Offline Apple serial number database

Apple's serial number lookup page was down today, first with a looping GIF saying "We'll be back. We're busy updating our support tools and will be back soon." in 19 different languages and later with a page simply stating "We are unable to complete your request at this time."

Needing to identify a Mac but unwilling to use a third-party web service, retrieved the serial number via dmidecode -s system-serial-number in GParted Live then searched OpenCore's modelinfo_autogen.h for the last 3 characters (8QR), which corresponded to "MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)".

While the model identifier can be obtained via dmidecode -s system-product-name (in this case "MacBook5,1" which Mactracker also reports as "MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)"), some identifiers like "MacBook5,2" correspond to multiple models ("MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009)" and "MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009)").

Sadly, Apple replaced structured serial numbers with randomized ones after the 2021 iMac:

• Learn the Secret Language of Apple Serial Numbers (While You Still Can)

• Apple will switch to randomized serial numbers in early 2021

• Apple Begins Transition to Randomized Serial Numbers With Purple iPhone 12

• Apple Serial Number Format Change: What You Need to Know

Updates

• This change is especially regrettable now that Apple's serial number lookup page no longer reports exact model information.

• Just discovered that Mactracker includes serial number lookup as well:

  "Mactracker supports searching by 11 or 12 digit Apple serial numbers from Power Macintosh G3 to iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021). Apple has transitioned products introduced after, and including, the purple iPhone 12 to a new randomized alphanumeric format. You can search recent serial numbers on Apple's website."

  Alas, as mentioned above, Apple no longer returns precise model information on its lookup page.

❧ 2025-07-12