Apple launches program in Canada helping customers self-repair devices

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/08/2025 (376 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadians who want to repair their own Apple devices can now get parts, tools and manuals from the tech giant, which brought its self-service repair program to the country on Tuesday.

The program gives customers free access to manuals and diagnostic software that help troubleshoot issues with iPads, iPhones and Macs. Customers are then able to purchase any parts and rent or buy the tools necessary to make repairs.

Brian Naumann, Apple’s vice-president of AppleCare service and repair, said the program is aimed at “broadening device longevity, reducing waste, and empowering both customers and repair professionals with quality, secure repair options.” 

Canada is the 34th country to get access to the program that makes parts ranging from batteries to glass screen covers available. Tools on offer include torque drivers, adhesive cutters and screw bits. 

However, Apple websites show that the self-repairing route often has a higher upfront cost than having the company do it in-house.

A battery and screw kit for an iPhone 16 will set you back $135 plus tax, according to a website Apple has set up for customers to buy tools and parts from. Another website it runs offering estimates for repairs completed by Apple staff shows customers pay about $99 to have their batteries replaced by the company’s staff at one of its stores.

A camera and screw kit for the same iPhone costs $219 — a total that is more than the $169 Apple estimates it will charge to repair a rear camera on the phone for a customer.

In most instances, customers can receive a credit when they return their used or damaged parts to be refurbished or recycled responsibly.

For example, returning your old iPhone 16 battery gets you a $64.80 credit, knocking the repair cost down to $70.20. Sending back the parts for your camera repair will land you a $52.56 credit, making the repair cost $166.44.

“It’s not like you’re saving yourself a lot of money by doing it yourself,” said Alissa Centivany, executive director at the Canadian Repair Coalition, a non-profit advocacy organization promoting legal and regulatory reform around repairs. “You’re basically paying the same price as you would be paying to have somebody else do it for you.”

Anthony Rosborough, a law professor at Dalhousie University who co-founded the Canadian Repair Coalition, felt similarly.

In instances where repairs are possible or easier, he said customers often find doing a fix themselves is “barely worth it or not worth it.”

Replacing a digitizer — the piece that converts your fingerprint pressed on a screen to a digital format your device can read — sometimes amounts to half the cost of a new iPad, often pushing customers to replace what they own rather than repair it, Rosborough said.

While he applauded companies that make it easier for customers to do their own fixes, he said right-to-repair advocates in the U.S. have found it to have a number of deficiencies.

For example, Rosborough said the MacBook Air with an M4 chip, which was released in March 2025, still has a battery that’s glued into it, making it extremely difficult to repair. 

“As promising as that (self-repair program) may be, it doesn’t really change the fact that products like that are still being designed and produced and put on the market,” he said. 

The program also doesn’t change the durability of Apple products, said Centivany, who wants to see the company make their devices less prone to problems.

“They’re very fragile,” she said.

Rather than rely on companies like Apple to launch their own self-repair programs, Rosborough thinks legislators should introduce policies that dictate precisely how far manufacturers have to go to help customers fix products.

In addition to launching the self-repair program in Canada, Apple also started offering Tuesday repair providers who do not have a direct service relationship with Apple access to genuine Apple parts through wholesale distributors. 

The parts include displays, batteries and charging ports for iPhones and iPads and are available through MobileSentrix, a retailer based just north of Toronto in Concord, Ont.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2025.