iPhone and Apple Watch single hairline display cracks no longer covered under standard warranty

Apple has made a notable change to its repair and standard warranty policies for iPhone and Apple Watch this month. According to multiple sources, Apple is no longer covering “single hairline cracks” under the standard warranty for the iPhone and Apple Watch. Instead, these repairs are now being processed as “accidental damage” claims, and users are required to pay.

Until this month, Apple’s policy was to cover instances of single hairline crack damage under the standard warranty for iPhone and Apple Watch users, so long as there was no visible other damage or a clear point of impact that on the device that caused that crack.

In updates distributed to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers this week, however, Apple updated its policy to say that all instances of single hairline cracks are no longer covered by warranty. When a customer reports a single hairline crack as a symptom, the service provider is required to process it as an accidental damage claim.

This means that you will have to pay for to repair a single hairline crack, even if there is no other damage or point of impact on your device. As of right now, the change only applies to the iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple is still covering single hairline crack repairs under warranty for iPad and Mac.

Apple hasn’t communicated any specific reason for this change. Historically, this policy has always been somewhat scattershot in its implementation, with some stores and repair shops being more lenient than others. With this change, however, service providers no longer have that flexibility.

You can view Apple’s breakdown of screen replacement prices on its website.