Earlier today, Apple hosted its "It's Glowtime" special event. At the event, Tim Cook and the team announced the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, and more.

If you are on the edge of your seat to pre-order the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, or iPhone 16 Pro Max, Apple has a way to lock in that pre-order configuration ahead of time to make things even faster when preorders go live on Friday, September 13th.

Tonight, the company launched its pre-approval process for those who want to pre-order an iPhone 16. The process allows you to check your eligibility, choose the iPhone model and configuration you want, confirm your upgrade with your carrier, and get pre-approved for the iPhone Upgrade Program.

Going through this process gives you a noticeable advantage over others who try to complete all of these steps when the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro goes live for preorders at 5:00 AM PDT on Friday, September 13th (spooky). Those who complete this process are able to log in at that time, confirm their order, and keep moving about their day.

Should I get pre-approved?

Trying to complete all of these steps when preorders go live could set you up for delayed shipping if enough people get their preorders in before you. It's always a mad dash to grab the exact iPhone you want and you are competing with potentially millions of other people, so make sure to give yourself every advantage.

The nice thing about this program is that you can still change up your iPhone up to the point of preorders going live — you'll just need to go through the pre-approval process for the loan again. You can also still choose to either ship your iPhone to your home or pick it up from your local Apple Store.

You can get pre-approved for your iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro on the iPhone Upgrade Program through the Apple Store app or on the Apple Store website.

We're covering all the Apple iPhone 16 event announcements live as they happen. Don't miss all our iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, Apple Watch X, Apple Watch Ultra 3, iOS 18 and watchOS 11 coverage so far.

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.