Do you want to schedule a Genius Bar appointment to talk with Apple about repairing your Mac or iPhone? Over the past few years, Apple has made it harder to schedule a Genius Bar appointment. There may be a good reason for this, such as Apple has learned that many issues that customers bring to the Genius Bar could be fixed by following some instructions in one of Apple’s support articles. Since I troubleshoot Apple devices for a living, I am pretty confident when I decide that a Genius Bar appointment is an appropriate next step. Here are the fastest ways I’ve discovered for scheduling a Genius Bar appointment.
I have two different methods, one when I’m using my Mac. The other works on my iPhone.
On my Mac, I do the following. Basically, I am just trying to navigate through Apple’s support web site and avoid Apple giving me a list of articles that they think could help me. Instead, I’m trying to pick a path that will lead to Apple giving me a button to let me schedule a repair visit, which is the same thing as a Genius Bar appointment.
- Visit Apple’s support web site, https://getsupport.apple.com
- Click on one of the product categories, for example, iPhone
- Click on the Repairs and Physical Damage button.
- Click on the Screen is cracked button. You should then see two options to either Bring in for Repair or Send in for Repair
Voilà. You’re now on your way to scheduling a Genius Bar appointment if you click the Bring in for Repair button. You should then be asked to sign in to Apple’s web site using your AppleID username and password. Then you will be asked to enter your location so Apple can list the closest Apple Stores. Pick one of the stores and you will see a list of the next available Genius Bar appointments, which may be several days from now.
I’d like to briefly talk about the Send in for Repair option. If you want to skip the frenzy in your local Apple Store you might be able to mail-in your laptop or iOS device for repair. Apple does not offer mail-in repairs for all of their devices, but they do offer it for most of their smaller devices. To setup a mail-in repair, you typically need to call and talk to an Apple Support representative. This person will assess the nature of the problem and, if appropriate, he or she will send you an empty box. You can use this box to ship the item overnight to Apple. Apple will repair the device and use overnight shipping to return it to you.
On my iPhone, I have the iOS Apple Support app installed and I’ve already logged into it using my AppleID. I’ve also given it permission to know my location when I’m using the app.
Upon opening the Apple Support app I tap Get Support, which is listed at the bottom.
It’ll display a list of the devices linked to my AppleID. I’ll tap on my iPhone
Tap on Repairs & Physical Damage
Tap on Unable to power on
On the next screen, a few options are listed, but one of them should be Bring in for Repair. Below that you can tap on Find Locations Now
Tap on one of the Apple Stores to be presented with a list of the next available Genius Bar appointments, which may be several days from now.