Europeans can access Apple manuals and parts through the Self Service Repair program

Apple’s Self Service Repair program became available on Tuesday in eight European nations. In April, it went live in the United States, and the company said it would launch in other countries by the end of the year.

Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are all included in this rollout.

Customers can purchase the same repair manuals, parts, and tools that Apple uses for repairs through the program. Apple’s Self Service Repair Store stocks 200 individual tools and parts. Customers can rent repair kits for 54.90 euros with free shipping instead of purchasing the components.

Apple asserts that each component “is designed and engineered for each product and undergoes extensive testing to ensure the highest quality, safety, and reliability” and is offered to customers at the same price as authorized repair providers for Apple products.

Having said that, not all products can use the parts. You must be attempting to repair an iPhone 12 or 13 or MacBook with an M1- or M2-based chip in order to take advantage of this feature. Intel Macs and iPhone 14 models are not yet supported.

For this program, which is a step forward but has nonetheless received criticism, the launch in Europe seems almost as significant as the launch in the United States. This is due to the fact that, whereas legislators in the United States have occasionally dabbled with right-to-repair laws, those in the European Union have debated and dealt with this issue with much greater vigor.

In the past, Apple supported only repairs that were completed at an Apple Store or a repair facility that was a member of the company’s tightly controlled authorized repair providers’ network. The company argued that this was done in part to safeguard customers from poor repairs or other issues brought on by unlicensed repair technicians. It was also done to keep the business from having to pay for unapproved repairs that made it more difficult or costly to respond to future device support requests.

Having said that, it also made it possible for the business to ensure that it could deduct a portion of the cost of most device repairs.

The Self Service Repair program places fixes in the possession of canny clients, however it additionally keeps up with Apple’s cut. That’s viewed positively by some commentators; For some, it is still insufficient.