Apple, a company with a long history of making its devices hard to repair, has decided to support California's Right to Repair Act (Senate Bill 244).
Confirmation of that support came in the form of a letter from Apple's director of State and Local Government Affairs, Mike Foulkes, to California State Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman. "Today, Apple writes in support of SB 244, and urges members of the California legislature to pass the bill as currently drafted," Foulkes says.
Nathan Proctor, senior director of the Campaign for the Right to Repair at the public interest group PIRG, views this as "an unexpected about-face" by Apple.
"For years, Apple has been one of the most visible opponents of repair access, lobbying against giving consumers and independent repair shops what they need to fix devices, including lobbying in California," Proctor says. "However, with the Right to Repair movement gaining recognition and support—and leading to laws in other states—Apple has reversed course and has endorsed SB 244."
Kyle Wiens, iFixit’s CEO, also commented, saying "Apple's endorsement of the Right to Repair Bill in California is a watershed moment for consumer rights. It feels like the Berlin Wall of tech repair monopolies is starting to crumble, brick by brick."
As Wiens notes, Sen. Eggman has been working on this bill since 2018. It passed the California State Senate 38-0 in May and will face a final hearing in the Assembly Appropriations committee next week. Once it passes the Assembly, it goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature.
If the bill is approved, manufacturers would be required to provide tools, parts, and repair information to consumers and independent repair shops. For products costing between $50 and $99.99, those tools, parts, and documents would need to be available for three years. For products costing more than $99.99, they would need to be available for seven years.
Apple does point out in its letter that it supports the bill because it includes requirements that "protect individual users' safety and security, as well as product manufacturers' intellectual property." However, continued support from Apple relies on the following remaining true:
- The bill does not require security features to be disabled on devices.
- The focus remains on manufacturers to supply the tools, parts, and documentation to enable repairs by authorized repair channels.
- Repair providers must disclose if they are using non-genuine or used parts.
- Prospective application that allows manufacturers to build new products that comply with the proposal.
Back in 2019, an Apple lobbyist pushed California to postpone its right-to-repair bill. This was followed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak publicly backing the movement in 2021. Apple has slowly been changing its ways, though. That same year, Apple introduced the ability for consumers to fix their own phones and more recently their MacBooks. The iPhone 14 is also Apple's most repairable smartphone in years.