Fix your own iPhone

Apple's devices have never been easy to repair yourself.

A former member of Apple's design team once told me that when the company designs new products, it always takes repairs into account.

But to keep devices sleek and thin, they are designed for professional repairs by trained technicians with access to specialized tools -- not a DIYer with sausage fingers and a rudimentary grasp of microelectronics.

Over the years, I've fixed several iPhones myself, but I also completely botched a couple.

Today, Apple launched its DIY iPhone repair program, which provides parts, tools and instructions to consumers who want to fix their own devices.

Sometimes, the fix is easy. Swapping screens on some models is fairly straightforward.

But other repairs, like installing a new battery or trading out a broken camera, are hairy nightmares best left to professionals.

Nonetheless, Apple's DIY program is a big victory for right-to-repair advocates, who've been campaigning for just this kind of change. It will, perhaps, keep lots of iPhones out of landfills.

But perhaps the biggest change will be to force Apple's designers to take into account DIY repairs when developing new products -- and that's got to be a good thing.

-- Leander Kahney, EIC.

The iPhone Self Service Program that Apple announced last fall launched Wednesday. It provides customers with the parts and tools they need to repair their own handsets. And it marks a major shift in the company’s approach to hardware fixes.

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Tweet o' the day

One more thing ...

"And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important." -- Steve Jobs

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