She'd need to have her own AppleCare One plan separate from mine, or else we'd have to unlink her device from her account, link it to mine, sign her up...no, just no. I'm not jumping through those hoops.

3) But hey, maybe I could toss my aging iPhone 13 mini or our M1 MBA onto the plan instead? If the price is right, why not? The web interface doesn't present me with the "Upgrade" option like I see for my iPad Pro that currently has AppleCare+, presumably because they aren't on AppleCare+ right now, but Apple's documentation says that both should be eligible for AppleCare One after a remote device check, and they're available to select during AppleCare One onboarding via the Settings app, so all good, right? Nope. The Settings screen immediately throws a "Something Went Wrong" error and drops me out of the onboarding flow altogether. I don't know if it's a bug with handling any devices that aren't already on AppleCare+, or if it's a bug with devices that require a device check. Either way, it's broken.

 

[restock3eee]

Deal of the century? Old xdr pro display shows up. no more expensive than an iphone/ipad warranty????

 

[Alexrat1996]

I’m not gonna mess with this. I’m part of the iPhone upgrade program eligible for upgrade next month.


I’m Planning to upgrade to iPhone 17 Pro Max and I’m not gonna mess with this stuff.

Current phone iPhone 16 pro max waiting for the announcement to upgrade to 17 pro max

 

[frankly]

Confusing mess. I can’t add anything of my recent devices that are less than 4 years old for the simple reason that they never had apple care in the past. Which, to me, makes no sense.

That isn't what Apple says on their website. It says, "To verify “good condition,” products may be required to undergo a diagnostic check using a customer’s iPhone or iPad, or at an Apple Store, prior to being added to the plan."

It would only make sense to “unbundle” your AC+ from your IUP if you were planning on exiting the IUP. I plan on remaining on it, so having to unbundle yearly seems counterintuitive for the ease of the IUP.

I think you only have to do this once. "When a customer trades in a covered product directly to Apple, it is automatically removed from their AppleCare One plan and replaced with the new device." I imagine they are planning to work that into the iPhone upgrade process.

The only thing that is preventing me from jumping to AppleCare One is that they require the products to be on your Apple account. I currently pay for AppleCare+ for multiple items that are used by people in my family. They are in my list of subscriptions even though they are signed into the products with their Apple accounts. I feel that if I am paying for them now, I should be able to add them to my AppleCare One account. If this were an option, I would have already subscribed.

 

[aParkerMusic]

Confusing mess. I can’t add anything of my recent devices that are less than 4 years old for the simple reason that they never had apple care in the past. Which, to me, makes no sense.

The problem is Apple’s official documentation says you CAN add them even they haven’t had AppleCare before. So, I think you need to escalate your issue beyond the person who gave you that information.

 

[Ameer_1]

Currently, I don't have AppleCare on any of my products, but I have an iPhone 16 Pro, a MacBook Air M2, and a Series 10 watch that are all less than 4 years old, and I'm unable to add any of them. Am I missing something

 

[kid1230]

I can add a 3rd gen 4k apple tv, M1 ipad pro, and a homepod gen 2 that is having ghost touch issues. They asked for $249 to replace.. I feel like I rather avoid paying that and do care one.