Where to Find the Purchase Date of an Apple Device
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Sometimes you just need to know when you purchased your Apple Device. Maybe you want to check your AppleCare coverage or whether it is still covered under your credit card warranty, or maybe you want get an idea of whether it is time for an upgrade.
The first step in my Digital Organization Guide is that you should know your technology. That not only includes how it works but also pertinent information about it – like when you purchased it. Unfortunately, this piece of information is a little harder to find than you might think.
So, I have a few methods that you can use to figure it out about your past purchases and one surefire hack to keep track of the purchase date for any new Apple device that you might buy.
How I Realized This Was An Issue
Recently, I spent way too much time looking for the date on which I bought one of my Apple Devices – my old iPad to be specific. I was debating whether to trade it in and upgrade to the latest version. The one I had was in good shape, but the battery life had decreased to the point that it was a bit annoying.
Typically, before I decide to go through an upgrade – I want to know exactly how long I have had the device. But for some reason I couldn’t find this information anywhere! It was very frustrating.
When I logged into my Apple account, I found that my purchase history did not go back very far. And the information in the Find My app did not include purchase details. I finally figured it out, and I will share that with you along with a few other ideas.
Look Up Your Apple Device With the Serial Number
The easiest method to finding the purchase date is to look up your device on the Apple website here using its serial number. This is the Apple Care and Warranty page but when you enter your serial number it will bring back the purchase date.
I happen to own a lot of Apple devices – so for me, only three were showing. I had to click on a link under the first three that says “Show all my devices” to find my iPad.
To find the purchase date of your Apple device, click on the product in question and it will take you to a screen with all the relevant details.
Look Up Your Order on the Apple Store Online
Another method of finding the purchase date is to log into the Apple Store online and look up your recent purchases. For some reason the order history only covers a very short time frame – so if you made your purchase several years ago, you won’t see it listed.
Dig Through Your Old Email Messages
Typically, when you buy an Apple device – either in store or online – they will send you an email receipt. With any luck, you would have archived that email and saved it to some kind of “receipts” folder that you may have set up when organizing your email inbox.
This receipt, of course, will have the purchase date on it.
Do a Google Search to Get the General Timeline
This method won’t give you the exact purchase date but it could put you in the ballpark, assuming you bought the Apple Device new.
In the “Settings” on your device – go to “General” and then “About”. Here you will find details on the Model Name and Model Number.
Next, do a Google search for these terms and you should get several hits in the results that mention the release date of the device that you have. If you purchased it new, then you will get an idea of the timeframe in which you bought it.
How To Keep Track of the Purchase Date of New Purchases Going Forward
If you want to avoid this type of frustration and make it easy for yourself going forward, then I have a little hack to share.
No matter what Apple device you have – a computer, laptop, phone, or tablet, you have the ability to change the name of the device in the settings.
Typically the factory setting for the name is very generic. Your iMac is probably called: imac. Similarly, your iPhone or iPad is called: iphone, or ipad.
Most people will go in and change the device name to something more personal that includes their name – something like Neena’s iPhone. This makes it easy to find when setting up a bluetooth connection or using AirDrop. But I take the name of the device one step further.
For example, if I bought my iPhone on June 22, 2026, I would change the default name in Settings to “2026-06-22 Neena’s iPhone”. This way the name of the device includes the purchase date. Whenever I need to know when I purchased my phone or computer, I simply need to look at the name. Easy!
This also helps to differentiate your devices if you happen to have more than one. For example, if you decide to keep your old iPhone as a backup instead of trading it in, you don’t want two phones called iPhone. And renaming one to iPhone Old and the other to iPhone New can become confusing the next time that you upgrade. So, by including the unique purchase date in the name of the device, you will avoid any future confustion.
In fact, you can also apply this hack to your old devices. Once you find the purchase date of these older devices, you can rename the device to include the purchase date at any time.
Finding the Apple Purchase Date Should Be More Straightforward
If you are looking for the date that you purchased a device in the past from Apple then you could do any of the following:
- Look up the purchase date by serial number on the Apple Care and Warranty page on the Apple.com website.
- Look up your past purchases on Apple.com
- Comb through your email receipts from Apple
- Do a Google search for the model name and number for your device
And for future purchases, simply add the purchase date to the name of your device, and you will always have the information at your fingertips. I hope this little digital hack helps you to save time and find your answers.
