Start date for Free AppleCare
Hi all, I am buying a Christmas gift that comes with 7-day AppleCare, but Dec 25 is still over a month away. Does the AppleCare start when I receive the product or when it is registered?
iPad mini (6th generation)
Question marked as
Apple products are not registered as such, not in the old school way at least.
Here in Australia your week of free Apple Care+ starts when you buy it and sign into your iCloud account for the first time. This, in effect, is the registration with Apple of your product.
After the week is over you have up to the 60th day following the day of purchase to buy Apple Care+ and when you do buy Apple Care+ the start date is the day after the free week ended (ie. backdated). It's 30 days for some smaller/cheaper products such as a HomePod or an Apple Watch - which I'm looking at buying for a present, so I've just checked this for my own information.
It's slightly different for devices ordered online from the Apple store and supplied by courier, a Mac for example. The date of the commencement of the free coverage is the day you receive the item - which is usually also the date the excited purchaser sets it up and signs into iCloud.
As you're buying it as a present I'd suggest that the free week isn't really important, and the happy recipient will still have the choice of buying Apple Care+ for their new bit of kit. Just make sure that if your gift is one of the 30 day after purchase Apple Care+ plans that you allow a number of days after 25/12 for the owner to have sufficient time to buy Apple Care+
See my User Tip Buying Applecare+ in Australia from 2021 which explains why we have this odd arrangement. It's Apple's elegant solution to a problem not of their making.
You can get more information regarding Apple Care+ on specific products at AppleCare Products - Apple (AU)