UK! Totally jealous. It's amazing how technology can become faulty just because. Like I said, peace of mind. 😉
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iPad Pro Apple Care for iPad or not?
- Thread starter AVBeatMan
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I’m gonna copy what I posted last year in another thread, because I believe it can be perfectly applied by some people in this thread. 
The standard rule is: don't insure stuff that you can pay for yourself. Some people have paid for AC+ for over a decade without ever needing it. That's the price of multiple iPhones.
Make the calculations for yourself if it's worth it. Don't forget to include service fees and deductibles as well. Paying out of pocket for a repair for an iPhone 16 with rear camera damage is cheaper than the price of AC+ plus deductible. If it gets damaged for a second time, then paying out of pocket again is still cheaper than AC.
Of course, your phone is most likely your most-used device in your daily life. Probably always within hands reach. AC is more than just "woops, broke it, let's get it fixed". It offers advantages like same-day service in many areas, express replacement shipments, mail-in repair, theft and loss, etc.
I once had an iPhone that had to be serviced (within warranty) that took nearly a month! In that scenario, I would have preferred to have had AC because then it would have been serviced either same-day or I would have gotten an express replacement in advance.
So, right now, I'm also considering going for AC+. Not necessarily because it offers the best value for a repair (spoiler alert: for the vast majority of people, it doesn't). But because it does offer some other advantages. The iPhone is my most important device. With AC+, I get the guarantee that I will never be without my iPhone for more than a day.
The standard rule is: don't insure stuff that you can pay for yourself. Some people have paid for AC+ for over a decade without ever needing it. That's the price of multiple iPhones.
Make the calculations for yourself if it's worth it. Don't forget to include service fees and deductibles as well. Paying out of pocket for a repair for an iPhone 16 with rear camera damage is cheaper than the price of AC+ plus deductible. If it gets damaged for a second time, then paying out of pocket again is still cheaper than AC.
Of course, your phone is most likely your most-used device in your daily life. Probably always within hands reach. AC is more than just "woops, broke it, let's get it fixed". It offers advantages like same-day service in many areas, express replacement shipments, mail-in repair, theft and loss, etc.
I once had an iPhone that had to be serviced (within warranty) that took nearly a month! In that scenario, I would have preferred to have had AC because then it would have been serviced either same-day or I would have gotten an express replacement in advance.
So, right now, I'm also considering going for AC+. Not necessarily because it offers the best value for a repair (spoiler alert: for the vast majority of people, it doesn't). But because it does offer some other advantages. The iPhone is my most important device. With AC+, I get the guarantee that I will never be without my iPhone for more than a day.
Given the expectation of significantly higher replacement prices in the near term, I got AppleCare+ for my iPad A16.
I don't bother with AppleCare on iPads. They seem to be pretty difficult to screw up. I have three kids and 4 iPads and have done for about 10 years with them being swapped out every 3-4 years. Despite being dropped, smacked around, all sorts we've not killed a single one yet. Dropped my M2 face down on my chair base the other day and it just tells me BEAT ME HARDER.
I’ve had 2 iPads suffer port damage this month … get AppleCare or it’s pretty much buy a new device because a repair for an older model just isn’t worth it
With my iPad pros that I have always gotten through T-Mobile I would get their AppleCare plus I only had to use it two times1 in the past and I can’t remember why but I know I used it. I think my logic board was going out and the second time happened recently with my M4 it dropped in water And luckily I think I only paid about 120 bucks and I got a brand new device the way I know I got a brand new device is it was only three months in from lunch and when I checked the manufacture date, it matched my brand new device And I know that there’s a 5% yield that goes towards a refurbished replacement devices so I was just lucky enough to get a brand new device as my refurbished and I’ve been using it ever since the fact that my cellular 13 inch 256 GB with a retailed for about $1400 And I only paid 120 $150 to get it replaced is nothing well worth having AppleCare plus and I’m only paying $8 a month under their monthly program that I can have go on forever
I always get it, and with my last iPad Air 4 bought in 2021, I used it twice. The second day I had it I was using it for a FaceTime call when it was knocked over onto a table and cracked the screen. Then in 2023 I showed a contractor a floor plan that was on my iPad and left it out as we walked around the house and forgot about it when it started raining.
I just bought a new iPad Air M3 a couple of weeks ago and got it with AC+ and hope to not use it this time. It's year-to-year and I think I will drop coverage after two years and just purchase a new device if I break this one after two years, though - which is what I do with phones, too.
I just bought a new iPad Air M3 a couple of weeks ago and got it with AC+ and hope to not use it this time. It's year-to-year and I think I will drop coverage after two years and just purchase a new device if I break this one after two years, though - which is what I do with phones, too.
I buy AppleCare in all of my products and it been well worth it. When you have a young curious creative child, AppleCare pays for itself lol.
Ok, I finally had a potential issue with AC+. I just traded in the Air 4 after buying an M3 Air and received a $200 trade-in offer, but when it was sent in, the offer was rescinded because of "LCD display burn in damage/streaks/discoloration across the screen." Either I'm being scammed out of the trade-in (though I never have before) or there was an issue with the AC+ replacement that I received.
Instead of paying $1,049 to replace the shattered screen of an iPad Pro M4 (that i forgot to get AppleCare for), I am going to get an M3 iPad Air to replace it. I overbought the iPad Pro, and I actually like somewhat thicker enclosure of iPad Air, so it works. But I wish I had AppleCare on the iPad! I think AppleCare is well worth it on watches and iPads
Always get Apple Care+, if you can afford the device, then you should be able to afford AC+, heck, you can even do it with monthly charges.
All insurance is a gamble. You buy it for your house, your car, your life ( what a waste, you can't even use it when you die, but the wife and her new husband will have a great time ), your boat, your plane, your traveling. Not sure why people get a case of the raw a** about AC+ when they buy an Apple device.
All insurance is a gamble. You buy it for your house, your car, your life ( what a waste, you can't even use it when you die, but the wife and her new husband will have a great time ), your boat, your plane, your traveling. Not sure why people get a case of the raw a** about AC+ when they buy an Apple device.
Who is the company doing the trade-in? What country are you in? In the US, I always try to do any trade-in directly with Apple at an Apple Store, so they do the device inspection on the spot and you get either a gift card / trade-in credit on new purchase asap.
If you have to mail it in (even through Apple), they use a 3rd party company (depends on what country you're in), but 100s of posts about sketchiness with 3rd parties - horror stories of bait and switch (whether willfully or just incompetence and they don't internally track properly enough that your device was considered someone else's)...
Anyways, assuming it's a 3rd party trade-in company, I think much more likely that they are screwing up the inspection vs a "like-new replacement" (eg. official Apple refurb) you got via AppleCare.
It was the mail trade-in - it was the only choice that I had when I ordered the iPad. And this is the first time that I've ever had this happen - otherwise my value has always been what they quoted me at order time. I am sure it was because they sent me an AppleCare replacement with that issue - it wa surely not from my use of the iPad. I received the AC+ replacement only two years ago.
But I may try out the trade-in in the store next time I shop.
Never had AC+ on my iPads - just get a good case that protect it when you drop it.
Those case don’t cost much either - bought some cheap on Amazon and it serves my iPad mini’s very good.
I usually get AC+ on my Mac’s when they are new.
With the new subscription model you can just drop it when you want, and you don’t have to pay for 3 yrs, or you can pay even longer if you want that.
It’s pretty normal to feel that you want your new products to be protected - after awhile you might feel differently, if you really need it or not.
Those case don’t cost much either - bought some cheap on Amazon and it serves my iPad mini’s very good.
I usually get AC+ on my Mac’s when they are new.
With the new subscription model you can just drop it when you want, and you don’t have to pay for 3 yrs, or you can pay even longer if you want that.
It’s pretty normal to feel that you want your new products to be protected - after awhile you might feel differently, if you really need it or not.
I agree with your sentiment around going monthly AppleCare subscription. I've done that as well both for my MBP (annual subscription), iPhone (monthly), iPad Pro (monthly) and Apple Watch (monthly).
Even though you pay slightly more if you go monthly (assuming you go for 2 years) then if you bought upfront monthly, I like the ease of optionality that I can either 1) cancel early or 2) keep it longer easily, probably more likely (1).
Often we get a new device and we're extra focused on keeping it pristine / wanting protection. But after a few months, like most purchases (especially tech), we get used to it and it's just another device. Additionally, once the device is incorporated into your daily habits / schedule / routine, you might find you don't need the protection, and so the ability to only keep AppleCare in the first year (for example), and then get rid of it, is helpful and I've done that on a bunch of items.
I'm 50/50 on AppleCare. For the devices that I bring into my classroom (M4 MBA, iPad 11), I get it because they're around 200+ middle schoolers all day every day. I also have it on my iPad mini at home because it use it in bed and am known to drop it on occasion if I fall asleep with it. Other devices that I mostly use at home, I don't have it because I'm not terribly worried about damage to them.