Don't worry if Apple claims you still need to send a trade-in device

An unknown number of users have had Apple Store emails erroneously saying they haven't sent in an iPhone they actually traded-in months ago.

Apple heavily promotes trading in your old device to get money off a new one — and seriously profits when you do — but usually the process is straightforward. On March 13, 2025, however, an update to the Apple Store systems resulted in some users being emailed about allegedly failed trade-ins.

"Just letting you know that your device has not been received," says the email from the Apple Store. "In seven days your trade-in will be cancelled, so please ship your device soon."

Example of the email being erroneously sent

It's a legitimate email and correctly quotes the right order number, plus the right order date, the right device, and also the right estimated trade-in value. It's just in all other ways wrong.

An AppleInsider staffer in the UK received this email about an iPhone 13 Pro he actually traded in when buying an iPhone 16 Pro Max back in September 2024. Apple's telephone support line confirmed that the email is genuinely from the Apple Store, but also said that it was only sent because of an unspecified system update.

From the little that Apple support would reveal, the emails appear to have been sent to multiple people. It is not, though, known how widespread it is, nor even if it is solely confirmed to UK Apple Store customers.

If you receive such an email, search first for a previous one confirming receipt of your trade-in device. You can also check that the trade-in refund was paid into your bank account.

However, Apple does not always pay the trade-in refund to an account. It always charges the full amount for the new device, but depending on how you purchased it, the refund may instead be applied across every monthly payment in an instalment plan.

So the concern on receiving this erroneous email is that the remaining monthly fees might go up. Apple Support confirmed that this is not happening.

This is not, though, the first time that the same email error has happened. An identical situation happened to US customers in April 2024.