Manzana announces the arrival of self-service repairs in Spain, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Customers in these countries will be able to buy the same parts and tools that Apple uses, in addition to accessing manuals and thus solving incidents with their own products. The program started in the United States in November 2021 and is now coming to Europe.
The self-service repair program will be available for all versions of the iPhone 12, including the iPhone 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, and 12 mini, the iPhone 13, which also includes the 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, and 13 mini. Plus, all Mac notebooks with an Apple chip are included.
For this, Apple offers a website with manuals in Spanish and a store where more than 200 original parts and tools are offered. As long as they are knowledgeable and confident enough in their skills and experience to carry out their own repairs on their devices. This includes parts such as screens, cameras or batteries.
How to perform a self-service repair with Apple devices
Apple recommends that you first become familiar with the technical challenge of self-service repair. For this it is important to review and study the manual of the device. Then, to analyze exactly which are the necessary components, you have to choose them in the online store that the company makes available to anyone interested.
Once the parts have been chosen and after payment, Apple is responsible for sending them to the indicated address. In addition, Apple recommends the purchase or rental of specialized tools to perform self-service repairs.
If the repair will be done only once, the best option is to rent these professional tools. The price is €59.95during the space of a week, with free shipping.
The kit can also be purchased, but it is possible to purchase tools separately. The total cost depends on the repair and the type of incident that you are trying to solve.
It is also worth clarifying that it is not possible to buy as many official pieces as you want. Each purchase is tied to an existing device, which must be identified by its serial number.
Is it easy to perform self-service repairs on Apple devices?
No. Technical knowledge is required and it is quite difficult for people without previous experience in this field. Also, in some cases, it’s more expensive to repair a device self-service—plus the cost of parts and toolkit rental—than simply taking it to an Apple Store or authorized service center.
Some other repairs do make sense to be done as a self-service at home, such as the camera or the Taptic Engine. In any case, the company insists on reviewing the device manuals in detail before making any attempt:
For the vast majority of customers who have no electronic repair experience, going to a professional repair service provider with skilled technicians using genuine Apple parts is the safest and most reliable way to repair their products.
Manzana
Part of the reason why Apple has started the program comes in part after pressure from different sectors, from governments to advocacy groups that advocate respect for the right to repair. This has achieved a regulatory change in some regions that affects all companies that produce technological hardware.
In theory, the right to repair increases the useful life of devices, especially when the brand stops providing official service. This is also how they fight for greater sustainability and more respect for the environment, by not having to renew them so frequently.
In Europe, for example, in 2020 a law was passed that guarantees the right to repair. This entered into force on March 1, 2021, under the motto of “towards a more sustainable single market for businesses and consumers”.
For its part, Apple says that “self-service repairs are part of Apple’s effort to expand access to repairs and increase the repairability of its products in the long term.”