5 ms·

It's a very big deal to me. Apple needs a good smack to their financial jaw. This is ridiculously anti-consumer and it utterly pisses me off.

SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
So we going with "lock down the hardware and software" anti-consumer Apple, or "spy on everything" anti-consumer Google?
- MiroF 7y ago
  Google'a shit is more easily mitigated if you're smart and want an only slightly less great browsing experience
  - SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
    Even with an Android phone?
  - metalliqaz 7y ago
    Google's phones track you in several ways that aren't through a browser. Want to see every place you've ever visited since you got your Android phone? Google has it and you can see it in your dashboard. Google keeps location tracking a secret from you until you view your data, then once you go look at it, they start sending you monthly summaries of your travels. Any don't get me started on the facial recognition in Photos. Take a photo of someone else's kids, and it will show you a helpful popup asking if you want to send the photo to the kid's parent.
    - Semaphor 7y ago
      While it’s certainly not something I’d want my mom to do, for someone technically knowledgeable, these things are not hard to prevent.
    - Spoom 7y ago
      You can turn off Location History (and may other things) here: https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols It's not a secret and I believe you have to opt in at some point. I believe you can turn off facial recognition in Photos' settings. Disclaimer: I am a Google employee, my opinions are my own.
  - Semaphor 7y ago
    > and want an only slightly less great browsing experience You mean far superior because Firefox actually has extensions for their mobile browser?
    - MiroF 7y ago
      yeah but if you're running no-script you're not going to have as good of a browsing experience
      - noisem4ker 7y ago
        Subjective. But then there's always uBlock Origin, which blocks crap automatically without breaking stuff. Who wouldn't want that on their phone?
csydas 7y ago
I partially disagree. The simple truth is that the market for third party non-Apple replacement parts is super sketchy. In the US and other countries where it's convenient to purchase from a reliable site like ifixit, you have legitimate options. For the rest of the world, you have AliExpress. It's not a matter of finding a local reseller, you really just don't have many good options. I opted for my own 3rd party replacement via AliExpress and a few other resellers who shipped to the country I'm in, and while the price was right (about $10 or so), the battery shipped was just trash. It did not charge properly, even when I wired it up myself, and once fully charged that way, the batteries turned out to be counterfeit and had labels posted over the actual capacities. It's a mine field, and unless you have the technical background to know whether it's the phone or the battery itself causing the issue, it really starts to look like it's Apple making things bad. In my case, I have the rudimentary knowledge to know that I just was sold batteries that were not fit for purpose. Go to the most common online retailer for most US persons (Amazon) and you are inundated with shoddy 3rd party batteries, the exact same ones I got from AliExpress. How exactly are they supposed to protect the consumer here when __not__ noting that this is an unofficial battery results in the phone/user getting the impression something is wrong with the phone, not the battery. I love iFixit, but in this case, I feel maybe they're misjudging the situation. I'd totally trust a battery from them 100%, but it's not feasible to ship to my country of residence from iFixit. Many people in the world are in this situation.
- RandomTisk 7y ago
  I think the big issue here is that Apple seems unwilling to distinguish between reputable aftermarket companies and those that aren't. I can see how they're trying to protect consumers from shoddy batteries, but this goes beyond that. If someone hasn't seen it yet, there are youtube videos of people having their iphones damaged and not having their photos backed up. The Apple Geniuses and on the offical forums tell them, "No sorry, no way to get them back, because of security chip, all your data is gone." Meanwhile, 3rd party repair centers are able to make the phone fully functional again. Apple is straight up lying to their customers and will delete posts from anyone on their forum that even attempts to offer advice on someone who just lost a lot of valuable pictures/video/files. This is just more of the same. Apple needs to be more open so reputable companies like ifixit can keep doing what they're unwilling to, due to low profits or for whatever reason.
some_random 7y ago
What's anti-consumer about explicitly not reporting inaccurate information to the user? Don't get me wrong, Apple does need a fist down their throat, but over this?
- RandomTisk 7y ago
  What sets me off is if you replace your battery with a genuine apple battery. I can certainly understand if it's a 3rd party battery missing some feature the phone needs to assess battery information. This just flies in the face of the whole right to repair movement and for no other reason than pure greed.
  - wingspar 7y ago
    I view this as Apple not vouching (in the form of verifying/stating the health of a battery) unless THEY have a complete 'chain-of-custody' for the battery. Honest question: How can Apple KNOW it's a genuine apple battery, if it's not replaced from THEIR inventory? Moving a battery from one phone to another doesn't really mean anything, as the article states you can move the TI chip from one battery to another battery. Seem to me then that the underlying battery can be something other than the GENUINE battery. Amazon is replete with fraudulent SD cards pretending to be one make/capacity when in reality they're not the same quality/size as a real card.
  - rootusrootus 7y ago
    Getting a genuine battery is probably the bigger problem there. For an average joe, the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of any "genuine" battery they find being a counterfeit.

SketchySeaBeast 7y ago

So we going with "lock down the hardware and software" anti-consumer Apple, or "spy on everything" anti-consumer Google?

MiroF 7y ago
Google'a shit is more easily mitigated if you're smart and want an only slightly less great browsing experience
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  Even with an Android phone?
- metalliqaz 7y ago
  Google's phones track you in several ways that aren't through a browser. Want to see every place you've ever visited since you got your Android phone? Google has it and you can see it in your dashboard. Google keeps location tracking a secret from you until you view your data, then once you go look at it, they start sending you monthly summaries of your travels. Any don't get me started on the facial recognition in Photos. Take a photo of someone else's kids, and it will show you a helpful popup asking if you want to send the photo to the kid's parent.
  - Semaphor 7y ago
    While it’s certainly not something I’d want my mom to do, for someone technically knowledgeable, these things are not hard to prevent.
  - Spoom 7y ago
    You can turn off Location History (and may other things) here: https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols It's not a secret and I believe you have to opt in at some point. I believe you can turn off facial recognition in Photos' settings. Disclaimer: I am a Google employee, my opinions are my own.
- Semaphor 7y ago
  > and want an only slightly less great browsing experience You mean far superior because Firefox actually has extensions for their mobile browser?
  - MiroF 7y ago
    yeah but if you're running no-script you're not going to have as good of a browsing experience
    - noisem4ker 7y ago
      Subjective. But then there's always uBlock Origin, which blocks crap automatically without breaking stuff. Who wouldn't want that on their phone?

csydas 7y ago

I partially disagree. The simple truth is that the market for third party non-Apple replacement parts is super sketchy. In the US and other countries where it's convenient to purchase from a reliable site like ifixit, you have legitimate options. For the rest of the world, you have AliExpress. It's not a matter of finding a local reseller, you really just don't have many good options. I opted for my own 3rd party replacement via AliExpress and a few other resellers who shipped to the country I'm in, and while the price was right (about $10 or so), the battery shipped was just trash. It did not charge properly, even when I wired it up myself, and once fully charged that way, the batteries turned out to be counterfeit and had labels posted over the actual capacities. It's a mine field, and unless you have the technical background to know whether it's the phone or the battery itself causing the issue, it really starts to look like it's Apple making things bad. In my case, I have the rudimentary knowledge to know that I just was sold batteries that were not fit for purpose. Go to the most common online retailer for most US persons (Amazon) and you are inundated with shoddy 3rd party batteries, the exact same ones I got from AliExpress. How exactly are they supposed to protect the consumer here when __not__ noting that this is an unofficial battery results in the phone/user getting the impression something is wrong with the phone, not the battery. I love iFixit, but in this case, I feel maybe they're misjudging the situation. I'd totally trust a battery from them 100%, but it's not feasible to ship to my country of residence from iFixit. Many people in the world are in this situation.

RandomTisk 7y ago
I think the big issue here is that Apple seems unwilling to distinguish between reputable aftermarket companies and those that aren't. I can see how they're trying to protect consumers from shoddy batteries, but this goes beyond that. If someone hasn't seen it yet, there are youtube videos of people having their iphones damaged and not having their photos backed up. The Apple Geniuses and on the offical forums tell them, "No sorry, no way to get them back, because of security chip, all your data is gone." Meanwhile, 3rd party repair centers are able to make the phone fully functional again. Apple is straight up lying to their customers and will delete posts from anyone on their forum that even attempts to offer advice on someone who just lost a lot of valuable pictures/video/files. This is just more of the same. Apple needs to be more open so reputable companies like ifixit can keep doing what they're unwilling to, due to low profits or for whatever reason.

some_random 7y ago

What's anti-consumer about explicitly not reporting inaccurate information to the user? Don't get me wrong, Apple does need a fist down their throat, but over this?

RandomTisk 7y ago
What sets me off is if you replace your battery with a genuine apple battery. I can certainly understand if it's a 3rd party battery missing some feature the phone needs to assess battery information. This just flies in the face of the whole right to repair movement and for no other reason than pure greed.
- wingspar 7y ago
  I view this as Apple not vouching (in the form of verifying/stating the health of a battery) unless THEY have a complete 'chain-of-custody' for the battery. Honest question: How can Apple KNOW it's a genuine apple battery, if it's not replaced from THEIR inventory? Moving a battery from one phone to another doesn't really mean anything, as the article states you can move the TI chip from one battery to another battery. Seem to me then that the underlying battery can be something other than the GENUINE battery. Amazon is replete with fraudulent SD cards pretending to be one make/capacity when in reality they're not the same quality/size as a real card.
- rootusrootus 7y ago
  Getting a genuine battery is probably the bigger problem there. For an average joe, the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of any "genuine" battery they find being a counterfeit.