Apple self-service repair program coming to Canada in 2025

Apple has shared that it is bringing its self-serve repair program to Canada in early 2025. Alongside that, the company has published a white paper explaining its views on repairability, sustainability and the changes coming to its various repair programs over the next year or so.

We’ll start with the Canadian angle. Apple launched a program in the U.S. in 2022 called ‘Self Service Repair’ which allowed anyone to buy replacement iPhone parts from Apple, as well as, rent the tools needed to install them. Since then, it’s launched in 33 countries with Canada slated to be the 34th next year. The program currently includes tools and parts for Macs. This is great news for nerdy Canadians wanting to repair their own phone or laptop.

For the rest of the people who have to get their phones repaired at a shop, there’s also a ton of good news. Most importantly Apple is going to revamp a few policies that previously made it more difficult for people to repair their devices with third-party parts. For example, under the new rules Apple will allow people to enable True Tone on third-party displays. A feature that was currently locked to Apple Genuine parts. There’s no telling how well it will work on all third-party displays, but the fact that Apple is allowing it is a step in the right direction. This will come into effect at a later point in 2024.

Further into the white paper Apple explains the ideas and limitations of its parts paring process. This process has led to backlash in the past since it prevents people from using third-party parts to repair the Face ID or Touch ID sensors. That said, it doesn’t block you from using third-party parts to replace your screen, rear camera, battery and many others.

What parts paring does allow for is a much stronger enhanced security. Later this year Apple is even launching a program that will be able to identify when a part from a stolen phone is used in a repair. This is because the parts pairing process happens automatically when you replace a part in your phone, and since each part has a unique identifying number the new phone will know if the part came from a device that was placed in Lost Mode in Find My. Having a parts paring process also allows your phone to keep track of all the parts it’s been repaired with over its lifetime.

Apple says it is working to allow the iPhone 15 series to accept used parts from other iPhone 15 models to help give users more options when it comes to repairs. Apple says it’s unlikely that parts will work across iPhone lines, but this is still a nice upgrade which should make some repairs easier for people who are far away from an Apple Store.

There are a few other interesting stats shared in the white paper;

• Hundreds of thousands of people use second hand Apple devices and used Apple devices hold value around 40 percent better than Android.
• Between 2015 and 2022 out-of-warranty repairs rates have gone down 38 percent. In-warranty-repairs have gone down 78 percent.
• Repairs for accidental damage have gone down 44 percent  since the iPhone became waterproof.
• The new iPhone chassis that allows for easier back glass replacements lowered repair costs by 60 percent.
• The report states that 88 percent of third-party batteries caught fire or exploded in at least on test. Apple’s batteries are required to pass all tests.

You can read the full white paper here. I’d say it takes around 30-40 minutes and does include some interesting knowledge around repairs and Apple’s smart phone building physiology.

Source: Apple

Image source: Apple