Apple and the Right to RePAIR

Apple has made huge efforts to make its devices more repairable. Has it fixed the situation?

- DAVID CROOKES

Should your Apple device encounter a hardware problem, you'll likely follow a familiar path. Go online, fall down a rabbit hole of tech websites and forums, then, overwhelmed, you'll look for an authorised repairer or make an appointment at your nearest Apple store.

What you're less likely to do is buy a selection of tools and open up your device to make your own repair. That's enough to fill most people with dread. But, thanks to an initiative called Self Service Repair, it's something you could do. So long as you're feeling confident and own an iPhone, iPad, Mac laptop, Apple display or Beats headphones, you can read a repair manual, purchase the right parts and get down to work. Whether or not you'd find it easy, however, is another matter entirely.

Inside job

Apple launched Self Service Repair in 2022 in the wake of Right to Repair laws introduced in some US states and the UK. Other countries and states have since brought in their own laws and legislation (or at least indicated that they want to) and all have roughly the same effect: to protect consumers by allowing them to modify or repair products.

Manufacturers are required to sell the necessary parts and tools to do the job. They're obliged to provide repair documentation too. The idea is that, to perform a repair, consumers are not beholden to a manufacturer's own service nor forced to pay the prices they set. There's pressure on manufacturers, too - applied by right-to-repair groups - to make the process as easy as possible by tweaking product designs. But have such measures proven effective?