You Can Now Extend AppleCare+ for Macs or Get It for an Apple TV

I have found that a good case (like an Otterbox Defender) makes AppleCare less necessary. One phone I bought, maybe the 7 Plus, fell out of my shirt pocket the first day of vacation, hit the pavement, and shattered. It was brand new at the time, so I was pretty mad, but Apple fixed it.

I always get and Otterbox case for our iPhones. Saved me many a time. My wifeā€™s iPhone looks like it has been through too many cement mixers and yet it still looks fine when the case is removed. I also use Otterbox screen protectors.

@nrkmann I agree on the extended warranties on appliances, etc, but when it comes to my computers I prefer to be safe. However, I am very tempted with some of the offers Iā€™m getting by phone for warranties for our car we traded away 8 years ago!!!

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Planet Money had a nice piece on those scams. :slight_smile:

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That was a great episode indeed. :+1: :slight_smile:

@ace That is a great article! We just got a postcard telling us we needed to renew the ā€œvehicle protection updateā€ on our 2012 car that was destroyed in an hailstorm 3 years ago lol. That was after several unanswered phone messages.

Re: the Atkinson brothers fiasco mentioned in the article. My dad was an FBI agent and arrested a top 10 fugitive who had a long history of bank robberies. The guy was a genius - literally. Dad asked him, ā€œyou have the intelligence to do anything you want to do. Why did you decide to become a bank robber?ā€ His reply: ā€œbecause it was easy and I could get quick money.ā€ Yea, and serve long time lol. Someone is always looking for the easy, no matter who it hurts. Thanks for the article - sounds like the bank robber lives on and on and on ;-(

Iā€™ll admit Iā€™ve always bought AppleCare, but NOT for hardware ā€“ (Iā€™ve never had an Apple device die before itā€™s usefulness), but for rather phone tech. The catch with the 1 yr warranty is that problems are more likely to become serious after a sys update or 2.
Generally I use it after becoming frustrated looking for resolutions to software issues, After about 20 mins getting nowhere , ACare pays for itself after a couple calls if you consider my time (even at minimum wage) worth anything.
All isnā€™t golden, often I have to be elevated to senior tech ā€“ but to date, Iā€™d say Iā€™ve had about a 95% success rate (once you get them past system updates / phone wipes).

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Correct me if I am wrong, but I donā€™t think Apple charges for phone help anymore. Collecting serial numbers and verifying coverage took too much time and if someone was turned away, Appleā€™s reputation suffered. Now, theyā€™ll talk to anyone, and if you need a senior advisor, you can get one.

Their phone support is fantastic, best in the industry, although I often find I need a senior advisor. The first line is only good for basic things, and those answers can often be found online. What remains awful is the voice response system that answers when you first call them. The one that says ā€œI can understand full sentences. So tell me what you needā€ . . . Try this sentence ā€œHelp with an existing case numberā€. It doesnā€™t understand that. So, donā€™t waste your time with the stupid robot, just ask for Technical Support and the robot will confirm and connect you.

They say on the recording they only provide support for 90 days after purchase, but if you have issues with an Apple OS or App, they will provide phone support. No AppleCare needed. Just like the Genius Bar. They will not discuss third party apps, browser add-ons, or any other devices you may be using that arenā€™t made by Apple even if you bought them from Apple.

However, God forbid if you are using an Apple public beta. If so, they will not continue the conversation, and you are on your own. My advice is, unless you are really expert at Apple software, do not join the public beta program. Or join, but donā€™t load the new stuff until the beta test has run for a while, and the early game stopping bugs have been addressed.

AppleCare is for hardware (and you can also now buy theft and loss coverage, but there is a deductible). AppleCare covers the cost of repairs, unless you caused the problem. So if you dropped the phone and cracked the screen, you may need to pay for the repair, but at a reduced amount. But if it was an accident, then it is covered. So, never admit you dropped the phone. You were on your bike and got hit by a car door and knocked to the ground. An earthquake hit and knocked your phone off your desk, and it hit the floor and cracked.

I have always purchased the AppleCare and have not needed to use it much. My MacBook battery was swelling and bending the case, but that was covered for everyone due to a recall. My iPhone 8 was stolen, but theft coverage wasnā€™t available when I bought the phone.

What is new is you can continue the AppleCare after the coverage you bought on purchase has expired. This never used to be possible. Pay it monthly, just like other Apple subscriptions.

Iā€™m getting the 12 Pro Max 256GB and Iā€™ll buy the AppleCare again. Just for the loss and theft coverage.

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Beta programs are not intended to be pre-releases for the general public. They are meant for developers to port and test their applications so they will be ready when the OS finally ships.

Yes, you are expected to know what youā€™re doing with beta system software. It is expected that there will be bugs and you are expected to file high quality bug reports with the beta program as you find them.

If you are not willing and able to do this, then beta software is not appropriate and you should wait for it to be released.

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Agreed. But What happens when the beta software presents more than a bug?

The public beta is released long after Developer Betas were released to that community. Most of the really awful bugs were supposedly caught by the developers. Now it is up to the public to find lesser bugs. Display anomalies. Third-party software bugs caused by the new OS.

I was testing a long-standing bug in Photos syncing with iCloud. Just to make sure there were no remnants in my OS installation, I decided to reinstall the current beta from the restore partition as opposed to updating from one beta to the next.

Instead of getting the current V5, I ended up with V3. I could not do restores from Time Machine.

There was no one at Apple that would provide help. People who pay to be developers have support paths available to them. Public testers pay nothing but receive nothing.

Finally, a senior advisor took pity and educated me. In the past, Time Machine only backed up user data. I was informed that TM had been updated to back up the OS as well. So, it was now possible to erase my HD and restore both my data and the V5 OS beta. The solution was easy to execute, but difficult to discover.

When downloading the beta, you should have gotten information for how to file a beta bug report. I would assume that this is your only support channel for beta software.

I wouldnā€™t expect the phone support people to have a clue.

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I would certainly advise any beta testers to have a means of restoring a release version of macOS/iDeviceOS for this very reason. Iā€™ve had to do so for both phone and in-store support in the past.

Betas aside (and no, if thereā€™s any doubt in your mind, you should NOT install a beta), the important point here is that Apple does not seem to require AppleCare for phone support anymore. Iā€™ve certainly never had an Apple support person ask about it or make any reference to it in any way.

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You are indeed correct, Iā€™ve been able to receive phone support for awhile. I didnā€™t realize that this was official.

Thanks for clarifying that to me.

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