How Do You Check How Old Your iPhone is?

Did you think you lucked out when you bought your iPhone for a real bargain from that online retailer? But, what if they had scammed you for an old refurbished iPhone? You can check this if you know how old your iPhone is and when it was first activated.

Another scenario is; you are going to trade in your iPhone or sell it off and want to know the real market value for your iPhone. It is easy to compare the market prices if you find out how old your iPhone is.

Forget the reasons! If you’re simply somebody curious to know whether your iPhone is an original and its age, we have brought this article for you.

How old is my iPhone? How to check

You don’t need to consult your local phone retailer or your local phone repairer to know how old your iPhone is. If you know the serial number and the model number of your iPhone, there are multiple ways you can check for the age of your iPhone by yourself.

But, before exploring those methods, let us first grab the necessary information to start with.

How to find my iPhone’s serial number and model number?

Launch the ‘Settings’ app > Go to ‘General’ > Select ‘About’.

You can find the Model Number and the Serial Number of your iPhone on the ‘About’ page.

Method 1: Check for the Apple Limited Warranty

The Apple Limited Warranty is the coverage provided by Apple for eligible hardware repairs and service for your iPhone and Apple-branded accessories against manufacturing defects. The Limited Warranty period is activated for one year from the date you bought your iPhone.

You can check the coverage period for Apple Limited Warranty through the Settings app on your iPhone or the ‘Check Coverage’ page in the ‘Apple Support’ Website.

Using the ‘Settings’ app on your iPhone:

Step 1: Launch the ‘Settings’ app > Go to ‘General’.

Step 2: Select ‘About’ and check if there is a field named, ‘Limited Warranty’ under the ‘Serial Number’ tab.

Step 3: If there is the ‘Limited Warranty’ tab, tap on it. The page directed will show you the information for when the warranty will expire.

Therefore, the date on which your iPhone was activated is the date one year past the mentioned warranty expiration date.

Step 3: If there is no tab named ‘Limited Warranty’ on the ‘About’ page, then your iPhone has activated more than one year ago. Therefore, your iPhone is already older than one year.

Using the ‘Check Coverage’ calculator on the Apple Support page:

Step 1: Go to the Check Coverage webpage.

Step 2: Enter the serial number of your iPhone on the given text box. Enter the verification code and click on ‘Continue’.

Then you will see information such as valid purchase date, telephone technical support, repairs and service coverage, and an estimated expiration date related to the warranty of your device. However, as same as in the above scenario, if you are using your iPhone for more than one year, the estimated expiration date won’t appear.

Then you might need to follow the next method to find the birth date or the production date of your iPhone.

Method 2: Use the Chipmunk: Klantenservice

Chipmunk: Klantenservice is a service in the Netherlands that provides information about Apple products by decoding the information linked to the device’s serial number. Using this service, you can know the production year, week, and even the factory your Apple device was built.

Step 1: Go to the site Chipmunk: Klantenservice from your browser.

Step 2: Enter the serial number of your device on the given text box. (Do not worry! The site is in Dutch, but the next pages will load in English). Press ‘Enter’ on your keyboard or ‘Laat de informatie zien’ button on the page.

This will direct you to a page with information including manufactured year, week, and your device’s factory. Thereby, you can calculate the age of your iPhone to the nearest week using this page.

NOTE: However, there might be some device models for which this service would not render the required information to deduce how old is your device. If so, follow Method 3.

Method 3: Read the combinatory letters in the serial number

Using this method, you can deduce your iPhone’s manufactured year by a single look on the serial number. This is the simplest and the easiest method among all the three methods mentioned in this article.

Step 1: Check the fourth character of the serial number of your device.

Usually, the serial number is 12 characters long and the fourth character is a capital letter.

Step 2: Check the below chart to decode the year and the half-year which your phone was manufactured.

Code	Manufactured Year
K	2013 [First Half]
L	2013 [Second Half]
M	2014 [First Half]
N	2014 [Second Half]
P	2015 [First Half]
Q	2015 [Second Half]
R	2016 [First Half]
S	2016 [Second Half]
T	2017 [First Half]
V	2017 [Second Half]
W	2018 [First Half]
X	2018 [Second Half]
Y	2019 [First Half]
Z	2019 [Second Half]

Conclusion – How to Check How Old is My iPhone?

This article brings you only on the methods to check how old your iPhone is. However, if you are eager to know whether your iPhone is an original, or a refurbished, or a replaced unit, or even a personalized device, you need to know the information deriving through the iPhone model number as well.

You can try these methods and find out how old your iPhone is. I hope this information would be beneficial to you if you are selling your iPhone or trade it in for a bargain price or even to get an idea if you have been scammed out.