TL;DR
- Verizon’s new iPhone 16 trade-in came with some new changes such as a requirement that the trade-in phone “must be active on the account for 60 days prior”.
- The wording and conflicting terms of service for device trade-ins lead to some initial confusion.
- Verizon has since clarified the 60 days can be at any point in the past, not just the last 60 days. It also applies to all plans and future trade-in promotions.
Ever since Verizon’s iPhone 16 trade-in promotion was first unveiled, there has been some confusion about the trade-in phone requirements to take advantage of the offer. While the promotion applies to both new and existing customers, Verizon’s initial press release revealed that the trade-in phone “must be active on the account for 60 days prior to trade-in” for all existing customers, regardless of the plan. However, the actual Device Trade-In Program Terms & Conditions only mention this requirement for those with a MyPlan Unlimited Ultimate account.
Vague wording and conflicting policies led to misunderstandings (such as those seen here on Reddit), such as whether the 60 days of prior use had to be immediately before the trade-in or if it applied to any device that had been on a customer’s Verizon account for at least 60 days at any time in the past. Additionally, it wasn’t clear if these restrictions applied to all plans or just the Ultimate plan.
These distinctions are important. After all, many people upgrade to a new phone and keep the old one as a backup. Once they’re ready for another upgrade, the backup becomes the trade-in, and the former primary phone becomes the new backup.
So does this new rule make this no longer possible, and does it apply to all plans? We reached out to Verizon for further clarification, and fortunately, they promptly responded with more details about the 60-day rule. According to a Verizon representative:
The 60-day policy is in place to ensure that the phones being traded in for upgrades are not gray market or stolen. This security measure is based on our 60-day unlock policy. As long as the trade-in phone has been active on a Verizon line for at least 60 days at some point, it can be traded in as part of the offer. It does not matter which plan the customer is on.
In short, if you’re an existing Verizon customer and want to trade in a phone to take advantage of the iPhone 16 trade-in deal or any future trade-in deal, it must have been active on your account for at least 60 days at some point in the past. The good news is it doesn’t seem to matter when.
For new customers coming from another network, this limitation doesn’t apply. Additionally, this policy is consistent across all device plans and trade-in offers.
Overall, the policy makes sense, as it seems intended to ensure that phones being traded in are legitimate. We do wonder what will happen to those who switched more recently to Verizon on a bring-your-own-device plan with plans to trade in an older backup. While their BYOD device will no doubt count as eligible, older devices from the previous network will likely not.
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