Something’s going wrong with my beloved MacBook screen and I’m wondering before I take it in for repair whether I have AppleCare on the unit. How can I tell?
Apple has a good warranty for the first year of your Mac computer, so if your MacBook is less than 12mo old, you’re in great shape and you’re covered. If it’s more than a year old, however, then you’re in the grey zone and if you didn’t pay for AppleCare before the first 12mo ran out, you’re out of luck. There’s a bit of confusion here, however, because Apple calls that first 12mo of coverage “AppleCare” and the extended warranty “AppleCare+” though most people – and stores – just call the extended service warranty AppleCare. Or maybe they’re both just called AppleCare now. It’s confusing even on the Apple page about AppleCare!
The important thing is that it’s a very good extended service warranty and I have gotten it – and used it! – on every one of my Mac laptop products. Laptop computers tend to get the most abuse and are exposed to the elements a lot more than a desktop or home (or office) server. Most recently, having AppleCare+ on my 2016 MacBook Pro gave me a completely free replacement display, which would otherwise have possibly cost me $1600. Yikes.
In the latest version of MacOS X – 10.14 Mojave – there’s a really cool way to check and see if you’re covered by AppleCare+ too. To start, choose “About This Mac” from the Apple menu in the very top left of your screen. You’ll get a window with this info:
This is a great place to ensure that your configuration is as you remember, but more importantly, notice that it has your device serial number. Turns out you can click on it and Edit > Copy to copy and paste it, which you’ll need in a moment…
For now, though, click on the “Service” tab along the top. It drops you into this useful new info window:
Nice addition, and clicking on “Check my service and support coverage status” is a great idea. That didn’t work for me. Oh well.
Instead, just do it the old fashioned way, go to CheckCoverage.Apple.com. You’ll see this:
Here’s where you want to paste in your serial number from your computer, and don’t be surprised that the CAPTCHA code is hard to read and you need to refresh it a few times. The one above, however, is 2CU3 if you’re curious. And yes, I hate ’em too.
Enter your serial number and the CAPTCHA code and it’ll show you lots of useful info about your Mac system coverage:
The fourth bullet point is the most important in this case; it shows that I have AppleCare (not “AppleCare+”, see what I mean about it being confusing!) protection through November, 2019. Thirteen more months. That’s not too bad.
And that’s how you check your AppleCare coverage status!
Pro Tip: If you have a brand new device and want to save some money on your AppleCare purchase, you should check out my article How To Save Money On AppleCare.