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Apple started offering home repair kits for iPhone this year, but they’re super difficult to use: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/technology/personaltech/app

• dijit 4y ago
  > but they’re super difficult to use I can't read the link as it's paywalled: but my understanding of the Apple tools is that they're hilariously over-engineered; not that they're hard to use.
  • Bud 4y ago
    "hilariously over-engineered" read: "not crap"
    • cududa 4y ago
      I mean I can take pictures underwater with a freakin phone. I guess you could call that "over engineering" but I also understand that means maintaining that type of device integrity would require some heavy lifting to service the device after it's been sealed up.
      • spookthesunset 4y ago
        > I also understand that means maintaining that type of device integrity would require some heavy lifting to service the device after it's been sealed up. Wel;l... it did require heavy lifting but according to this article that is no longer the case! Sure you'll still need a bunch of specialized tools for handling super small components but it is miles ahead of what it once was. It took me a while to come around to the idea of "right to repair" because I had the same concerns many people here have. To make it repairable would mean to sacrifice a bunch of stuff like waterproofing and weight. But I guess with this new iphone it's "game on" for repairability. Which is awesome.
  • Spivak 4y ago
    They just seem engineered to a different market, their own repair techs. Bulky doesn’t matter, expensive doesn’t matter. Being absolutely completely foolproof when used by non-expert techs with a few weeks training and having as little risk of damaging the device at possible does matter.
    • adhesive_wombat 4y ago
      Also they need to work day in, day out, for years, not just a couple of times. Which can sometimes end up in James Webbification, as the more expensive and robust it gets, the more likely it's the only one and the higher the stakes if it breaks. So you make it more over-engineered and expensive.
    • threeseed 4y ago
      > They just seem engineered to a different market, their own repair techs I would hope and expect that third party repair techs (and to a slightly lesser extent ordinary people) would be repairing devices with the same level of quality as Apple's techs.
  • kitsunesoba 4y ago
    The tools are made to guarantee a factory-quality repair, complete with stock levels of part fit and water resistance, regardless of the skill level of who’s using it. That can’t really be done in a way that’s not overengineered and bulky.
    • kube-system 4y ago
      I’d argue that they’re not over engineered at all. They’re engineered for a particular purpose. Which is: Apple doing warranty repair. I love how people used to complain that Apple didn’t make their tools available, and now people complain that their tools are too nice. Well duh, did people think that Apple was using hairdryers and guitar picks for warranty work?
      • potatolicious 4y ago
        Yeah I really wonder what people's expectations are here. "First step by putting a hair dryer to the front face of the phone and turning it up to max. We don't really know what temperature that will be, but hopefully it's enough to loosen the adhesive. Now improvise a tool for lifting the screen off, hopefully you won't cut the ribbon cables underneath while doing that - maybe a guitar pick? Ok then, when reassembling the device try to get the new screen on as evenly as possible. Who knows if you've done it right - but if you did it wrong your phone will definitely bork if you get it wet!" Like, you can still do all of the above. There's nothing preventing you from doing a phone repair cheaply (and poorly) - but to expect a company to support that officially seems nuts? It turns out repairing modern consumer electronics at a high quality bar is expensive! And it's equipment intensive!
        • smoldesu 4y ago
          The actual critics are mostly mad at the way Apple prevents them from using legal donor boards to make less-wasteful repairs. Apple heard this, and their response is an 80-lb rent-able flight-case of random equipment. Admittedly, it made for some great free PR on YouTube. As for addressing the concerns of the right-to-repair community... they would have been better off just uploading board schematics for the M1 Air and calling it a day. Most repair shops would probably feel less offended if they did.
• vishnugupta 4y ago
  > but they’re super difficult to use That dude is looking for problem when there's none. He starts off the article with this > For people like me who have little experience repairing electronics, the self-repair setup was so intimidating that I nearly wussed out. Did he expect Ikea like instruction manual to repair an advanced consumer electronic gadgets? That kit is clearly meant for professional (or at the very least hobbyists) repairers who clearly have experience, and know what they are doing. To be fair he does call out Apple's recommendation and that this repair kit is better used by experts. I also feel that faced with increased regulation and public scrutiny Apple threw the entire kitchen sink as a cruel joke. I mean that 75pound repair equipment requiring $1200 hold on a card should is a big signal to retail users "do not even dream of attempting repair"
  • wmeredith 4y ago
    I also found the tone of that article annoying. The author is talking about repairing one of the–if not the– most advanced things ever mass-assembled. No shit, it's not easy.
    • sudosysgen 4y ago
      It's not as hard as you think it is. Apple is indeed massively over complicating the process.
      • aardvarkr 4y ago
        They gave him three machines to use for replacing his battery. 1. A machine to melt the glue holding the battery in place 2. A machine to apply even pressure to the new battery to ensure it’s properly adhered 3. A machine to apply heat and even pressure to the entire phone to properly give the phone with a watertight seal. That seems like exactly what I’d expect has to happen to repair the phone back to original spec. I’m actually impressed that Apple gives this out to consumers to use.
        • danielheath 4y ago
• InTheArena 4y ago
  If it were - wouldn't apple be trumpeting these changes?
• _V_ 4y ago
  Last time I checked it was not like that - those kits are actually quite easy to use. The catch is that in order to buy it, you need to give them SN of the device in advance. Meaning you cannot have stock and thus you cannot offer any reasonably fast repair service. And even after that you have to contact their support in order to "pair" the newly installed parts to that device. Most of the people I know use 3rd party repair shop because they can change battery/screen in 1-2 hours and they will not wipe your data. Apple takes 2 weeks and wipes your phone.
  • anotherboffin 4y ago
    Apple took 30 minutes when last I had them replace a battery…
    • _V_ 4y ago
      Congrats. My battery change took them 2 weeks, had to send it. Came back wiped. I guess it depends on where you are (Central Europe for me)
      • scarface74 4y ago
        You mean you sent your phone in without wiping it in the first place? I always wipe my phone before handing it to Apple.
        • _V_ 4y ago
          Yeah, I made a mental shortcut when writing that - sorry :-) Of course I wiped it beforehand - they told me that they will have to send it somewhere and it would get wiped regardless.
• joshspankit 4y ago
  I suspect that the driving force behind Apple’s new desire to be repairable is legislative. IMO: Not profit of the “self-service” repairs, nor the improvement to the bottom line when they refurbish their own devices. Not some future goal of selling people the parts and/or tools. Not the goal of being ecologically sustainable (though IMO they do very well at this). I think they are working very hard to steer the Right to Repair ship so that it avoids successfully docking. If Right to Repair gets everything that it could in the interests of the public, Apple will lose a lot of things. They will lose exclusivity contracts that lock in the manufacturers (it will be almost impossible to stop 3rd party duplicates of parts). They will lose a portion of the income from users who would would repair instead of upgrading. They will lose the illusion of security that they enjoy currently (unrestricted repair communities uncover every tiny detail, especially those ones that are security holes). They will lose the ability to lock people in to the Apple cloud (Jailbreaking will be inevitably easier). And they might even lose the pristine brand image they have built. If Apple continued on the path of unrepairable iPhones, at some point they would be one of the examples that got Right to Repair signed in to law. However, they might be banking on the idea of saying “we’re making steps” for long enough that legislators will have space to stand down and the public will lose momentum. Then they can go full-throttle on control.
  • surewe 4y ago
    I don't see how software security relates to being able to repair hardware -- third party logic boards would most likely... not exist, for example.
    • joshspankit 4y ago
      I agree but Apple does not. If Right to Repair gets, as I say; “everything that it could in the interests of the public”, it would mean that software would not be able to restrict hardware. No vendor-controlled unique IDs that need to be whitelisted in order to connect between chips or boards, no intrusive warnings about 3rd party parts that are installed, no undocumented protocols for basic functionality, and so-on. And if they say they have to because of security that claim would be heavily scrutinized. Way back in the day Microsoft tied IE in to Windows and leveraged it’s OS dominance to try to win the browser wars. Browsers, like hardware, are based on vendor-agnostic technologies and so MS felt it had to play dirty since there was no way for them to win a war where browsers are commodities. Back then the government stepped in as they recognized the fact that browsers are commodities and that paved the way for the majority of the web standards we rely on today. Who knows what sort of fragmented web we would have if MS had been allowed to lock users in with their proprietary “improvements”. We may be at the same crossroads here with Right to Repair.
• oneplane 4y ago
  I don't think those really relate to each other that way. The lead time and design time for a complex device, especially one with such high vertical integration is much longer than the whole debate on repairs has gone public. Switching a product from a front-to-back stack to a mid frame design with nearly no interchangeable structures between those designs takes multiple years.
• sfvegandude 4y ago
  Apple started offering home repair kits for iPhone this year, but they’re super difficult to use: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/technology/personaltech/a https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/technology/personaltech/a... There’s speculation that offering the kits is an attempt to head off right-to-repair legislation. This comment, and those like it, are proof to me that there’s a large contingent of folks who don’t actually care about the repairability of iPhones, they just want to take shots at BigCos. So it’s not enough that Apple is doing what y’all asked for. It has to be for the right reasons, too. Anything less than ideological purity —- to be defined and re-defined endlessly —- no sale. That’s a fine take in itself, but I’d wish we could dispense with the disingenuousness once and for all.
  • smoldesu 4y ago
    FWIW, Apple didn't actually address any of the problems their real critics (eg. third-party repair shops) espoused. The redesign in the linked article will only benefit Apple until they walk-back their asinine hardware-DRM (and ostensibly, their grip on OEM components).
    • sfvegandude 4y ago
      What is the negative impact to users of the hardware DRM? I am only familiar with a dialogue box that warns users that a specific part might not be authentic. I have also read about issues with those parts not performing correctly with software updates. Are there instances of DRM’d hardware being totally unsupported, or just not available at all? If so, what parts?
      • _V_ 4y ago
        For example swapped LCD will disable truetone and in iPhone 14 reportedly auto brightness. Battery will lock out "battery health". Rear facing camera will glitch out (I think it will not do video and it will reduce framerate dramatically) and front camera will not work correctly at all. All accompanied with constant nagging about non-genuine parts - regardless if you use parts from another iPhone (100% genuine).
• eek2121 4y ago
  Do you honestly think Apple does not want you to repair your own device? They would absolutely sh*t kittens to have you buy replacement parts from them! The problem is that smartphones are super complex devices, able to withstand dust, rain, drops, and more. In order to do that, they have complex internals, which AMONG OTHER THINGS (like heat dissipation and RF I/O) are designed to support mentioned goals. Current gen iPhones can be dropped onto concrete at arms-length and not suffer from a broken screen or back. Think about that for a moment. Could you build a smartphone that could do that, and have amazing battery life along with desktop performance? Note that I'm absolutely not affiliated with Apple, or a shareholder. I feel like some folks downplay the amount of engineering that goes into the iPhone, and to a somewhat lesser extent, ANY mobile device. For many of us, these things live in our pockets and our hands. They are expected to have many hours of screen time, play games, let us read books, etc. They aren't simple devices, especially the current gen iPhones Apple has been pushing out.
  • drekipus 4y ago
    > I feel like some folks downplay the amount of engineering that goes into the iPhone, There's a huge amount of engineering that goes into making cars as well, but independent mechanic can and do thankfully exist. The automobile market is going a similar direction to Apple and it's considered a bad thing by many. Apple do not want to sell you spare parts if they can sell you a new yearly model phone instead. Imagine how awful it would be if you're forced to buy a new car when the propriety tires get a puncture and it's a discontinued model. "Well this is already happens, besides I never lifted a finger to fix anything in my life" - yes, but it's not a good thing to make this the status quo. People need to have the freedom to get cheaper parts and / or better services from other places. Otherwise we're all chained to Apple and not lifting our own fingers. I don't know why this doesn't make sense to people, except for cases where people believe the hype of little old ladies blowing themselves up because they tried to replace batteries.
    • kaba0 4y ago
      > independent mechanic can and do thankfully exist. Yet they can’t and are not expected to do anything when the engine itself fails, which can more realistically be compared to a mobile phone in terms of (useful) miniaturization, increase of precision, etc. This is the price of the orders of magnitude more efficient operation compared to the first engines, increased complexity. It’s a tradeoff (and I would say it is worth it in both cases).