I Tried Apple’s Self-Repair Program With My iPhone. Disaster Ensued. (original) (raw)

Personal Tech|I Tried Apple’s Self-Repair Program With My iPhone. Disaster Ensued.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/technology/personaltech/apple-repair-program-iphone.html

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Apple’s do-it-yourself tools and instructions are far from ideal for most of us. I know this because I broke my phone trying to use them.

Shakeel Taiyab, an independent repair technician, replacing the battery on our columnist’s iPhone 12 using Apple’s certified repair equipment.Credit...Ulysses Ortega for The New York Times

May 25, 2022

Apple last month released its first self-repair program that gives people access to the parts, tools and instructions to fix our own iPhones. It made waves when it was announced last year because it was a turning point for the right-to-repair movement, which has urged tech companies for more than a decade to provide resources so we can revive our electronics.

It was also music to my ears. As someone who became a do-it-yourselfer during the pandemic, I was excited to try Apple’s new program with my iPhone.

“How hard can it be?” I thought.

Very hard, it turns out.

For people like me who have little experience repairing electronics, the self-repair setup was so intimidating that I nearly wussed out. It involved first placing a $1,210 hold on my credit card to rent 75 pounds of repair equipment, which arrived at my door in hard plastic cases. The process was then so unforgiving that I destroyed my iPhone screen in a split second with an irreversible error.

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Apple’s repair machines came in two pelican cases.Credit...Ulysses Ortega for The New York Times

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Our columnist working with Mr. Taiyab at his repair shop in South San Francisco.Credit...Ulysses Ortega for The New York Times

The catastrophe unfolded even though I called in an expert, Shakeel Taiyab, an independent phone repair technician in South San Francisco, for help. After reading Apple’s manuals and trying the tools with me, Mr. Taiyab said he applauded Apple for trying to empower iPhone owners but had a harsh verdict.

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