Do you have an M1 Mac? Apple will now let you repair it yourself | Jobs Vox

Apple has expanded its self-service repair program to include a new slate of desktop Macs, as spotted by Six Colors. This move has increased the number of people who can get hands-on and fix their Apple computers at home using official components and manuals. Previously, only a few MacBooks qualified for the program.

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

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

Apple’s self-service repair program launched in April 2022 and marked a significant shift in Apple’s long-standing self-repair position. For years, the company has irked Right to Repair activists by refusing to allow consumers to repair their own devices.

Recently, however, Apple has changed course, not only by creating its own self-service repair program, but also by making it easier to open and repair its devices. The iPhone 14, for example, received a 7/10 repairability rating from tech experts iFixit, the highest score an iPhone has received in years.

At the moment, the Mac portion of the self-service program is only available in the U.S. Beginning in December 2022, Apple expanded its iPhone repair program to Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. However, users in these countries will have to wait a little longer to be able to get their Macs repaired.

Whether this latest move will allay the concerns of the right-to-repair movement is unclear, and the self-service program as a whole has received mixed reviews. Advocacy groups, including iFixit and the US Public Interest Research Group, have said they are “cautiously optimistic” about the program, but have criticized Apple’s tight control over the process and customers must overcome them.

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