As fans and owners of Apple products, there is always one sticking point that arises – repairs. Generally, in the past, owners of Apple products would need to go to an Apple authorised technician in order to carry out repairs. Often, this resulted in extortionate bills, and left many looking for an alternative.
In November last year, Apple introduced the Self-Service Repair program, in a bid to combat this. The idea is simple – users can purchase parts for select repairs to older devices, like the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13, and complete them at home. Apple provides an extensive repair manual for the services users can undertake themselves.
Now, this service has rolled out to a handful of European countries. Customers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK can all now make use of the Self-Service Repair program.
The parts are offered at the same price as they are to Apple's network of authorised repair specialists, and you can even reduce the price in some cases by sending back your used parts for recycling. Apple will rent the toolkit out to you for one week, giving you everything you need to complete the repair. The rental costs £54.90 for seven days.
On iPhone's, you can carry out repairs on the battery, the bottom speaker, the camera, the display, the SIM tray and the taptic engine. On MacBook models, a more extensive range of repairs can be undertaken. everything from the keys and the battery, to the logic board and the trackpad can be repaired, with lots more in between.
Which devices are eligible for Apple Self-Service Repair?
The service allows repairs on any iPhone 12 or 13 variant, plus the new iPhone SE 3rd generation. In terms of MacBook's, users can elect to repair any device with an M1 chip. The full list is below:
iPhone models
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 Mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (3rd generation)
MacBook models
- MacBook Air M1 (2020)
- MacBook Pro 13-inch M1 (2020)
- MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021)
- MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021)
It's a great service for those who feel comfortable making their own repairs, and should enable these people to extend the lifespan of their devices and save a little cash in the process. Personally, I'd enjoy having a go at any of the iPhone repairs offered here. The manual is really well detailed, including lots of safety information for what to do should anything go wrong. I'd feel comfortable enough with that level of information to undertake the job.
For the majority of people, the peace of mind of a trusted repair technician handling the job is likely to be worth more than the savings on offer, though. Unless you're really tech-savvy, you stand to risk an expensive piece of tech for a comparatively small saving.
