IamA Senior Mac Advisor for Apple Inc.(AppleCare). AMA!

Do your techs appreciate when a user with an issue is able to tell you the troubleshooting that they have already done?

Yes! We absolutely love this! If you've done all of the simple things already (Restarting device, signing out of an account/resigning in, resetting password) it helps us immensely in isolating issues down quicker. It also helps us determine if problems are hardware/software/or user error related alot quicker.

I've been an apple user for roughly 20 years. I even helped maintain all of the Macs on the network when I was back in high school. So, I'm used to fixing permissions, resetting PRAM, etc. Lately, I've been dealing with more hardware issues. Especially the SATA cables in 2010-2012 MacBook Pros. Any tips to keep them from failing, besides adding the sticky cushions to the case?

Yeah this is something that I've seen happen to the non SSD computers (iMacs too). Honestly, im not sure what you could really do to prevent it from happening, because we usually just swap out the drive entirely. We're not allowed to use any external or personal methods when repairing products, only whats 'certified'.

Does this happen on mid 2010 macbook pros? because mine just randomly went out one day. I was just surfing reddit and the computer shut off unexpectedly, and when I would try to turn it back on, it would just run the fan and hard drive then click off. What would you say is the cause of this?

The genius bar said I would need anew logic board and it would cost around $800.00 to fix that (parts and labor i guess) I found out that I could replace it myself, so I did. When I brought it to the genius bar the tech checked if the new logic board was good and he said that it wasnt. Could a bad sata cable be the cause of this?

Yeah it definitely sounds like the hard drive. Honestly, i dont even know why people buy Macs with non SSD drives (Or any computer with a non primary SSD drive). Those 5400 RPM drives are garbage and terribly slow, and are the root cause for many issues that people have or think they have in regards to their computer.

Why do the answers given by staff seem to vary so wildly? I had an iPhone 5S that got hit with the blue screen / reboot loop issue after 8.1.3 upgrade due to a bad NAND chip, occurred about a week outside of warranty. Apple Genius took one look at it and said 'Oh, this' and told me to pay $300 to replace the phone out of warranty. Friend of mine had the EXACT same thing happen, 2 weeks outside of the 1 year warranty, right after upgrading to 8.1.3, and they replaced the phone on the spot with no problem. Neither of us had AppleCare, so it wasn't that.

Is it really just 'whatever the Genius wants to do to help you', or are there guidelines as to what can be done and each employee determines based on how much they like the customer?

Protocol states that anything out of warranty, a service charge is applied for hardware replacement. If you're nice to the Genius, he can grant an exception. So yes, it truly depends on the person youre working with if they want to replace it for free or not.

Wow, that's really crazy. Would you say it's worth it to try a different employee if one wants to charge?

No, because every employee can see the notes from the previous tech. If the 1st tech deny'd you a swap, the next one will do the same.

Why doesn't apple do any repairs in house anymore? Whenever I have an issue with my phone, i need to book a genius appointment 2 weeks in advance which is unrealistic for a broken phone. it seems customer care has gone down the drain

One of the great things about working at Apple is that they care alot about their employees, and wants them to work in a comfortable environment. Apple Employees work in either corporate offices, retails stores, or from home. Alot of times you need to book appointments to the store in advance because of the sheer amount of customer volumes that the stores recieve daily. Employees at stores take about 4-6 appointments per hour. Thats alot.

Whats your opinion on Android devices? What do other at Apple think about Android? Have you used a nexus/Motorola device recently?

I don't have a problem with Android devices. I actually envy the support teams that help Android users because I would imagine those customers aren't as dense as Apple users.

Ha. My grandma has got an iPad and its quite hard to teach her how to use it

Yeah please don't refer her to me :)

How much do you make?

$60K Salary

Why, after charging my iPad 3 Mini (iOS 9.2, but it started happening shortly after iOS 9 was installed) to 100% and then disconnecting the power supply, does it insist on telling me the battery is completely depleted and I need to plug it back in? Further, when I plug it back in (usually several times, because voodoo), why does it restart and then show me that my battery is at 100%? The issue shows up no matter what the starting state of the battery was.

Restore the device, i've seen that happen before to iPhones. Usually a software thing.

Have restored three times. Still happens.

So, followup question: how can I actually get to speak to someone at Apple who can make the OS devs aware of this particular issue? A lot of people seem to experience this software issue, based on my googling.

You don't get to talk to OS devs as a customer. No one at AppleCare can submit your feedback. You can only give feedback at apple.com/feedback

What is your most frustrating support story?

Theres alot. Every time an elderly person calls, its very frustrating to assist them because they're very slow at navigating the interface, and just dont understand how technology works in general.

Besides the fact that you work for Apple, what reason do you have for using an iPhone over an Android device?

I like the layout of iOS. Its just so clean and it makes sense to me. Everyone has their preferences, but I just like iOS. Also once you get iCloud working, its pretty cool.

After Steve Job's death, do you feel like the company is doing better or worse ? Not on sales, but on the insiders feeling.

Yeah definitely. Alot of the corporate structure has changed since leadership has been moved around, and its a more chill enviroment for employees because of it. I wasn't really around in the Alpha/Beta stages of Apple, but veterans say that its definitely better off now than it was before.

It makes sense that Apple corporate would be more relaxed, but I feel that a sense of direction was lost on his death. Don't get me wrong, Jobs was almost tyrannical in his desire for whatever vision he had, but there was strict quality control in design over at Apple. Now, we have crap like the Watch, which looks like some amateur looked at a 1st-gen iPhone's shiny curves and decided that that would look good with Apple's current lineup and shrunk it down to size. I'd mention the new battery case but that is way too easy to pick on.

Yeah, theres definitely some questionable products that came out in these past few years for sure.

"I am unable to gain agreement with this customer"

On average, how often do you hear that?

Alot. Theres tons of stubborn people that just feel like if they talk to someone in a higher position, they'll be able to get a free computer or something. Usually their end goal is to speak to a senior staff and once they get connected, they become more respectful.

Just wanted to give you guys at Apple Care a shout out for being so down to earth and friendly. I get angry easily when my technology isn't working. I'm a techno geek and I never resort to calling unless absolutely necessary -- I've come to find that Googling issues with my phone or iPad can help me solve the problem. Every now and then, I do have to make a phone call though, or speak to someone online. It's not your fault so I would never dream of taking it out on you, but I always am able to hang up with you guys with a smile on my face.

I have 2 questions for you: 1) What has been the most rewarding experience dealing with a customer? (if there are any) 2) Can ^{I have a MacBook air for Christmas?}

Thanks for the shout out. Anytime a customer actually knows how the OSX/iOS ecosystem works makes for a more rewarding experience in terms of support. You dont have to explain everything to them, and its just easier to help them.

You can certainly have a Macbook for Christmas, just ask Santa :)

I currently have two older Macbooks (2008) and they will not charge at all. One of them is at 0% and I have tried to use another charger, I've tried a battery replacement, and to no avail. I brought it in to the Apple Store in Toronto and was told that this was a known issue on 2008 Macbooks but there is no solution.

I've tried resetting the SMC, and have tried many other things listed on the support site but have had no luck. Do you have any suggestions as to what I might want to look into next? The Macbooks, for being 2008, still work perfectly fine but I just always have to have them plugged in in order to use them.

Edit: I do not have the laptop with me and can't recall the Cycle Count off the top of my head for both of them, but I believe they were +/- 900 range.

Yeah that sounds about right. Thats an old ass Macbook. Those things only have 300 cycle counts i believe. I'm surprised its still kicking. But being an almost 8 year old computer, and how shitty the hardware is back then, having it plugged in to work all the time sounds normal unless you swap out the entire charging structure.

I have an early 2011 MBP and the battery ballooned up and popped the trackpad out. It is currently at Apple getting repaired as I type this. This seems odd that I'm getting charged $140 for it. Even though it's out of warranty, an almost exploded battery seems bad. What could i have done?

Excessive charging past your cycle count, using a 85W charger versus a recommended 60W if you have a 13inch MBP, things like that. Thats pretty cheap repair considering the battery replacement usually cost around $129 and you're getting the trackpad repaired on top of that.

Glad I started reading. Same problem as microwave_safe _bowl. 2011 15". Passed the cycle count. I just ordered a battery because of this. Going the have my brother, who is certified, install it over the break. Is my trackpad really messed up or will simply replacing the battery give it enough room and be fine? pad has been raised for two weeks.

Hard to tell without opening it up, bring it in

An apple store is pretty far away. Can I have him install the battery then take it in to y'all? I forgot to tell him the pad doesn't work I just assume he knows.

EDIT: also thank you

Its easy to tell if internal components have been tinkered with. If you have a non removable battery, you dont wanna open the computer, otherwise they'll notify you that they wont support it and immediately classify it as out of warranty. Same goes for iOS devices.

Hello! I do not know if you can help me with my issue but it cannot hurt to ask. My apple account was actually hacked a month or so back and apple support has failed to help me. They said that since the hacker changed the security questions, there is no way to verify that I actually ever owned the account. Is there anything I can do to get it back?

Before any Apple employee can make changes to your account. We HAVE TO verify 2 pieces of information on your account to confirm the identity on the account. It can be either the 3 security questions, serial number of the device the account is registered to, phone number registered to the account, credit card info (if you have it on your account), or the temporary support PIN number on your appleid.apple.com. Some accounts dont have additonal information set up on them besides the security questions. If thats the case, there isnt much we can do.

Ive dealt with applecare staff a lot over the phone and theyre always very personable and theres never any hold times, its always enjoyable. However, product knowledge seems weirdly low for a relatively specialized support team. Is it just a case of frontline staff spending all day on password resets and never talking about anything challenging? Or is there a huge amount of employee turnover? Or is it just a "send anything vaguely technical to the next team up" policy? Ive only had to call about iOS devices.

Yeah tech experience and knowledge varies depending on who you get. Everyone receives the same training, but some employees might just be more experienced from personal experience. You might get some frontline guy whos super smart or some idiot that'll just transfer you somewhere else. It all varies.

What do you think about the Macbook 2015 and the new battery case? Any unique insights on the development of these products since you work at Apple? Did people inside Apple really believe in these products?

I can't speak for the design of things. There are things my colleagues and I are just like wtf? I really do enjoy the operating systems that Apple provides. I think the hardware for iOS devices is great. I think hardware for Mac computers is shit. Its different opinions from everyone.

Neat. What's your dream Apple product?

I would love to have a current maxed out version of the Mac Pro just to see how it runs. You know... the $10,000 black cylinder.

What did you think when it was announced Apple was no longer selling the iPod Classic? Do you think that's a decision Steve Jobs would have made if he were still alive and CEO? (I love mine but am having some difficulty with it lately.)

Hard to say. At some point, we had to move away from it because of all the mechanical components in it. Would've caused too many issues.

What do you think of Donald Trump?

His hair looks nice.

Does Apple keep track of all the repairs and replacements they do you someone and do they care? I have used my applecare warranties to replace many broken cords and chargers and batteries etc. Are they stricter with people that do this?

Yes. Apple records everything. Anything you do even if its an phone call to Apple, is recorded to your customer records. If you have multiple things repaired or replaced, we definitely proceed with more caution in regards to your intentions.

Do you oversee normal techs? I get an ABSURD amount of work from people who were told at the Apple store that their data couldn't be recovered, or that their screen was trashed, or that internal components aren't replaceable. Do they tell customers that stuff out of laziness, or actual ignorance?

Sometimes its laziness, most of the time its policy. Apple Store techs jobs are very repetitive, and they probably just sometimes do things from laziness.

In fairness to them, it is pretty miserable swapping out a component in a macbook air.

Correct.

Also working on iPads, god I hated working on those fuckers. Give me an iPhone 5 and up and I'll transplant everything if needed, but fuck iPads.

iPads to me seem easier to work with since you sometimes dont have to deal with the whole cellular thing.

Do you like Windows 10?

Yeah I do actually. I run Windows 10 on my Gaming PC.

Have you ever had someone who completely FUBAR'd their device (crushed and water damaged beyond recognition) and tried to get it fixed somehow?

I'm asking because at the phone repair place I worked, I got a guy who ran over his iPhone 4 with his truck and left it in the rain for an hour. The metal frame was bent so badly I needed a mallet to tap out the rear panel. He insisted that we try to recover his data, and obviously, no dice.

Yeah i've seen a device with only half of the phone. The guy was trying to abuse the whole (As long as you have over 51% of the device, we can replace it as long as you have AppleCare)

Why did Apple remove Front Row? it was so useful

Wasn't too popular. iMovie pretty much consumed that app.

In the Netflix show Grace and Frankie, there's a scene where Frankie is trying to figure out how to use her new Mac. She gets frustrated and winds up calling support.

The first support rep she talks to seems like typical customer support, and asks the usual questions. Frankie expresses her frustration, and so the rep escalates her to one of their "concierge" reps (or something like that) who has a calm soothing voice, and spends an hour just shooting the breeze with her so she feels comfortable.

Do "concierge" reps really exist? That seems like an incredible waste of time, but it seemed plausible.

When you call AppleCare, sometimes you get connected with a Call Director that will transfer you to the appropriate department for your issues. If you ignore the automated system, this will likely be the case. If you follow the automated system correctly, it will usually take you straight to the correct rep.

Within Apple, did you happen to see if any Android/Windows devices were being used?

I'm curious to know since most Google employees (not all) utilize iPhones/Macs.

Most employees use iPhones because of the discounts that we get for the devices. $500 off + 25% off (Out of contract) annually.

Not sure if AppleCare is different, but that is NOT the discount for ARS employees. The great majority (that I have interacted with) seem to genuinely like the Apple ecosystem.

AppleCare is apart of the corporate structure and the majority of the benefits between ARS and Corporate are the same. Theres just a few tweaks in a couple of things...

If you could meet Steve Jobs, what would you say/ask him?

Why he always wore the same shirt at Keynotes.

whats the best way into getting a job at apple?

It depends on the job. There are so many types of jobs at Apple its different for everyone. If you're trying to work at an Apple Store, the best way is to get a referral. Anything thats not engineering or design related, you need lots CS experience. Apple appreciates honesty and personality over technical expertise for anything that isn't really related to corporate.

Why does my sound driver always seem to get fucked up when my MacBook pro comes out of rest mode or plug in headphones (it wont always recognize the headphones)? Is there an easy fix to this, it's kind of obnoxious.

Try resetting the system management controls.

How hard was it to get a job at the Big A? How were you hired? What degree do you have? It is a dream of mine to work at Apple. :-)

I just applied, went through 4 interviews (2 phone calls, 2 video inteviews) and got the job. I majored in Computer Science.

Has anyone ever put a knife into their CD drive?

No but i've seen a SD card jammed into the CD drive.

I'm a general support tech, and my most recent experience with OSX is 6 years out of date. Are there any resources I could use to get up to speed on things like interface changes, just so I can save the Apple store people some basic troubleshooting?

The Official Apple Website gives a great overview of the current OSX. It actually covers quite alot in extensive detail.

My iMac keeps turning off on me like the plugs being pulled out. It's been sent off to apple for testing and they gave it back saying there was nothing wrong with it and replaced he power cable however the issue is still occurring. Do you have any advice?

It could be the hard drive. If it just randomly shuts off, it could be a bad hard drive affecting it.

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Not sure i understand, do you mean what support options companies that use Apple products should use?

Do you work in an office full of tech support? I heard some folks work at home and do support.

I work in the corporate office in Austin.

What's your favorite episode of The Simpsons?

Uh the Halloween ones when Bart is in the tree house are fun

Can I bring my mac book pro 2011 to get fixed at an apple store if I changed the hard drive and have almost no screws?

Apple can't help you install a 3rd party hard drive that you purchased. They can only charge you the installation of a new hard drive.

Hey there -- thanks for taking the time to answer questions. What's your experience/interaction like with MDM vendors? I'm curious to see it from Apple's perspective on how this relationship works.

The only interactions i've had with MDM vendors is where they usually just dump their customers on us whenever they have an iCloud issue. Other than that, they do a pretty good job on troubleshooting everything else outside the iOS ecosystem.

I have an office full of mac users, is there some sort of training course (online) I can take to learn how to setup a good sysadmin environment ?

I need to learn about tools like inventory, that ldap thingamagig for authentication.

Also our airport, despite using a 10 address can only deliver a /24 net of addresses, why can't you set a netmask?

Call AppleCare and ask for the Enterprise team.

What's with the lack of a play button in iTunes on the iPhone? I have to take way too many steps just to play random songs in my playlist. Here's a sequence of screen grabs. It seems I have to pick a song to get to a play button. I don't want to pick a song, that's why I have it in "Shuffle".

You can always use Siri, its a one button click to play music :)

Hey, thanks for doing this.

I dropped my new MacBook two weeks after purchase and cracked the screen. I thought AppleCare would cover it cause I just assumed the AppleCare was similar between the phone and the laptops, I was wrong. There isn't an Apple Store near me as I live on an island and customer service told me to take it to a third party repair shop, which I didn't feel comfortable with. I'm headed back to the mainland after exams, where there are apple stores. You think if I bring it in, they'll be able to replace it... For free?

AppleCare doesn't cover accidental damage. I doubt they will replace for free if the damage is serious. If you talk to the manager at the store, they might be able to give you a discount because you have AppleCare. You can tell them you were mis informed on the AppleCare coverage and they will be more flexible with you.

He never said he was misinformed he said he assumed it was the same as AppleCare+. But yeah encourage him to lie about it to the Genius Bar that really helps your team out.

Uh... I mean im trying to help the guy out here but ok. This is an honest AMA.

Why does Apple insist on making so many operations that are one button/click in Windows two buttons/clicks on a Mac. The easiest example is the right-click. Why do I need to crtl-click when there is a simple solution that is widely known and accepted?

You can change that in the settings. You can press with two fingers at the same time on a trackpad to right click, or use ctrl-click, or change it in preferences so that you click on the right side of the trackpad once and it right clicks. So Apple actually gives you 3 ways to right click.

Just curious how you would handle this situation. It took me forever to get it sorted out.

When the iPhone 5 came out, I preordered and it was mailed to my house (received on the release date). As I am sure you are aware, if you purchase via a contract upgrade, the phone comes locked and you have to enter the last 4 digits of your social security number (at least this was my case). Well, the phone I received in the mail was not mine. The sim card that came installed did not match my number, and entering the last 4 of my social did not unlock the phone.

I called apple and for days they could not fix the problem. All I heard was that it was being escalated, over and over again. So I guess my question is, what is the protocol when you are presented with a problem you don't know how to fix? And what is the most effective way of getting help in such a situation.

In the end, I actually emailed Tim Cook's email address (which is obviously monitored by many people), and a couple of days later I received a call from someone I would assume is very high up in the tech service department. It didn't matter though, because I ran out of patience, called the number attached to the sim card, and we ended up exchanging our last 4 digits of our social and unlocked each other's phones.

Edit: I should also add that the day I received the phone, I brought it to the Apple store, and they were of no help. I think they actually were kind enough to attempt to try and fix my problem. But when they realized they couldn't, they gave me the run around about how it was an online order, so I'd have to call in. And they even had ATT support staff in the store that day since it was launch day.

Honestly, if you purchase something from Apple directly (Not Best Buy or whatever) and somethings wrong with it right out of the box, just return it and get another one. Apple has a 14 day return policy that you can abuse the hell out of and they could care less. So in your position, i would have just returned the phone and gone to a store or something to buy the iPhone.

Is it just me, or has Apple's designs gone downhill? The new iPhone 6 battery case looks like crap, and the iWatch is not at all sleek(oh wait it's called the "Apple Watch")

Yeah the case does look weird. I actually like my Apple Watch. I have the Black Stainless Steel one and i get alot of compliments on it.