After recently purchasing an Apple Magic Keyboard for my currently supported iPad, I was given some unfortunate news.
Despite my iPad Pro being a currently supported model that is compatible with iPadOS 18 AND having an active AppleCare+ plan, any new accessories purchased for it by Apple cannot be added.
Customers should be aware that in order to have AppleCare+ applied to first-party accessories such as the Magic Keyboard or Pencil, users need to call AppleCare+ to add them to their applicable device’s plan in order for them to be eligible for protection.
After escalating multiple times, I was told by a manager that Apple recently changed their policy to not allow for accessories being added to “older” iPads’ AppleCare+ plans. She emailed me the current AppleCare+ Agreement and lead me to the following section to justify this when I requested consumer-facing documentation reflecting this change:
Despite being listed on the packaging of the accessory itself, your iPad Air or Pro’s active AppleCare+ plans will not be applicable. Only current generation models are applicable. Please be aware of this before making purchases and/or trying to service an accessory.
If you have different experiences, please let me know in the comments.