Apple’s Self-Service Repair Comes to iPad
Credit: Apple
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A little over three years ago, Apple introduced a self-service repair program that allowed people to fix their own devices. The program offered genuine parts, repair manuals, and even renting the necessary tools — everything you needed to conduct a do-it-yourself repair for a broken iPhone or Mac.
While Apple has expanded its repair program each year to support the latest devices, including the new M4 Macs and iPhone 16 models, it’s been limited to those two product families, plus the Apple Studio Display and Beats headphones. Most significantly, that’s left iPad users out in the cold until now.
Apple is changing that today by expanding its repair program to embrace the iPad family — at least the modern one.
“At Apple, our goal is to create the world’s greatest products that last as long as possible,” said Brian Naumann, Apple’s vice president of AppleCare. “With today’s announcement, we’re excited to expand our repair services to more customers, enabling them to further extend the life of their products — all without compromising safety, security, or privacy.”
The expanded repair program will allow iPad owners to replace components such as displays, batteries, cameras, and external charging ports.
At the same time as the product support expansion, Apple says Self Service Repair will come to Canada “later this summer,” making it the 34th country where the program is available.
Much like Apple’s iPhone and Mac repair programs when they first launched, Self Service Repair for iPad is limited to 2024 and later iPad models. Specifically, the Pad Air (M2 and later), iPad Pro (M4), iPad mini (A17 Pro), and iPad (A16). To be fair, Apple didn’t release any new iPads in 2023, so anything else is pushing three years old.
Still, that’s the point at which you’d imagine more people would find it necessary to repair their devices. A three- or four-year-old iPad is much more likely to need a battery replacement than a brand-new M3 iPad Air. Sadly, if the Mac and iPhone programs are anything to go by, the 2024 models are likely the oldest that will ever be supported.
When the Self Service Repair program launched in 2022, it started with the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13. At the time, Apple announced that M1 Macs would be added to the program but said nothing about when the iPad would come or if older Intel-based Macs would be included. Three years later, it’s safe to assume they won’t be. Since then, the programs have repeatedly been extended to newer devices but never anything older.
As with the iPhone and Mac programs, DIYers will be able to order the genuine Apple parts and tools needed to perform their own repairs. Apple hasn’t released any pricing or even repair manuals yet — it says those will all be available starting tomorrow — but if it’s anything like the iPhone program, you probably won’t save much by the time you pay for the rental of the specialized tools that are almost certainly necessary to crack open Apple’s ultra-thin tablets like the M4 iPad Pro.
For example, even Apple’s most affordable iPhone 16e will set you back $229 if you need to get a cracked screen replaced at an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP). However, that’s the same price Apple charges to purchase a replacement screen, but you’ll need to pay another $49 to rent the necessary tool kit and possibly other parts like an $0.08 security screw and a broken display film for $6.75, which is recommended if you’re dealing with cracked glass. Apple will give you a credit of $11.45 after you return the old display, which makes the net cost of a DIY repair $273.38 — almost $45 more than taking it into an Apple Store.
You might be able to break even if you have several cracked iPhone 16e screens to replace, as you can use the same tool kit for all of them. However, these tool kits are specific to each category of Apple device, so if you’re fixing an iPhone 16e and an iPhone 16, you’ll need to rent two different tool kits at $49 each.
Apple will likely follow a similar pricing model with the iPad program, with distinct tool kits you’ll need to rent separately for each iPad model, and parts prices equivalent to in-store repairs. In case it’s not obvious by now, Apple really doesn’t want you trying to repair your own device; right-to-repair legislation has forced its hand in many places, but none of those laws say that Apple has to make these programs more affordable than its own in-house services.
