Got an M1 Mac? Apple will now let you repair it yourself

Apple has expanded its self-service repair program to include a new range of desktop Macs, as seen by Six Colors. The move increased the number of people eligible to get their hands on and fix their Apple computers at home using official components and guides. Previously, only a handful of MacBooks qualified for the program.

The devices newly added to the program include the M1 iMac, M1 Mac mini, the Mac Studio and the Studio Display. Owners of these Macs and displays will now have access to official parts and manuals to help them fix their products without having to go to an Apple Store or a third-party repair shop.

The news follows a similar announcement from Apple in August 2022, when the company revealed that MacBooks running on the “M1 family of chips” qualified for the repair program. This included 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M1 Pro or M1 Max chips, but not older Intel MacBooks, nor those containing M2 chips.

Apple’s self-service repair program launched in April 2022 and marked a significant break in Apple’s long-standing self-repair stance. For many years, the company infuriated Right to Repair activists by refusing to allow customers to repair their own devices.

In recent times, however, Apple has changed course, not only by creating its self-service repair program, but by making its devices easier to open and fix. For example, the iPhone 14 was rated 7/10 for repairability by technology experts iFixit, the highest score an iPhone has received in years.

For now, the Mac portion of the self-service program is only available in the US. In early December 2022, Apple expanded its iPhone repair program to Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. However, customers in those countries will have to wait a little longer to be able to repair their Macs.

Whether this latest move will assuage the concerns of the Right to Repair movement is unclear, and the self-service program as a whole has received a mixed response. Advocacy groups, including iFixit and the US Public Interest Research Group, said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the program, but criticized Apple’s tight grip on the process and the “hoops” customers have to jump through.

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