Questions, answered.

It checks Apple's own in-store pickup availability for every storage size and colour of a phone at the Apple Stores nearest you, all at once. Apple's site makes you check one configuration at a time; this shows the whole picture in one view.

Directly from Apple's public store pickup information — the same data you see when you choose “Pick up” on apple.com. We don't guess, scrape third-party sites or rely on reports.

Each check asks Apple live. To be kind to Apple's servers, everyone searching the same postcode shares one answer for up to 3 minutes, so results are at most a few minutes old. Pickup stock can still sell out between the time you see it and the time you check out.

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, for the current flagship launch (right now iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro / Pro Max). New phones are added on launch day. Outside English-speaking countries, the status text next to each model (like “Disponible hoy”) comes straight from Apple in the local language.

Run a search, then switch on Auto-refresh under the search box. The page re-checks every 3 minutes and plays a short chime when something new comes into stock. The browser tab title also shows the count, e.g. (2) In stock, so you can spot it from another tab.

Auto-refresh only runs while the page is open. Closing the tab stops it.

• Open the tracker in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari and run your search.
• Click Turn on notifications and choose Allow when your browser asks.
• Switch on Auto-refresh. You can move to other tabs or apps — just leave this tab open.
• On a Mac, check System Settings → Notifications and make sure your browser is allowed to show alerts, and that Focus mode isn't silencing them.

• Open the site in Chrome and tap Turn on notifications, then Allow.
• For the most reliable alerts, tap the ⋮ menu → Add to Home screen and run the tracker from that icon.
• Keep the app open or recently used, with auto-refresh on. Android may pause it if the phone sleeps for a long time.

• Open the site in Safari (iOS 16.4 or later).
• Tap Share → Add to Home Screen, then open the tracker from the new icon. Apple only allows website notifications from Home Screen apps.
• Tap Turn on notifications and Allow, run your search and switch on Auto-refresh.

iOS pauses web apps soon after you leave them, so alerts are most dependable on a computer. A good setup is to leave a laptop running the tracker and keep your phone handy to buy.

When a lot of people are searching at once, Apple sometimes asks us to slow down. When that happens we pause automatic checks for a few minutes rather than keep asking, and pick up again on our own if auto-refresh is on.

While it's paused, each model has a button that opens it on apple.com. Choose Pick up and enter your postcode to check Apple's own availability directly.

• Auto-refresh was off, or the tab was closed or asleep.
• Notifications are blocked in the browser's site settings or by your system's Focus / Do Not Disturb.
• Your filters excluded it — alerts follow the same filters as the results list.
• The stock appeared and sold out between two checks, which happens often on launch week.

Tap Buy next to the model. It opens that exact phone on apple.com. Add it to your bag, choose Pick up at checkout and select the store shown on the card. Apple will confirm a pickup window.

Move quickly — popular configurations can be gone within a minute or two.

No. Only Apple can hold stock, and that happens when you check out on apple.com or the Apple Store app. We never ask for your Apple Account, payment details or personal information.

New pickup stock tends to appear early in the morning, local time, as stores receive shipments, and occasionally during the day when orders are cancelled. Leaving auto-refresh running overnight on a computer is the easiest way not to miss it.

No personal information. Your last search and saved searches are kept in your own browser's local storage; postal codes are only passed through to Apple to run a check and are never stored. We use Google Analytics (which sets cookies) and Vercel Web Analytics (cookie-free) to count visits and see which pages are used — nothing is sold or shared for advertising. There are no accounts. You can block analytics with any standard content blocker and the tracker will work exactly the same.

No. pickupthephone is an independent community project and isn't affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Apple Inc.

Every Apple configuration has a part number (for example MK244VC/A). The tracker finds them automatically, but if you only care about one or two exact models you can paste their part numbers to check just those.