appleCare+Source: Apple

What you need to know

  • Apple has increased the time period to add AppleCare+.
  • The currentl time period to add the service is sixty days.
  • Customers can now add the service up to a year after purchase.

Customers are going to have a lot more time to add AppleCare+ to their iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, and Apple TV.

Reported by Bloomberg, Apple has let its retail and customer support employees know that the company is expanding the time that customers can add AppleCare+ from sixty days to an entire year. The change affects AppleCare+ plans currently offered in the United States and Canada.

According to the report, the offer is only for those who pay for the service in full or have their device financed through an Apple Card installment plan. An Apple employee must also verify that the device is not damaged before the plan is added.

"This gives customers another opportunity to protect their device and have access to all the AppleCare+ benefits," Apple wrote in a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg News. The company told employees the offer is available to customers who pay for AppleCare+ in full versus monthly payments, or for those that subscribe via installments on the Apple Card credit card.

Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned on the company's 2020 Q3 earnings call that that the service was suffering over the last few months.

"As we mentioned during our last call, there were two distinct trends we were seeing and they played out as we thought. First, advertising and AppleCare were impacted by the reduced level of economic activity and store closures to a degree that was in line with our expectations."

The increase in purchase period is potentially due to a fall in sales of the service during the pandemic. The new time period will reopen the potential for purchase to a ton of customers who recently bought a new Apple device, hopefully boosting sales of the service.