Is iOS 18 Pro- Or Anti-Repair? It's Complicated.
Is iOS 18 Pro- Or Anti-Repair? It's Complicated.
Apple's latest iOS update includes a "Repair Assistant" but leans in on parts pairing - that could be a recipe for disaster. Also: if Sonos fails. Millions of owners' devices could get bricked.
Apple today is rolling out the latest version of its iOS operating system: iOS 18, a major re-do of the company’s widely used mobile OS that’s being greeted as a “win” for the right to repair movement. But is it? The answer is complicated.
Reports about the new version of iOS have played up its heavy use of artificial intelligence (AI), with writing support and image generation features powered by Apple’s “Apple Intelligence” generative AI, as MacRumors notes. But Support for owner repairs is also “feature” of iOS 18, coming in the form of the Repair Assistant: a first-of-its kind tool that helps facilitate the replacement of Apple original parts, along with other common mobile device repairs and calibration.
Apple first announced the feature last year, saying that it was part of their effort to support repair “with used Apple parts that won’t compromise users’ safety, security, or privacy.”
iOS Repair Assistant: making repairs work better
The result is a ‘wizard’ like assistant that helps manage “parts pairing” - the process of confirming whether or not a repair part is a genuine Apple part- and gathering information about the part. The Repair Assistant streamlines that parts pairing process, removing the necessity for customers and service providers to contact Apple and provide information such as the device’s serial number to get replacement parts to work with a damaged device, or order parts from the company’s Self Service Repair Store.
Practically, the feature means that iPhone owners can more easily replace and calibrate broken parts like screens, batteries and even biometric sensors like Face ID and Touch ID with new or used Apple parts, and without needing assistance from Apple’s authorized repair providers. For example, Repair Assistant will make sure a replacement screen can access Apple’s True Tone, auto brightness and other features, or link a replacement battery with the iOS Battery Health monitor.
“Used genuine Apple parts will now benefit from the full functionality and security afforded by the original factory calibration, just like new genuine Apple parts,” Apple said in April.
Previously, such features were often disabled on devices where the replacement part was not “paired.” Repair advocates and independent repair providers like Alexandre Isaac of France’s Repair Academy were quick to note that degrading the device by disabling such features was a not-so-subtle form of punishment intended to dissuade customers from using non-authorized repair providers or non-Apple parts.
Repair Assistant smooths over some of those bumps: making it easier to configure replacement parts installed prior to iOS 18's release, and providing detailed repair histories in its Parts and Service history (located within iOS’s Settings) that will show owners any repairs conducted on the device, the parts used, and so on.
Parts pairing “noise” could hamper repairs
So Repair Assistant is good for repair, right? Not so fast.
By streamlining and simplifying common repairs and removing Apple-imposed friction (like the loss of key features around non-paired parts), Repair Assistant should foster device repairs and longer lives for iOS devices. That’s good for consumers and the planet. However, with Repair Assistant, Apple is leaning even harder into Apple’s reliance on part serialization (aka parts pairing): a brittle and error prone system that may well stymie even more repairs than it facilitates.
For example, in announcing Repair Assistant back in April, Apple declared that the company would “extend its popular Activation Lock feature to iPhone parts in order to deter stolen iPhones from being disassembled for parts.” In other words, declaring an iOS device lost or stolen will now imprint any part associated with that device.
Apple claims that the theft-prevention feature was “requested by customers and law enforcement officials,” and is “designed to limit iPhone theft by blocking a lost or stolen iPhone from being reactivated.” If a device detects that a supported part introduced to it as part of a repair “was obtained from another device with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration capabilities for that part will be restricted,” Apple said.
Repair Assistant: a boon or bomb for repairers?
The question is ‘how will this new restriction on parts re-use play out, practically?’
Repair experts worry that previously re-usable parts from iOS devices that were legitimately donated or re-sold, but where the prior owner forgot to disable the activation lock will now be treated as “stolen” devices and rendered useless - a new (and massive) wrinkle in an already reality for refurbishers and repairers.
John Bumstead of RoadKill Inc., an Apple refurbisher, said that the impact could be devastating for small repair and refurbishing shops like his.
Locking individual parts from locked devices and preventing them from being paired “means you cannot use an Activation Locked device as a parts machine, as every single part within the device has been condemned to death. Activation Lock and parts pairing are now working together for the greater evil. And Apple is spinning this as a positive because they are allowing the pairing of some unlocked used parts (of which there are very few),” Bumstead wrote on X.
The Wireless Alliance estimates that 42% of devices they receive are activation locked. “What does this ‘right to repair’ movement actually accomplish with phones and computers,” The Alliance wrote via its X account on September 12th.
“By failing to restrict Apple from implementing parts pairing technology, we are allowing apple to have a black box that we will never comprehend the inner workings of,” Bumstead told Fight to Repair News. The practical consequences of that could be devastating for small, independent repairers.
“Imagine needing to buy a screen for a customers device, and every screen you buy has only a 60% chance of actually pairing. Or a refurbisher that needs 100 screens for 100 viable computers but the 100 parts laptops you have are all locked and useless.
“No independent repair shop, refurbisher, or seller of parts can exist when any given device or part is a question mark that may or may not explode in their face,” Bumstead wrote. “No business can survive that.”
True, owners can simply click past the Repair Assistant warnings and continue using the phone - albeit without the features and calibration that Repair Assistant is intended to provide.
The end result may be similar to what repair advocates like Bumstead have warned about: with millions of laptops, tablets and other perfectly functional devices condemned to landfills because anti-theft features that were not properly disabled prevent them from being refurbished.
Time will tell whether the Repair Assistant is a net positive for the planet - or simply hastens the journey of more iOS devices and parts to overburdened landfills.
Other News
Sonos is failing. Millions of devices could get bricked.
An article over at ZDNet highlights the fast deteriorating conditions at smart speaker maker Sonos, which has a user base of 15.3 million households, but has seen sales slow dramatically since 2020, recently conducted massive lay-offs and is facing fallout from a flawed update of its mobile app. “With layoffs and growing customer dissatisfaction, the possibility of Sonos going under without a buyer is becoming increasingly real. Remember Aether Cone and Rdio? Something similar could happen with Sonos but on a far grander scale. This kind of failure would be catastrophic for millions of Sonos users worldwide, potentially leaving high-end speakers and audio systems as expensive paperweights, bricked by the sudden loss of cloud services and software updates,” Jason Perlow writes. One solution? The industry needs to shift toward an open-source streaming audio and wireless multi-room hi-fi operating system -like AudioPiLe. That way manufacturers can focus on hardware innovation while ensuring that all devices work together seamlessly in consumers' homes. Anyone?
Arizona city seeks limits on DIY car repair
In an effort to combat “blight,” Gilbert, Arizona, has introduced stricter regulations on keeping inoperable vehicles on private property. The new rule limits homeowners to one non-operational car, which must be hidden from view by an opaque fence or wall. While exceptions allow for brief repairs, vehicles cannot remain visible for more than 15 days without action. The changes aim to address blight, but concerns have arisen regarding impact on car enthusiasts, small businesses, and DIY projects. Local HOAs can set stricter or more lenient rules.
Smart-mask customer alarmed by exorbitant costs of spare parts
A Reddit user discovered a swollen lithium-ion battery in their Bluetooth sleep mask, highlighting concerns about electronic waste and planned obsolescence. The high cost of battery replacement compared to buying a new mask led to frustrations, emphasizing how consumer electronics often encourage replacements instead of repairs. This contributes to the growing issue of e-waste, which has significant environmental impacts. The discussion reflects broader challenges of sustainability in electronics, with some manufacturers beginning to adopt more eco-friendly practices.
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Monied backers of presidential candidate Kamala Harris are pushing her to ditch controversial Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, but one key constituency seems to support what she and the FTC are doing: farmers. In an interview over at Aginfo.net, Montana Farmers Union President Walter Schweitzer said that FTC Chair Khan is in farmers’ corner when it comes to important issues like right to repair, not to mention FTC support addressing consolidation in the agriculture industry.
"She's making some real headway taking on the corporate monopolies and their anti-competitive practices, and she gets the problems that we have with right to repair," said Schweitzer. "No doubt about it. She understands the issue inside and out clearly is drafting some rules that's going to have a real impact on that issue."
Small business owner/TikToker rails at printer’s ‘planned obsolescence’
Your three year old ink jet printer has suddenly stopped working…a bug or a feature? That’s a question that artist Nicole Brennan (@nicolebrennan.draws) shared via her TikTok account, expressing exasperation with a printer she bought in 2020 that's already showing signs of failure.
In the video, Brennan expresses her dismay: "The planned obsolescence of everything is going to make me scream. It is not conducive to a functioning society," TheCoolDown reports.
Planned obsolescence — the practice of designing products with a limited lifespan — leads to increased waste, higher costs for consumers, and a greater strain on our planet's resources.
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