Apple will now let you mend your iPhone at home but there's a catch

In an unexpected turn of events, Apple is making it easier to get hold of the original parts needed to repair your own iPhone. Yes, the maker of the best iPhone models is announcing “Self Service Repair” in which nimble-fingered customers take on their own repairs with access to original parts and tools.

Like us, you may well be thinking that this is a grand vision, but how many of us really fancy ourselves successfully moonlighting as an Apple phone fixer? Curiously, this is a move very unlike Apple, which sees the firm granting access to its original parts and tools for DIY repairs.

Apple is kicking things off with more common repairs, including screen repairs, battery replacements, and camera modules for both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series of handsets. Following this, Apple will add its M1 Mac devices to the Self Repair program, such as the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1, 2020).

Beginning next year, Self Service Repair will allow customers to buy genuine Apple parts and tools, as well as the instructions required to use them, when they need to fix their own phones. Customers in the US will be able to access the service from early 2022, while the UK and other countries will follow shortly after.

The program will let customers place orders for genuine replacement parts from Apple, who will then receive a credit towards their purchase if the used part is returned. Apple’s “new store will offer more than 200 individual parts and tools”. Parts, of course, are no use if you don't know how to put them together. Apple will also provide guidance manuals for these common repair procedures. 

However, make no mistake: Apple would still prefer you visit a store to book a repair instead of taking it on yourself, even if you are buying those replacement DIY parts from Apple itself. Either way: Apple always wins. And that's something to keep in the back of your mind if you are indeed plucky enough to take on a DIY home repair. Good luck!