iPhone 11 Pro First Time Buying for In-Store Pickup on Launch Day...

[Rambaldi]

You can do either or. Setup in store with their assistance or on your own at home.

The latter is better if you use iTunes encrypted backups and have an Apple Watch to pair, etc.

Awesome, thanks for clarifying. Definitely don’t want to get stuck trying to do all of my setup at an Apple Store, glad I can take it and do it on my own.

 

[LonestarOne]

This is my first year doing in-store pickup as well - am I able to leave the store with the phone unactivated and still in-box, so I can activate and set it up at home outside the craziness of the Apple Store? Or do I have to activate it there?

If it matters, I’m upgrading via iPhone upgrade program.

No, the security guard will shoot if you try that. Or course, you can, but it’s better to do it in the store and make sure everything is working right. If there’s a problem with the carrier, for example (that’s happened to me twice), they can help you with it. The store isn’t *that* crazy. The only thing that will be problematic is setting up Siri voice recognition because of all the background noise.

 

[CaptMarvel]

Awesome, thanks for clarifying. Definitely don’t want to get stuck trying to do all of my setup at an Apple Store, glad I can take it and do it on my own.

No problem. I still use iTunes Encrypted Backups myself, so going through the whole process of creating a backup, restoring from backup on the new iPhone, then unpairing the watch from the old iPhone, to then pair it with the new iPhone is a lengthy process.

I opted for the 8am-8:30am pickup window, but just my luck I couldn’t take off Friday as I have three important meetings that day. I have about two hours down time in between the second and third one, so maybe I can get everything setup in that time. Friday is going to be a LONG day lol.

 

[LonestarOne]

My pick up window is 1100-1130. How early can I show up and still get help? Can I arrive early and will they let me pick up or is it strict?

If you’re a few minutes early, they may take you if they have an employee available. This is Apple, not the DMV. The reason for the window is to make sure there’s someone available when you show up, by sometimes they have no-shows or customers who whip through the process super fast.

Otherwise, you will have to get on line with all the people who are queuing up for non-reserved phones. (I’m not sure if Apple is doing that on launch day this year, though).

 

[CaptMarvel]

Otherwise, you will have to get on line with all the people who are queuing up for non-reserved phones. (I’m not sure if Apple is doing that on launch day this year, though).

Generally if a lot of people (non reserved/walk ups) do show up and there’s a line for those that did preorder, there will be two lines. The preorder line usually always moves faster.

 

[SHKLMRE]

My pick up window is 1100-1130. How early can I show up and still get help? Can I arrive early and will they let me pick up or is it strict?

Not early at all... they are really strict about this. For the iPhone XS, I chose an 8-8:30am pick up time and my buddy chose 9-9:30am. We had to do a lot of convincing to get them to let him stand in line with me. The only thing that worked in our favor was the fact that my particular store wasn’t doing walk ins that day so the line wasn’t *that* long. I’ve seen people get turned away for trying to come 2+ hours earlier