Right to repair

A powerful new California privacy law has now taken effect, designed to make it far easier for consumers to request that data brokers delete their data instead of selling it. The state’s right to repair legislation is also now active.

It’s hoped that both laws will serve as models for other US states, with a more ambitious goal of seeing their provisions enacted in federal law …

The iPhone 14 iFixit repairability rating has been dramatically reduced, after the company listened to feedback from consumers and independent repair shops, and admitted that it didn’t take into account the huge barrier imposed by Apple’s parts pairing process.

The phone’s repairability rating has now been reduced from 7/10 to 4/10, which moves the product from “recommended” to “not recommended” …

A few years ago, the idea of Apple backing right to repair legislation would have been almost unimaginable – even if the company’s co-founder did urge it to do so.

The company has spent literally years fighting it, spending money to lobby against it at both state and federal level, either trying to block it altogether or – if it couldn’t manage that – to weaken the legislation as much as possible …

Back in 2018, the State of California joined the Right to Repair Act bill, which aims to create laws that force tech companies to provide tools for both customers and independent stores to repair their products. Although Apple was initially against this bill, the company surprisingly decided to support the bill in California for the first time.

iPad owners who had the screen replaced by a third-party service center are reporting that an Apple Pencil problem occurs afterward – and it appears to be a deliberate move on Apple’s part.

To be clear, the issue isn’t limited to aftermarket displays: It happens when a genuine Apple screen is pulled from one iPad and fitted to an identical model …

A lobbyist working for Apple, Google, Samsung, and other tech companies succeeded in diluting the impact of a Right to Repair law. Tech trade group TechNet gave suggested wording to NY Governor Kathy Hochul, who reportedly inserted that language verbatim.

The new wording places limits on the spare parts that tech giants have to make available to customers and independent repair shops …

The iFixit HomePod 2 teardown isn’t the first one we’ve seen since the launch of the new model, as Brandon Geekabit got there first. But the company does echo the comments on repairability of this model compared to the original, together with a cool video clip of the woofer in action (below).

Back in 2018, iFixit said that the innards of the original model were a nightmare to access, the firm literally having to cut the device open …

The Apple Self Service Repair program has now launched in eight more countries, following the initial US-only debut back in April.

The program lets customers access repair manuals, purchase genuine Apple parts, and rent the tools needed to carry out DIY repairs …

A proposed new EU smartphone repair law has been opposed by a trade association representing Apple, Samsung, and other smartphone makers. The law is intended to reduce electrical waste as part of an environmental protection program.

The law would require companies to ensure that they continue to make at least 15 key spare parts available for five years from the launch of a phone. It would also necessitate a minor improvement to Apple’s requirements for free battery replacement…

At the beginning of the week, Apple expanded its Self Service Repair program to M1 MacBook models. The program offers “repair manuals and genuine Apple parts and tools” with “more than a dozen different repair types for each model, including the display, top case with battery, and trackpad, with more to come,” but although it seems like a step to the right direction, iFixit thinks Apple is making the M1 MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Pro, actually, less repairable.

There was good news and bad news yesterday. The Apple Self Service Repair program was extended to the M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models – but if you were hoping that would enable DIY MacBook upgrades, you’re out of luck.

Apple very deliberately and specifically prevents this, and that seems to me to be the wrong decision for customers and the MacBook maker alike …

Apple just expanded its self-service repair program to include M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pros. You can get replacement screens, batteries, and even logic boards, but don’t expect to be able to upgrade your laptop, as you can only purchase the exact same main board that originally came with your device.

Apple announced yesterday that it would add replacement parts for its M1 MacBook Air and Pro laptops. Now, the store is back online after a brief period of maintenance, and now it offers replacement trackpads, displays, batteries, and more parts to fix your own computer.

The Apple Self Service Repair program first launched for iPhone in November of last year is tomorrow being extended to M1 MacBook models – both MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

The company says that the program will also be expanding into other countries, beginning in Europe, later this year …

New York state legislature has passed the first Right to Repair bill for electronics in the United States. According to The Verge, this measure called the Digital Fair Repair Act, requires all manufacturers in the state who sell “digital electronics products” to make tools, parts, and instructions for repair available to customers and independent shops.

Apple has launched its self-service repair website, where you can order parts and tools for recent iPhones and access repair manuals. It’s a nice move to see, and the ability to buy original parts is something right-to-repair advocates have been asking for for a while, but some users seem disappointed by the limited offerings and see it as too little, too late. Let’s take a look at what’s there, what isn’t, and what it takes to get your iPhone fixed using genuine parts.

Apple launched its new Self Service Repair program today, which allows iPhone customers in the United States to access parts and manuals that they can use to repair their own devices – starting with iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPhone SE 3. Are you going to use this new program?

After months of waiting, Apple is finally rolling out its self-service repair program for selected iPhone models in the US. Starting now, users can buy parts of iPhone 12, 13, and SE 3 directly from Apple, but is it worth it? Here’s what iFixit has to say about the program.

Update April 8, 2022: Google today announced a new partnership with iFixit, making Pixel displays, batteries, and other repair parts widely available. Apple has still not provided an update on its Self Service Repair program.

Apple last year announced a new “Self Service Repair” program, which for the first time would allow consumers to buy parts of iPhone, iPad, and other Apple products to repair them themselves at home. While the company had promised that the program would be launched earlier this year in the US, we haven’t heard about it since November 2021 – so what happened? Is it still coming?

Today has seen another Apple PR fail as the company has, once again, waited until forced to act – this time over Right to Repair pressure. The company has finally now accepted that consumers should be allowed to repair their own Apple kit, including the very latest and most complex devices.

Apple’s previous resistance has been widely seen as both greedy, and inconsistent with the company’s environmental stance. Many repairs are simply not worth doing at official Apple prices, making it more likely that consumers will simply dispose of broken devices and buy new ones.

Last week, 9to5Mac reported that Face ID stops working if you replace the iPhone 13 screen with a third-party repair. Now, a new video shows that it’s possible to replace the screen and make facial recognition work, but it’s not simple.