As announced last year, Apple now allows anyone to easily repair an iPhone at home. But everything is not so rosy. Not all Apple products are affected by this repair program. In addition, you need to equip yourself with certain tools. Finally, only the United States can benefit from it at the moment. However, below are the details to know about this new product that we are eagerly awaiting in France!
How the iPhone Repair Program Works
Which iPhones are affected?
For now, only iPhone 12 and 13 series, as well as the latest generation iPhone SE can be repaired via this new Apple repair program. But as we saw previously, the program should be extended to Macs in the coming months or years.
How to carry out a repair?
Depending on the iOS device to be repaired, you must consult the machine manual before thinking about repairing it. Apple offers repair manuals for each of the affected iPhones (previous paragraph).You can find them here, in English only for the moment.
© Apple
Inside, everything is clearly explained, step by step, with the necessary tools, to carry out different operations: disassembly of the screen, the camera, replacement of the battery, the haptic motor, replacement of a broken panel, etc.
© Apple
Once you have identified your problem in the corresponding manual and identified the tools and spare parts to recover, you must go to the siteSelfservicerepais.com. There you will find all the components offered for sale by Apple as well as the repair tools. If some of these utensils are quite expensive to purchase, $216 for the screen press for example, or $256 for the machine for removing a screen, a complete kit is available for rental, $49 for 7 days.
A program designed for the general public?
As we can see, the program seems entirely suitable for repair for a non-professional user. The latter rents the tool kit, obtains the spare parts he needs and carries out the repair following the steps in the manual. Apple also ensures that the components offered for sale are the same as those used in iPhones for sale when new. We therefore have a guarantee of reliability for the part purchased, which is not always the case on other platforms, eBay for example.
In the end, it certainly takes a little elbow grease to carry out the manipulation correctly, butthe initiative remains to be welcomed! Repairing your devices is a real ecological gesture. It's always better to try to repair a broken iPhone, rather than throwing it away and buying another one.
Just ordered parts and tools to fix my cracked iPhone 12 Pro screen 👍https://t.co/kw8t1OdDPc pic.twitter.com/QGV6UV0xd3
— Sam Kohl (@iupdate)April 27, 2022
However, the cognitive dissonance is still there: Apple allows everyone to repair their iPhones, to a certain extent (obviously not all repairs can be done at home). On the other hand, the rate of release of new iPhones is always annual, which pushes users to continually consume and renew their device, sometimes even for minor improvements. But that's another question...
In any case, we hope that Apple will not wait too long before making all of this available in France. And that the big competitors will follow suit, Samsung, Huawei, Google, etc.
Who among you could try to repair your iPhone yourself with the parts and tools provided by Apple?
Editor-in-chief for iPhon.fr. Pierre is like Indiana Jones, looking for the lost iOS trick. Also a long-time Mac user, Apple devices hold no secrets for him. Contact: pierre[a]iphon.fr.
