Unlock the Latest iPhone 16 Trade-In Benefits: Verizon’s 60-Day Active Rule Explained

Verizon’s iPhone 16 Trade-In Policy: What You Need to Know

[Image: iPhone 16 all colors]

TL;DR:

• Verizon’s iPhone 16 trade-in promotion requires the trade-in phone to be active on the account for at least 60 days prior to trade-in.
• The 60-day rule applies to all plans and future trade-in promotions.
• The policy is intended to ensure that phones being traded in are legitimate and not gray market or stolen.

Verizon’s iPhone 16 trade-in promotion has been met with some confusion regarding the trade-in phone requirements. Initially, the promotion stated 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 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, as 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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[Image: Apple iPhone 16]

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