Apple is long known for its secrecy, and that it never trusted third-parties to do any repairs, unless iPhone owners want to risk voiding warranty.
And even for iPhones that are already out of warranty, Apple is also against third-party repairs.
That until the company updated its repair policies, to allow traditional shops to conduct repairs, but only on "most common out-of-warranty iPhone repairs," such as faulty batteries, speakers, and screens.
The iPhone maker said that it is providing these third-party vendors the same genuine parts, tools, training, repair manuals, and diagnostics as Apple‘s Authorized Service Providers (AASP). While the shops should still pay for the required materials, Apple is allowing them to set their own repair prices.
But for more labor-intensive processes, like motherboard repairs and water damage, they must still be conducted at AASP.
This move by Apple follows numerous critics that called out Apple on its restrictive hardware repair policies.
Apple‘s COO, Jeff Williams, said the company wants to make it easier for its customers to get repairs, by saying that:
"When a repair is needed, a customer should have confidence the repair is done right. We believe the safest and most reliable repair is one handled by a trained technician using genuine parts that have been properly engineered and rigorously tested."
The program is called 'Independent Repair Provider Program'. According to its web page, third-party vendors should first attain the AASP certification from the company before doing any repairs.
The process is free, as Apple is not charging any fees for independent repairs to obtain their certification.
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Apple is known for its proprietary products, and has long fought against those who want to expose its secrecy, and those that don't agree with its policies.
One of which, was Apple in vehemently lobbied against third-parties to repair its devices. While this should make it easier for users to get their devices repaired, Apple was against this.
Because the demand is high, considering that AASP repairs are expensive, the restriction forced independent shops that want to repair iPhones, to rely on buying Apple parts from the grey market to conduct unofficial repairs.
Apple that was strict to its policy, even went as far as suing Henrik Huseby, the owner of PCKompaniet, a small electronics repair shop in Norway for importing "counterfeit" iPhone parts, despite the company lost the case in 2018.
The company had also pushed a software update that displayed permanent warning if iPhone owners replaced the battery themselves or from an independent shop.
But with the repair policy loosened up, this is a step in the positive direction by Apple, because customers can finally become more confident in walking into third-party repair shops for their iPhones.
The company said that it trialed the initiative at 20 stores across North America, Europe, and Asia, before finally launching the program in the U.S. on August 29th, before expanding it to other regions.