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Apple’s DIY equipment and controls are perfect for most of us. I know because I broke my phone while looking to use them.
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By Brian X Chen
Last month, Apple introduced its first self-healing program that allows users to access parts, equipment and commands to repair their own iPhones. It made waves when it announced it last year, as it is a turning point for the right to repair the movement, which has been urging tech corporations for more than a decade to provide resources so we can revive our electronics.
It was also music to my ears. As someone who has become a handyman during the pandemic, I was thrilled to see Apple’s new show with my iPhone.
“How can it be?” Thought.
Very difficult, it turns out.
For other people like me, who enjoy little repairing electronic devices, the self-repair setting is so intimidating that I almost collapsed. my door in hard plastic cases. The procedure then was so ruthless that I destroyed my iPhone screen in a split second with an irreversible error.
The crisis spread even though I called an expert, Shakeel Taiyab, an independent phone repair technician in South San Francisco, for help. After reading Apple’s manuals and seeing the team with me, Mr. Taiyab said he applauded Apple for treating responsible iPhone owners, however, that it had a harsh verdict.
“They put the one in check,” he said.
The self-healing program, I concluded, is not practical for most people. For starters, the fee for renting the device and buying parts from Apple ($96 to upgrade the battery on my iPhone 12) is higher than the $69 to $69 an Apple store would charge. to do homework. And as my experience shows, the procedure is complicated even with Apple’s tools.
Apple discourages most people from seeking self-healing. “For the vast majority of users, the safest and most reliable solution is done through an Apple Store” and thousands of legal repair centers, the company said in a white paper last month. Repairing complex, highly incorporated and miniaturized fashion electronics is not easy. “
This raises the question of why Apple implemented the self-healing program in the first place. It’s probably no coincidence that the move made after the Federal Trade Commission said last year it would apply anti-tech measures that made it harder to fix their electronics.
And now, my story of defeat.
I visited Apple’s self-healing program website, selfservicefix. com. There I discovered the maintenance manual of the iPhone 12 that I was looking to repair and ordered the tools. (Lately, Apple’s program includes iPhone manuals released in the past two years. )
I read the commands on my iPhone 12, which worked fine but probably needed to be replaced by a new battery. The steps are quite simple: use a device to melt the glue and remove the screen from the phone, remove the screws and battery, use some other device to install the new battery, then reassemble it and use a third device to squeeze the phone.
I uploaded the automatic repair program to my credit card. It included a rent payment of $49 for the tool kit, the battery of $69, $2 for the glue and 15 cents for some screws, as well as a $1210 withholding for the rental of the repair machines. After seven days, those devices will be returned to Apple with a prepaid label, and the old battery can also be exchanged for $24 credits.
Since I don’t like to repair phones, I practiced. I ordered a $45 kit from iFixit, a site that posts commands and sells DIY tools to repair devices, so I could upgrade my four-year-old wife’s iPhone battery first. XS.
The iFixit kit came with tweezers, a screwdriver, plastic selections, and a suction cup to remove the screen.
The procedure of opening my wife’s iPhone, replacing the battery, and reassembling the device took about five hours for two days. I encountered some problems: the iPhone wouldn’t turn on, which made me think I had destroyed something. It turned out that a small internal connector of the teletelephone came loose. When I squeezed harder with my fingertip, the telephone turned on and everything went back to normal.
I was in a position for the genuine thing, I thought.
A few days later, a UPS truck stopped in front of my entrance. When the delivery man brought two bulky boxes to my door, he asked what was inside.
“It’s a device that allows other people to fix their own iPhones,” I said.
The unbeliever.
While the iFixit repair kit is lightweight, Apple’s self-healing program rents the same machines that the company’s technicians use in Apple stores. It’s a very resilient piece of equipment, and when I unpacked it, I had a bad feeling. The 3 machines, all angular and commercial: it seemed like a serious business. I had never used like them before.
So I called Mr. Taiyab, who had repaired my family’s gadgets in the past, and told him my riddle. He invited me to check the machines on a damaged spare phone in his office.
So I went to Mr. Taiyab’s house in South San Francisco with the bulky Apple machines. There he provided me with a damaged iPhone 12 for training.
Then we went through the steps together. We removed the two external screws on the back of the damaged iPhone 12 that help keep the screen in place. We place the phone in a frame that we insert into the first device. The device heated the phone to melt the glue. , and a suction cup opened the screen. After that, we used a plastic cutter to cut the adhesive and remove the screen.
From there, we follow the commands to disconnect the wires and remove the screws and glue strips to remove the old battery. We went through this in an instant and pumped.
Now it’s time to follow the same steps with my existing iPhone 12. Excitedly, I loaded it into the frame and inserted it into the device to melt the glue and start cutting the screen.
Mr. Taiyab arrested me without delay. ” Have you gotten rid of the safety screws? Asked.
“Oh, shoot, no,” I said. We took a few steps back to remove the two small screws from the back of the phone and start over. The screen looked normal.
We repeat the steps for the battery. After installing the spare battery, we use a curling iron to apply uniform voltage to the battery and stick it in place.
Then, we used a third device, a battery-powered press, to weigh the phone while heating its glue to create a sealed seal.
The moment of truth has finally arrived. We plug in the phone and turn it on. White lines flashed on the screen. She was shattered. Since we hadn’t removed the two protection screws before, the screen stayed in place while I tried to open it, causing damage.
Fortunately, Mr. Taiyab had many spare Apple screens. Within minutes, he disassembled the phone again, replaced the screen, and closed it. I looked shyly.
To my surprise, the last steps were the most infuriating. When we turned the phone back on, a cautionary message said that the battery and display had been replaced with unknown components. It was annoying because the battery was an original component ordered from Apple. The screen is also original, as it came from some other iPhone.
Still, to complete the solution, Apple asks anyone using the automatic recovery program to run a “system setup,” which involves calling a remote visitor representative to verify the part’s serial number and pairing it with the phone. authenticated fix, which causes the caution message to disappear.
Apple’s self-healing directed me to an online app to chat with a representative. There, an employee named Carlos asked me to connect the phone and hold down 3 buttons to switch to diagnostic mode.
I have tried this step several times. Nothing happened.
Carlos pasted the same instruction with the buttons. I tried again. Then again it wasn’t until I looked at an online forum where someone had posted another step that I was able to start diagnostic mode.
More than 30 minutes later, we were done. The caution message about the unknown battery is gone.
Apple said it appreciates the feedback as the self-healing program continues to evolve. So here’s mine. Like any new technological device, this program is an incipient product with its drawbacks and the possibility of being much better.
Some benefits will result in greater and more economical maintenance for everyone. As of now, all independent repairers, in addition to Mr. Taiyab, have Apple’s tools. (He said he would probably buy Apple’s press to seal the iPhones. )And now everyone can read the official commands on how to carry out maintenance, which takes the guesswork out of it.
But the total experience was far from simple, and even for those who try, Apple is trying too hard by not easily approving its repairs. If we install Apple parts, such as a working screen extracted from some other iPhone, they deserve paints – period.
To this day, I still get a warning about an unknown component on my iPhone because the new screen is from M. Taiyab, not Apple. Just what I needed to fix that experience.
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