Frequently Asked Questions About AppleCare

Hi this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today I'm going to answer frequently asked questions about AppleCare.

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So AppleCare is the term that Apple uses to describe their warranties. Now you get a basic warranty when you purchase a new Mac, iPhone, iPad, or other device. Usually it's a one year manufacturer limited warranty. That's pretty standard. It will cover if the device breaks and it's not your fault, something is wrong with it, it's a lemon, etc. You can get is replaced or fixed. It also includes ninety days of phone support. I'll talk more about the phone support later.

Now AppleCare is actually called AppleCare+. That's what people mean when they say AppleCare most of the time. It extends that warranty beyond the initial year. For instance for Macs it adds an additional two years for a total of three. For iPhones and iPads it adds an extra year for a total of two. It also extends the phone support out for that same amount of time. So you get two or three years total phone support not just those ninety days. 

Which devices have AppleCare? AppleCare is kind of like a product. You buy it in addition to the hardware you're buying. You can get AppleCare for Macs. You can get it for the iPhone, for the iPad. You can get it for Apple Watches, for AppleTV. You can even get it for the Home Pod and the iPod Touch. The important thing to know is each product you buy has to have its own AppleCare. So AppleCare is this add on product. It is not service that just covers all of your Apple stuff. You would get AppleCare when you buy a new MacBook. Then you would get Apple Care for your Apple Watch. Then you would get AppleCare for your iPhone. They are three separate things that you are purchasing.

So when you buy AppleCare for a Mac what you get is you extend that warranty for two years so you get a total of three years warranty. You also extend your support all the way up to that three years as well. But you get more than that because you get accidental damage coverage. Now this doesn't mean that if you accidentally damage your Mac you get it replaced or fixed for free. It means you have to pay a service fee but the service fee is way lower than what you would pay if you would have to do the repair yourself. 

There's a special screen service fee that's $99. So if you break your MacBook screen, you take it in, and you can get it replaced for $99. You get two of these that you can do within those three years. Other damage is covered for $299. So if you spill coffee on your keyboard and it takes out the entire thing, that's going to cost you $299. It's not going to cover everything. If you open up the Mac and try to change it, like put in your own hard drive or something, and you mess it up you do the damage yourself it's not going to be covered. Also if it's catastrophic damage, so I assume that means if you drop off a tall building or run it over with your car, Apple's not going to cover it either. I think the basic idea is if Apple can take that old Mac and refurbish it they'll cover it and you just pay the fee.

Now you also get with AppleCare+ battery service. So during your coverage time of those three years if your battery drops below 80% capacity Apple will replace the battery in your MacBook for free. So when do you need to purchase AppleCare. Well the easiest time to do it is when you buy the Mac. If you buy it, whether it's online or in the Apple Store or from an authorized reseller you can just add on AppleCare there and it's done. You do have sixty days to add it on. But if you go for that option you either have to take it into Apple so they can inspect it or if you do it online or over the phone they're going to have to have access to your Mac to run a diagnostic remotely. So you can't, for instance, get a MacBook, break the screen after thirty days, but the AppleCare and then go in and say oops I just broke the screen. It's not going to work that way. If you buy it from some other place besides Apple, if they offer AppleCare you can buy it right there. If they don't you can still go to Apple within the sixty days and add it on. AppleCare can't be bought if you bought your Mac used. But you can get it if you buy from Apple's refurbished store.

So if you have AppleCare+ and your Mac stops working for some reason how do you deal with it. Well, the easiest way is to take it into an Apple Store. Make an appointment at the Genius Bar. You have AppleCare+. They'll take care of everything. But if you're not near an Apple Store you can call them and you can do a mail in service. Apple will even pay the shipping. Also in some cases for desktops Apple will even send out somebody to repair your Mac. This is probably somebody from a nearby Apple authorized shop. Also in some cases if it's a part Apple will just send it out. So, for instance, if the power adapter for your MacBook stops working they might just send you one. 

What about the iPad? You can get AppleCare+ for the iPad as well but it only extends the warranty by one more year. So a total of two years coverage. It includes accidental damage for a $49 charge each time. You get two of those. It also includes the Apple Pencil. If you have an accident with your Apple Pencil you can get a new one for $29. 

How about the iPhone? Well, the same thing as with the iPad. It extends the warranty by a year so you have a total of 24 months. You get accidental coverage. $29 for screen replacements if you break your screen. Some sort of other damage is going to cost you up to $99 for replacement. 

Now Apple has a special thing for the iPhone. It's call AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss. This will cost you more than the regular AppleCare+. But if you loose your phone or somebody steals it, it's covered. You have to pay a fee. It's going to cost between $200 and $300 to replace your phone. You just can't walk into the Apple Store and I lost my phone. Give me a new one. You have to have Find My iPhone turned on and it still has to be able to communicate with the lost iPhone. Then you have to follow Apple's careful instructions to deauthorize that iPhone, wipe it clean, everything has got to be done to the letter with Apple and then they'll give you your replacement for that fee.

So you may have heard about Express Replacement which is something to do with the iPhone, iPad, the Apple Watch and it's when the device still is working but it definitely needs to be serviced under the warranty. What Apple will sometimes do is send you out a new one and you can start using the new one immediately and send them the old one. So you don't have to be without a device in the meantime.

What about the Apple Watch? Well, the Apple Watch is strange because they have some models that are really expensive and those models get a two year warranty when you buy the Apple Watch. In that case buying AppleCare extends it by a year. Other Apple Watches have just the one year warranty and you get another year also when you do AppleCare+.

You may have also heard you can now get AppleCare as a monthly plan. So you're just spending $10 a month instead of like the total price. Usually though those monthly plans add up to more than if you just paid for it at the start. If you can't remember if you bought AppleCare+ or how much time you have left you can actually go to this webpage Apple has, look up your device, and it will give you all the information about your warranty.

What if you sell your Mac and AppleCare+ hasn't expired yet? Well, it turns out you can just transfer to the new owner. But you have to go through some steps. Here's a page where Apple walks you through what you need to do to transfer the remaining time on AppleCare+ to the new owner. You can use this as a selling point. If you're selling a fairly recent MacBook, for instance, you can say it has a year of AppleCare+ left.

Okay. So what about these Support Calls, right. With your Mac you get ninety days of support calls and AppleCare+ extends that. A lot of people misinterpret this and usually in the opposite way. They don't have AppleCare+ or it's expired and they think they can't call Apple if there's a problem. Support calls really are about how to do things like how do you connect this particular printer to the Mac or how do you use Numbers to do something. If something is actually not working then you should be able to call Apple, even if your initial ninety days have gone and you're still within that one year warranty, or even beyond that to get some technical support or at least get advice to what you should do to get it fixed. 

Genius Bar is not part of this at all. You can go to the Genius Bar with any problem with any Apple product. You don't have to have AppleCare or a warranty to do that.

A lot of people ask about local laws and other types of warranties like things you get through your credit card. A lot of places, particularly in Europe, have special consumer protection laws. That means that Apple offers more than just the one year warranty there. So you may want to check to see whether or not you have extra coverage if you know you've got consumer laws like that in your area. Also a lot of people like to mention that their credit card offers extended warranties on electronics. But it's not an Apple warranty. It's not AppleCare. It's not going to have some of that accidental coverage. You're not going to be able to get new screens for $29. That kind of thing. So it's not as straight forward as using AppleCare when going to Apple for service. You're basically paying that money for the repair and then having to go to your card company, that has nothing to do with Apple, and getting them to reimburse you for it.

So how much does AppleCare+ cost? It really depends on the product. Obviously the more expensive products are going to cost more. So, for instance, you can get it for $79 for an Apple Watch. A MacBook is going to cost you a couple hundred. If you want it for your AppleTV for some reason you can get it for $29. It really varies and it's all over the place. So when you go to buy your product it will give you a price. This is how much it will cost for AppleCare+.

Probably the most asked question about AppleCare is, is it worth it. It's the same answer as for any warranty. Right. It really depends on whether or not you like warranties. Whether or not you feel a little bit more secure paying that up front knowing that there's certain things that are covered. There are some people that just never buy warranties and it kind of makes sense. If you get a warranty your washer, your dryer, your refrigerator, your TV's, all your Apple devices, everything like that, it can easily add up to more than $1000 a year. Whereas if you don't have that and one of those devices breaks you can spend that money replacing it instead. So people find it more worthwhile to get AppleCare for a MacBook that's portable and you're moving around a lot. An iPhone also that's always in your pocket and always going places with you. Maybe not as important say for a desktop Mac that never moves.

Apple has got tons of information about AppleCare. If you go to their support page it runs down all the basic information. Any time you go to buy an Apple product it'll give you AppleCare as something that you can add on. You can see the price and exactly what is covered.