Apple's Online Store Goes Down to Prepare for AirTag and Purple iPhone 12 Orders

Apple's online storefront is down in preparation for the launch of the AirTags and the new purple iPhone 12 models, which are set to be available starting at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time or 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States.

apple store down airtags
Ahead of new product launches, Apple often takes its online store offline in order to get ready for the influx of orders.

Announced at Tuesday's "Spring Loaded" event, AirTags are Apple's long-awaited Bluetooth item trackers that can be attached to wallets, keys, cameras, and more, allowing those items to be tracked in the Find My app.

AirTags are priced at $29 each or $99 for four, and each AirTag can be engraved if desired. AirTags feature a user-replaceable CR2032 battery that lasts for a year, and they have an IP67 dust and water resistance rating.

As for the purple ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, they're identical to the existing ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 mini but are available in a new light purple color that joins the existing white, black, blue, green, and (PRODUCT)RED shades. The iPhone 12 mini is priced starting at $699 and the ‌iPhone‌ 12 is priced starting at $799.

There is no indication that the AirTags or the purple ‌iPhone‌ models will be available in limited quantities, but it's always a good idea to order early to get launch day delivery. AirTags and the new ‌iPhone‌ models will deliver to customers starting on Friday, April 30.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
terminal macos tahoe

Apple's Terminal App Gets Colorful Redesign in macOS Tahoe

Monday June 16, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's Terminal app is getting a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal will support 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, according to Apple's State of the Platforms presentation at WWDC25. The app will also adopt the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's broader...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

9646829 Avatar
54 months ago
Seems a bit dramatic for AirTag and a new iPhone colour, was just browsing when it kicked me off the store!
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dguisinger Avatar
54 months ago
I've never understood why they can't be like any other e-commerce site and stay live during a catalog update.

I understand not wanting people to buy and then cancel/return orders if they ordered in the hour before an announcement.... but you still get that effect for the days or weeks before.

Even if you pull the site down for product launches.... I don't see why they can't just flip the switch from greyed out add to cart to hey, you can buy it now. Several hours of downtime to allow ordering of a product you always announced just seems so, 1995.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
54 months ago
oh yeah. going to need to add a bunch of servers to handle all of 2 purple iPhone orders
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anshuvorty Avatar
54 months ago

I've never understood why they can't be like any other e-commerce site and stay live during a catalog update.

I understand not wanting people to buy and then cancel/return orders if they ordered in the hour before an announcement.... but you still get that effect for the days or weeks before.

Even if you pull the site down for product launches.... I don't see why they can't just flip the switch from greyed out add to cart to hey, you can buy it now. Several hours of downtime to allow ordering of a product you always announced just seems so, 1995.
Be thankful that Apple's e-commerce site still works at all! I remember during the RTX 30-series launch and during the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S launch, how horrendous it was and it still is! You can't guarantee yourself a new GPU or a new console even now!

At least, from Apple, you are guaranteed the hardware when you order it and you won't suffer the bad user experiences that you will get from these other hardware purchases.

So whatever Apple is doing with their e-commerce backend, it works! If they have to take the entire site off-line to prepare for the load, so be it. Even during the height of the pandemic, their site still worked seamlessly and even during the mad rush of the Holiday last year! Unlike the GPU and console purchases last holiday season....man...that was some experience!
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cole Slaw Avatar
54 months ago
This shut the whole website down schtick is getting really, really old.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aesc80 Avatar
54 months ago

Seems a bit dramatic for AirTag and a new iPhone colour, was just browsing when it kicked me off the store!
I was about to say - being in the West Coast, is it even worth it to wake up at 5 AM for the AirTags? I wonder how quickly delivery dates get pushed out.

EDIT: LOL, how cute I got downvoted for a serious question. I honestly wonder how demand for AirTags is, and if its even worth it to wake up early for it. Sorry if I don't normally wake up at 5 AM.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)