It's not too hard to make a case for monthly insurance for your phone. That iPhone or Android phone is how you stay in contact with everyone you know; it's how you access important information in the blink of an eye. With insurance, you add a safeguard in case you break your phone, lose it or have it stole, because you can pretty quickly get another phone without paying the full price.
I have insurance on my phone, and while I'll always vouch for insurance, I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, especially if you rarely ever break or lose your phone. If that's you -- someone who is always careful with their phone -- it may not be worth the cost.
But your phone isn't the only tech thing you could damage or lose. How would you feel if you had to replace a damaged laptop, say, or your TV, gaming console or wireless speaker?
To protect them, could you even insure those items? Should you? Doesn't renter's insurance/homeowner's insurance cover those devices? What are the insurance options out there?
We'll answer all those questions in this guide. For more, here's whether your 1-year warranty is enough and what you should know about regular phone insurance vs. AppleCare Plus.
First off, what other devices can you even insure?
Everyone knows you can get insurance for your phone. There's AppleCare Plus for the iPhone, Samsung Care Plus for Samsung devices and Google Preferred Care for the Pixel phones. And those are just the manufacturer insurance options -- you can also find phone carrier and third-party insurance plans out there for your phone.
But then you have all your other tech devices you could insure -- your computers, gaming consoles and TVs. And that's just scratching the surface. Depending on the plan, you could potentially insure your remote controls, headphones, home theater systems, printers, routers, external hard drives, streaming devices and even printers.
And you could cover all your smart devices: watches, video doorbells, thermostats, door locks, lights, security cameras, air purifiers, pet food dispensers, kitchen displays, speakers and more.
It all depends on the plan, but pretty much any tech, gadget or device under your roof can be insured.
Should you insure all your devices?
The majority of gadgets you buy have a limited warranty, which guarantees you can repair or replace a faulty device for a certain amount of time. However, a warranty covers only manufacturer defects -- if you accidentally break your gadget, misplace it or it's stolen, you're out of luck. Which is why you might consider insuring some of your more expensive devices.
An insurance plan, unlike a warranty, can protect you from accidental damage, like a cracked screen, as well as theft. Instead of having to pay full price for a new gadget, you would cover the deductible; for example, AKKO's "Everything Covered" insurance plan, which is $15 per month, has a $99 deductible ($49 for students) for each gadget you make a claim for.
Let's say you accidentally drop your 55-inch Samsung The Frame QLED 4K TV while attempting to mount it to your wall. Under AKKO's "Everything Covered" plan, you would pay only $99 to get it repaired or replaced, instead of paying $1,500 for a new TV.
And that's generally how it would work for any gadget covered under a similar insurance plan.
Wait. Doesn't homeowner's or renter's insurance cover your devices?
Renter's or homeowner's insurance can provide coverage to individuals who own, rent or lease a residential property, like an apartment or home. Sometimes called tenant's insurance or hazard insurance, this type of insurance offers liability coverage if someone is injured on the property and provides you with additional living expenses if the property you live in becomes uninhabitable due to a covered event, like a fire or natural disaster.
It can also provide protection for your personal property. If your TV is stolen or a burst pipe damages your laptop, for example, insurance may help you replace the item. However, there are a few caveats.
Homeowner's and renter's insurance don't cover accidental damage. If you accidentally drop your printer and break it, hazard insurance won't cover it. Insurance does cover damage incurred in a natural disaster.
Also, homeowner's and renter's insurance deductibles are usually higher. Lemonade's renter's insurance policy offers deductibles that range from $250 to $2,500. In contrast, Asurion's device protection plan doesn't have a deductible -- only a service fee between $0 and $99 (plus tax) for each claim.
If you're worried about accidentally damaging your gadgets, and you're worried you won't be adequately covered by renter's insurance, you should consider a separate insurance policy.
What are your options for device protection insurance?
There may not be as many device protection insurance plans out there as phone insurance plans, but a few stand out that you should consider.
AKKO's "Everything Protected" plan covers your phone, as well as 25 additional items (you can choose from electronics, audio and music gear, gaming console and accessories, and more). Plans start at $15 a month ($12 a month for students). You are protected from accidental damage and theft, and you have a $99 deductible for each claim ($49 for students). The plan has no annual limit to your claims, but there is a $2,000-limit per incident, unless you upgrade your coverage for a specific item.
Asurion's Home Plus device protection plan provides protection for all your eligible home tech (minus your phone) -- with no limit to the number of gadgets you can put under the policy. The plan is $12 a month for the first three months then $25 a month each month after, and while it has no deductibles, it has a small service fee of $0, $49 or $99 for each approved claim, depending on the device. There's a maximum annual claim limit of $5,000 per household and $2,000 per claim. Home Plus also offers 24/7 technical support for all your covered devices.
Besides those two plans, you may find insurance to cover your items from other insurance companies like Progressive and Allstate. If you buy your tech device from somewhere like Best Buy, you may be able to buy additional coverage for mechanical failure and accidental damage. And if you bought a device with a credit card, you should check your benefits, because you might have coverage this way.
For more, check out our review of the Apple Watch Series 9 and how to protect your wearables.
Editor's note: CNET and Asurion have an advertising partnership. This story is editorially independent from that relationship.
