Apple has announced Self Service Repair is now available in eight European countries including the UK. 

The company will now provide repair manuals, parts and tools through the Apple self service repair store, in line with the right to repair laws in the UK and EU. 

Over 200 individual parts and tools will be provided at the self service repair stores, as well as manuals for repairing different Apple products. These will be the same as those available at Apple Stores and Apple Authorised Service Providers, and available at the same price. 

Customers can also send replaced parts back to Apple for refurbishment and recycling,  potentially receiving credit off their purchase for doing so. 

Tools offered will include torque drivers, repair trays, display and battery presses, and more. 

Rental kits for tools will also be offered so that customers who do not want to purchase tools for a single repair can still have access to the professional repair tools. These kits can be rented for a week for £54.90.

Apple maintains that visiting a professional repair provider is the safest and more reliable way to get a repair – the BBC also reports that self-repaired Apple products will no longer be covered under warranty. 

Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating office said that Apple “want[s] customers to have many options for safe, reliable, and secure repair. That’s why we’re excited to launch Self Service Repair in Europe, giving our customers direct access to genuine Apple parts, tools, and manuals.”

The UK’s current ‘right to repair’ law came into place in 2021, and was immediately applied to appliances like washing machines and dishwashers. 

Apple was already facing scrutiny in the US for not offering methods of self-repair and for charging high prices for their certified repair services. 

In the UK, IFixit criticised the tech giant for rejecting any hardware that did not have an official serial number on it, even if it did technically repair the phone. iPhones with unauthorised parts would eventually stop working with new updates. 

IFixit found that even swapping working Apple parts between two iPhone 14s and two iPhone 14 Pros rendered some of the parts functions disabled due to different ‘digital fingerprints.’

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Repairing products would mean buying a new iPhone part rather than replacing it with an old one due to Apple’s strict serial numbering system. 

Right to repair laws are increasingly important to avoid digital waste – just over 50% of Uk households have at least one old smartphone they no longer use. 

While part of the initiative is taking in old parts and refurbishing or recycling them, it is unclear if Apple will be selling refurbished parts back to customers who wish to repair their devices at a decreased cost. 

While Apple’s self service repair stores are a step in the right direction, the technical know-how appears to therefore not be the only thing stopping people from being able to repair their own technology. 

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