We repaired an iPhone to see if iOS 18 mendes iPhone repair

We begined making this video with one ask in mind: “What originates iPhone repair so difficult?” And instantly the answer was: a lot.

I’ve never repaired a phone before, so I was particularly worried that the first one I was uncovering was an iPhone. This wasn’t fair becaengage I didn’t want to raze a phone with a misget but also becaengage I was somewhat recognizable with Apple’s reputation with repairability. However, I wanted to test out a novel repair feature Apple presentd recently with iOS 18 called “repair aidant” to see if it mendes a years-extfinished train of Apple’s that originates iPhones incredibly difficult to repair.

Before iOS 18, replacing components of an iPhone enjoy the disjoin or battery without going thcimpolite Apple’s repair channels would shrink the functionality of the device becaengage iPhones are programmed to recognize when parts are swapped out. This is becaengage of a arrange choice called “parts pairing.” 

Apple engages parts pairing to arrangeate serial numbers to parts inside a device and tie those parts to the logic board. This unbenevolents you can’t swap any of these parts on your own or at a repair shop without having a way to pair a novel part’s serial number to the device. If a part was swapd, some functions of the phone tied to that part would be disabled enjoy True Tone, Face ID, or Battery Health. Repair aidant is an on-device gentleware tool that’s unbenevolentt to permit self-reliant repair shops and DIY engagers to pair novel parts to their phones without going thcimpolite Apple’s procedures. This unbenevolents you’ll be able to engage genuine Apple engaged parts to originate repairs, and iOS 18.1 is telled to extfinish functionality back to devices using third-party disjoins and batteries based on a promise from Apple’s whitepaper Longevity, by Design.

I set out to uncover if iOS 18’s repair aidant mendes this presentant publish facing iPhone repair by asking Shahram Mokhtari, the guide teardown technician at iFixit, for a crash course in Apple’s history of repairability and how parts pairing has impacted that. I also achieveed out to right-to-repair finishorse and iPhone repair and microselderlyering expert Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab to walk me thcimpolite my first try at iPhone repair and test out firsthand how repair aidant labors. Jessa also showed me some of the odd laborarounds and pitdrops that come up in self-reliant iPhone repair when parts can’t be sourced from Apple.

Someskinnyg I went in skinnyking was complicated turned out to be way, way more complicated as we got into the details of the particular frustrations facing self-reliant iPhone repair shops. Watch the brimming episode on YouTube and go down the rabbit hole that is parts pairing with me. Also let us understand if you have any tech asks you want us to answer next!