What did they say? And did this come as a surprise? Then on November 17th, Apple makes an announcement. Most shops that we know of have not been willing to sign that: If you do, you sign away your soul.

The biggest catch is that the contract you have to sign requires you to turn your customer data over the Apple. It is a mechanism for local shops to get access to Apple parts and tools. Yes, about a year ago Apple launched a program that they call IRP and for Independent Repair Provider program. At least they seem to be saying that they supplied independent repair shops. That's been the state of things.īut the only option wasn’t just a factory repair-to take it back to the Apple Store. They designed the product to be glued together, so it's hard to work on. Apple did not make any service information available. Apple's known for going after independent parts companies for trademark violations and that kind of thing. So your option is to go to a third party-an organization, like iFixit.

They've gone out of their way to prevent people from doing that kind of repair. Wiens: Apple basically provided no option for that. Suppose I bought a new Apple phone and I sat on it and cracked the screen and decided I wanted to repair it. Spectrum: Take a moment to describe the situation before a couple of weeks ago, when Apple announced a change of policy on self-repair. IEEE Spectrum recently spoke with Kyle Wiens, co-founder of iFixit, which provides repair parts and guidance for Apple devices among others, about Apple’s announcement last month that it would provide users with options to repair their devises themselves.

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