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 …
Background
Apple had long sought to make it difficult for customers to carry out their own repairs. Even back in 1984, with the launch of the original Macintosh, the company used non-standard screws that required special tools not widely available at the time.
When the Right to Repair movement took off, getting widespread media attention, Apple initially said that DIY repairs would be too dangerous, due to the fire risks of lithium-ion batteries. The company spent years actively lobbying against Right to Repair legislation.
The company has also implemented a number of measures it said were to protect against the use of counterfeit parts, and which customers and independent repair shops said were to force customers to pay Apple prices for repairs.
Examples include DIY home button repairs to the iPhone 6 resulting in the devices being bricked, and the same thing happening with iPhone 8 screen repair all the way through to the iPhone 13. Apple also configured iPhones to display annoying error messages after carrying out DIY repairs like battery replacement on the iPhone XR and XS. The iPhone 12 and 2018 MacBook Pro and iMac Pro also had software dongles to make certain DIY repairs impossible.
Pressure on Apple continued to mount:
The Apple Self Service Repair program
Apple finally gave in earlier this year, announcing the Apple Self Service Repair program in the US.
Apple today announced Self Service Repair, which will allow customers who are comfortable with completing their own repairs access to Apple genuine parts and tools. Available first for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and soon to be followed by Mac computers featuring M1 chips.
Now available in eight more countries
The company promised the program would expand to more countries “throughout 2022,” and has today announced the next set of countries.
Apple today announced Self Service Repair is now available in eight European countries, providing repair manuals and genuine Apple parts and tools through the Apple Self Service Repair Store. Customers who wish to complete their own repairs will be able to perform many of the most common repairs for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups, and Mac notebooks with Apple silicon.
The countries are:
- Belgium
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Poland
- Spain
- Sweden
- UK
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