Right to Repair Advocate on Apple's Program: 'Still Too Many Hoops to Jump Through' to Fix iPhones

Apple's new Self Service Repair program leaves iPhone owners with too many hoops to jump through to successfully fix their own devices, right to repair advocate Nathan Proctor said in a statement today. Proctor leads the U.S. PIRG's right to repair campaign, working to pass legislation that would allow consumers to repair their own electronics.

apple repair
Proctor said that the program is encouraging because Right to Repair is "breaking through," but Apple is exerting too much control by locking parts to a specific device and requiring Apple verification during the repair process.

"We are really pleased to see public access to Apple service guides for the first time in decades. However, it's clear that Apple is doubling down on requiring each part be encoded to a specific phone, and then requiring a connection to Apple to verify the part before it gains full functionality. I don't see how locking parts to a specific device and requiring manufacturer approval to install it offers any benefit to the product owner, but it does allow Apple to maintain a lot of control over the repair process. It also means that Apple can decide to stop supporting repairs. If Apple decides that a phone is too old, they can effectively put an expiration date on any product needing repair, defeating one of the most important aspects of repair -- minimizing toxic electronic waste.

"While this is a start, there are still too many hoops to jump through to fix phones. As it's becoming clear that Apple and other manufacturers can give us the Right to Repair, we should require them to. And we should have more options. Not just one set of parts. Not just a few manufacturers. No product should be tossed in the scrap heap, wasting money and adding to our toxic electronic waste problem, because the manufacturer doesn't properly support repair."

Proctor believes that Apple and other tech companies should give consumers more options and better access to parts from different manufacturers rather than requiring parts supplied by the company itself.

Repair outlet iFixit expressed similar thoughts on the program, and said that it is a "great step" forward, but restrictive because of the part verification requirements that tie new components to serial numbers.

Apple's new ‌Self Service Repair‌ program launched this morning, and customers can currently opt to receive repair kits to fix the battery, bottom speaker, camera, display, SIM Tray, or Taptic Engine of an ‌iPhone‌ 12 or ‌iPhone‌ 13 device.

Initiating a repair requires a serial number or IMEI, and after some of the repairs are complete, customers will need to initiate System Configuration with Apple. Repairs can be done with the rental toolkit from Apple, which costs $49 to rent for a seven day period.

Apple's rental toolkit includes all of the tools necessary to get into an ‌iPhone‌, but the actual replacement components are a separate charge. Apple's toolkit is massive at a total weight of 79 pounds, and kits must be returned to a UPS location when a repair is complete.

The toolkit rental and return process, the cost of replacement parts, and the verification may be more effort than some users want to put into ‌iPhone‌ repair, so it is unclear how popular Apple's program will be with ‌iPhone‌ users. On the plus side, repairs do not have labor costs associated, and all of the parts and tools are genuine Apple components, which isn't always the case with third-party repairs from companies other than Apple.

Popular Stories

apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
top stories 2025 07 12

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, iOS 26 Beta 3, and More

Saturday July 12, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
The iOS 26 public beta release is quickly approaching, while developers have recently gotten their hands on a third round of betas that has seen Apple continue to tweak features, design, and functionality. We're also continuing to hear rumors about the iPhone 17 lineup that is now just about right around the corner, while Apple's latest big-budget film appears to be taking off, so read on...

Top Rated Comments

apparatchik Avatar
42 months ago
Well, the idea behind locking parts to a device is to discourage phone stealing, if someone steals or tries to sell a stolen iPhone it shouldn’t be worth the parts.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macative Avatar
42 months ago
Translation: It's still difficult and still costs money to fix them, so right to repair people will never be happy.

Right to repair is just a smokescreen for people who don't want to pay what Apple charges for repairs. Until they find out that buying OEM parts and renting the tools is still going to cost almost as much. Suddenly they won't want to repair them anymore.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macintosh TV Avatar
42 months ago
Person who makes money on repairs wants it easier to make money on repairs. Imagine that. I don't need their hot take.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CWallace Avatar
42 months ago
As others have mentioned on the other threads today about Apple's program, the likely reason for Apple's "control" is to prevent stolen iOS devices from being harvested for spare parts. Yes, the cynic can (rightly) say that it's just to protect Apple's cut of the spare parts revenue stream, but it also helps curb the appeal of stealing iOS devices to feed an "underground parts network" and this should hopefully suppress the risk of iOS device theft significantly increasing.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jtkiley Avatar
42 months ago
It seems telling that the new "this isn't good enough" complaint is that people can't just use whatever parts they want. It's almost as if the whole point of "right to repair" is to boost margins by substituting cheaper parts for original ones.

A lot of Apple's moves in this area (and others, e.g., the App Store) seem to revolve around one idea: if things break on a product used by hundreds of millions of people (the vast majority of whom aren't tech enthusiasts), Apple thinks they'll be blamed for it. They're probably right about that.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hasanahmad Avatar
42 months ago
"Proctor believes that Apple and other tech companies should give consumers more options and better access to parts from different manufacturers rather than requiring parts supplied by the company itself."

this statement right here proves that right to repair movement is more about cheaper lower quality parts for users than the right to repair itself. the movement was called right to repair, not right to fix it for cheap
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)