7 Best Phone Insurance Plans in 2024
Given the kind of money that we spend on smartphones today, they’re pretty much like assets. Keeping this in mind, it becomes doubly important to cover them with insurance to protect us from shelling out a lot of money on repairs or replacements in the future. This is where phone insurance plans come into the picture, allowing us to cover ourselves from massive losses. These plans cover accidental damages and even water spills in many cases, relieving us of any potential headaches in the future.
Product | Brand | Name | Price |
---|---|---|---|
SquareTrade | SquareTrade 2-Year Accident Protection Plan for Phone | Check Price on Amazon |
* If you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. For more details, please visit our Privacy policy page.
It’s important to note that all U.S. carriers offer insurance plans for customers who purchase phones from them for a nominal fee. There is also a wide range of third party insurance providers available out there. The pricing and the benefits differ between each provider, so it’s important to compare them all to get the best plan suited for your smartphone. Have a look for more details.
7 best phone insurance plans in 2024
SquareTrade
One of the best accidental coverage providers out there, SquareTrade has a comprehensive coverage plan for your smartphone, which covers accidental spills as well as water damage. The provider will charge a $99 deductible, which is decent. The company is touting its offering to be a viable replacement to carrier offerings, which is partly true going by the kind of coverage that SquareTrade offers. Your insurance has to be renewed every year and can be easily transferred to a new phone that you purchase.
The caveat here, as with any other third party insurance is that you will have to buy it within 30 days of the purchase of your smartphone. This means you don’t have much time to make up your mind about getting insurance for your brand new device.
You will get free two-way shipping when you send your phone for repairs or replacement. Once you get the coverage plan, you will have to activate it by downloading the SquareTrade mobile app on your smartphone. The insurance covers issues related to the headphone jack, speaker grill, cracked screens, and a handful of other parts. There’s no doubt that this is one of the most comprehensive third party mobile insurance plans you can find.
Geek Squad
Geek Squad allows you to pay monthly installments ($7.99) for your insurance rather than paying upfront. However, you can also choose to pay for two years’ worth of insurance in one go. Best Buy offers this particular protection plan, and you will have to get the protection plan within 15 days of the purchase of your smartphone. It covers all the necessary claims like spills, cracks, mechanical issues, and even battery replacements. For $10.99 per month, you can get the Geek Squad Complete Protection plan, which comes with theft and loss coverage and the same benefits as mentioned above.
There’s a deductible of $149.99 and $199.99 for devices under $799.99 and over $799.99, respectively. While there are some caveats here as well, there is no doubt that Geek Squad is yet another attractive third party mobile insurance company. What makes it stand out from the rest is the fact that it comes with in-house service, which means that the company will pick up your phone right from the doorstep. The company won’t charge you a cancellation fee if you terminate the insurance, which is a big bonus if you plan on switching providers. Geek Squad also covers the accessories that come with the original retail packaging of your smartphone.
Asurion
This is a slightly different insurance provider as it doesn’t directly offer insurance. Still, lists out the best plans from major carriers in the U.S. Supported carriers include Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Clear, Clear Wire, Metro PCS, nTelos, Time Warner Cable and Virgin Mobile. This can get quite tricky, especially since carriers also offer standalone mobile insurance plans for its customers. But users stand to gain access to some exclusive plans if they go via Asurion. It’s hard to list out a particular plan with this provider, given the kind of diversity there is. It’s clear, however, that Asurion will offer comprehensive coverage including theft/loss, water damage as well as accidental damage.
Naturally, the kind of benefits you get will be dependent on the plans you choose. A critical aspect that Asurion mentions on its site is that it’s not hard to file a claim through its website or on the phone. So if you happen to have damaged your new phone, you can conveniently file a claim within a matter of a few minutes. Much like any other accidental damage protection plan, this one too has to be bought within a few weeks of purchasing your smartphone.
Samsung Protection Plus
Samsung’s protection plan takes on the myriad of third party offerings available out there. It supports Samsung smartphones from carriers like AT&T, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon. The plans are straightforward and hassle free. The company has two plans – one which costs $99 and the other, which costs $129. The $99 plan supports the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5, and the Galaxy S6. The $129 plan, on the other hand, covers the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S7, and Galaxy S7 edge.
This basically means that this particular plan covers every Samsung flagship from the past few years. You are allowed to get two accidental damage claims in a period of 12 months, which is something that other providers rarely offer. Overall, if you own a Samsung flagship right now, you can’t do much better than the company’s Protection Plus plan. The company specifies that even water damage is covered by this plan, which is pretty decent. Surprisingly, the Galaxy S8 and the S8+ doesn’t appear to be on the list as of yet, although we expect that to change in the days to come.
eSurranty
This particular insurance provides a wide range of plans, and the prices differ depending on the smartphone you choose. All major flagships are covered, so you won’t have trouble finding your new device. The reviews for this particular provider are pretty great as well, so you know it’s a credible provider. eSurranty even has the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S8 and the S8+ listed on its site, priced at $89 per month. This appears to be the standard pricing for all significant flagships listed on the company’s website.
There is no deductible with eSurranty, and you get up to $1000 cover per claim. Naturally, you get Accidental Damage coverage with two claims allowed per year ($139). Water damages can be claimed up to 2 times a year and will cost $69. You can claim loss or theft once per year for $279. Accidental damage on eSurranty covers display cracks, broken buttons, as well as broken cameras. You can also choose to get the insurance post 30 days of purchase, which is pretty neat. Overall, this is a viable replacement for several mobile insurance companies available out there.
Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is actually one of the best companies out there for cell phone insurance for multiple devices to protect. They have an excellent package for multi-device folks, offering you coverage for $13 per month per smartwatch or smartphone. Verizon’s Total Mobile Protection plan allows you to insure up to 10 lines at once.
If something happens, you’ll have to pay a deductible. Still, Verizon gives you some of the best coverage here — it can cover lost or stolen phones, water damage (even accidental spills), as well as defects that are found past the manufacturer warranty on your phone. There’s cracked screen repair coverage, as well.
AT&T
AT&T is another excellent choice, but actually has a variety of tiers for your phone. For some of the most basic protection, you’re looking at just $8.99 per month. For that, you’re looking at insurance on one device that protects yours against loss, theft, and out-of-warranty defects. There’s even a same-day cracked screen repair here.
Another tier they have start at $11.99 per month. That gives you all of the same perks as the $8.99 tier but adds on 24/7 tech support, 50GB of Cloud-based photo storage, and identity protection.
They have another tier, which is for multiple devices — it starts at $34.99 per month. It covers up to three devices, and insures against loss and theft and throws in a whole 300GB of photo and video storage.
Product | Brand | Name | Price |
---|---|---|---|
SquareTrade | SquareTrade 2-Year Accident Protection Plan for Phone | Check Price on Amazon |
* If you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. For more details, please visit our Privacy policy page.
Verdict
As you can see, there are a lot of excellent cell phone insurance plans. Cell phone insurance is a mixed bag — some people need it, and others don’t. If you have a good case on your phone, chances are, cell phone insurance will be just throwing money away as far as accident protection goes. However, others are more accident-prone, and therefore, that small investment can save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in repairs or replacements.
Do not trust Esurranty.com. This is a company you cannot trust. What ever you do, do not signup with company. Here is my horror story: Initial contact was made early August and was good with their employee Sean Hansen, and then it went downhill. I got the warranty and as my luck had it, I broke the screen on the phone. Sent it to them for repairs. Didn’t hear anything back. Sent them an email and was told that it would take 10 business days for Samsung to repair the phone. 10 Business Days later, after not getting any update, I contacted them and was told my phone was locked to Samsung and Google and they couldn’t replace the screen. Wait, since when does a phone need to be unlocked to replace a screen? Now it’s been over 2 months and the company still has not sent the phone back, has not responded to any emails and has basically stolen a $1,200 phone. Also the CEO Angelo has been accused of Scam and Fraud. He’s the same guy promoting his company on this site.
I just got the Samsung S8 thru ATT . Just now registered it with Samsung. Their Protection Plus Plan is $11.99 per month – that is it – the only offering – much much higher than listed in this article – and actually quite expensive. This plan is called Premium Care, and is the only thing available from them on the S8 – the Protection Plus Plan N/A for S8.
DO NOT INSURE WITH eSurranty. These guys are bunch of thief’s. They have kept my phone for more than 30 days and now tell me they can’t fix it for some BS reason. Stay away from them. State Attorney general has complaints against them, as well as the BBB.
Asurion , say away from! They offer Shield coverage, yet when I put a claim in for shield was told, ” We do not offer that coverage in your zip code and the only option was to replace the iPhone for $225.This seems to me like the old “bate and switch”. This was not made know at point of sale at the ATT store.
I completely agree with above poster. I have had all of our six phones insured by Square Trade for the last several years. At first, they had awesome customer service and a lower deductible. Our last claim took over two weeks to get a refurbished phone and about a total of 4 hours on the phone with several different reps. I am currently in the process of changing insurance carriers as a result.
BUYER BEWARE: eSurranty is not a real insurance company. Go check with the insurance commissioner. It’s not real, they’ve stolen my son’s phone. They tried to get me to sign a ‘confidentiality agreement’ to get my phone back. A gag order? Really? For insurance I paid for? Day 66 of them not returning my phone. These are all facts & I can supply proof to anyone who wants. Go check yelp, BBB, ANYWHERE before you buy eSurranty.
Square Trade started out GREAT, but as more an more people used their warranties. they have gotten fat and lazy. No more phone calls to let you know your warranty is expiring, no more GREAT customer service. Now they want at least a $99 deductible for EVERYTHING. And as the previous poster stated, if they have to replace your phone… no more warranty!
Please save yourself some money and stay away from SQUARE TRADE!
Check out esurranty.com for coverage on your phone. Esurranty covers new, used, refurbished and manufacturer replacement devices. You can pay for the coverage up front and have no worries that you are covered for the year or you can pay monthly.
I learned today that with Square Trade if you damage your phone and it can’t be fixed but has to be replaced – that ends your coverage. I was online trying to get my sons equipment updated (also a real hassle) when I noticed my iPhone was not covered any more. In calling them they informed me that the two incident per year coverage is only for repairs and that if they have to replace the phone once it is replaced your new phone is no longer covered. It’s been nearly a year and all this time I assumed I had coverage on my phone.