How to Find Out if Your iPhone is Eligible for an Upgrade

Apple will announce the iPhone 8 and iPhone X today and we expect to see the iPhone 8 release date on September 22nd, with the potential for the iPhone X release date soon after.

The odds are very good that you will need to pre-order the new iPhone this week. To do that you will need to be eligible for an upgrade. This is no longer based on two year contracts, but on the payments you’ve made and other stipulations of your plan.

We expect the new iPhone 8 and iPhone X prices to be from $649 to over $1,000 if you buy them outright. Most people will be upgrading to the iPhone 8 or iPhone X on a monthly payment plan. To do this you will need to find out where you are on your current phone payment plan, if you have one.

Here’s how to check if you are eligible for an iPhone 8 or iPhone X upgrade on the major carriers and through the Apple Upgrade plan.

Verizon

The fastest way to see if you are eligible for an upgrade of Verizon is to grab your phone and dial #874. After a few seconds you will get a text message from Verizon with your upgrade eligibility and possibly a second text message directing you to the My Verizon app to check more information there.

If you are ready to go, you will see a message stating “Phone Number is eligible to upgrade today. Ready for a new phone or device? Get details at go.vzw.com/myverizon or visit a Verizon Wireless store.”

Dialing the number on some phones will take you directly into the My Verizon app where you can see your Upgrade eligibility. You can also check on the Verizon website. Go to the website, sign in then click on My Devices. If you aren’t eligible yet, you will see an option to Check the Upgrade Options like you see below. Clicking that will show you how much you need to pay to trade in your phone and buy a new one on a payment plan or how much you need to pay to completely pay off your phone.

AT&T

On your AT&T phone dial *639# and you will get a text message back telling you if you are eligible for an upgrade. The message we got says, “Good News: You’re eligible for an upgrade!” This came along with a link for the the best deals, but you’ll likely be waiting for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X pre-orders to go live.

You can also sign into AT&T to check your upgrade status, and see any payments you need to make to get current. On the AT&T website, sign in then click the three bars to the left of My AT&T and choose My Wireless and Upgrade a Device. From here you will be able to upgrade, but you can’t do that until the iPhone 8 or iPhone X pre-orders start.

Sprint

On Sprint you can text upgrade to 1311 and you will get a message letting you know when you can upgrade. the message is short and sweet, if you are not in any kind of payment or lease plan. If you are in one of those, you should plan on going to Sprint, logging in and then checking how much you need to pay there to get the upgrade process locked in.

T-Mobile

On T-Mobile if you have the Jump plan you can upgrade to a new iPhone as soon as you have paid 50% of your device. You can login to your account and check to see how much, if anything you still need to pay to get your upgrade. You cannot text or call a number to get an automated reply, so make sure you check online.

Apple Upgrade Plan

If you are in the Apple Upgrade plan you can upgrade to the new iPhone after a year. You need to see when you bought your iPhone. If you purchased it in September last year, you should be eligible for an upgrade. You can check this on the Apple website after the service comes back online following the Apple event.

Apple now offers a trade-in by mail option, which will make pre-ordering the iPhone X with this plan and trading in your old one much easier than it was last year. During the iPhone 7 launch, many users were frustrated because they had to go to a store and the option was not available online at midnight during pre-orders. You need to have made 12 payments, so be prepared to make one more before you pre-order the iPhone X.