Is Apple Self Service Repair any good?

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Apple Self Service Repair is WEIRD. To find out just how weird, Sam flew out to my studio and took a crack at repairing an iPhone 12 Pro using Apple's rental toolkit and instruction manuals, which are the same tools and guides the Genius Bar uses. To see if Apple's repair process and pricing makes any sense, today I'll review the over 70 points of equipment they'll send to you! It's really something...

time stamps:
0:00 intro
2:30 unboxing the tools
3:54 what is all this stuff?
5:03 tools and repair process explained
9:10 the problem with SSR

Gear:
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[mtnbkr]

I worked at a large corporation that was an AASP and my role was to do all the Apple repairs. With the 12 lineup, they significantly increased the strength of the display adhesive around the outside which is why they created the oven. With previous models, it was easy enough to just use a suction cup to peel the display up without damaging it. But I tried that once with a 12 and it shattered the screen. 12's and newer need a lot of heat but in a way to not damage the other parts in the phone. Their repair process is easy to someone who's done a few dozen phones but to a newbie, this is a horrible idea. If you've never fixed a phone, just take it to Apple.

[blackhawkthepirate]

The prices for the tools honestly seem very reasonable to me. I expected them to cost much more. They are industrial machines, and while they are almost comical in their complexity, they help guarantee a uniform repair. Probably not the best tools for someone who has never done a repair before, but I would love to have these machines, and I would definitely buy them if I wanted to start repairing iPhones as a business.

[MuddyDuck...]

Just a suggestion - but it would be great to fix screens on two identical phones - one using all the Apple gear, and the other using the Fixit equivalent. Then comparing:
a) the end result
b) time taken and
c) money spent/saved (or not)
Anyway congrats to your friend on repairing his phone 👍

[HiiixImpakt]

While this may not be practical for the typical user, there are some upsides. Those tools would be a great investment for repair shops as it would likely increase productivity. Also, you now have the option to purchase genuine apple parts (if you want them). Not to mention apple provides a service to register the replacement parts so you don't lose features. I'm not praising apple because these are problems they created but still, it's not a terrible program.

[SaltedCoffee]

These are quality tools, if you look into it getting tools like this always been expensive, this is relatively price efficient for a proffesional gear.
After getting used to this process can be done in minutes.
For repair shops this will be good

[hwg]

What I’m not seeing anybody talk about is that this ISNT a program for normal people. This is a program for small repair shops that no longer need to go through the verification program. They just massively lowered the barrier to entry for anyone who wants to start their own repair shop.

[EVREST]

I do not agree with your statement about it being overcomplicated. I worked at an Apple Certified Shop at my university and we all had to go through Apple Certification in order to be able to work on Apple stuff. However, most of the employees did not care for the official guides and tools used and often times damaged/broken parts and phones. The tools they send you are absolute units and will work like charm if you use them properly. They are precise and consistent. You only need time and effort to follow the guidelines in order to make a quality repair. No one except me bothered to touch Apple stuff in the office because how often they were breaking parts. But honestly, all you had to do was to open GSX and follow the steps they make you do. Nothing hard and complicated. It’s the people that make everything more complex than it should be.

Also, as many mentioned, after a while you get used to these tools and most repairs can be done rather quickly.

[Lol]

“Is that an iMac power cable?”
Wow, Apple can even make their own repair kits seem like Apple.

[davenz]

Apple really want this to fail don't they? All of this to combat independent repair shops. They've probably even put a price on Rossman's head.

[matthewd]

These tools are absolutely necessary if you are on iPhone repair and got a line of 50+ busted iPhone displays to repair when on shift.

[MrFruteroMedia]

I used to work at a AASP and let me tell you... when you learn to use Apple tools you get the work done soooo fast. And honestly I expected the price to be higher. Around 1k for industrial machines is cheap.

[ChristopherBurtraw]

Honestly this would make a lot more sense of the parts were more reasonably priced. As many other commenters have said, the actual price of the tooling is surprisingly decent. Even the rental cost is reasonable especially if it includes return shipping.

$200+ for a screen is obnoxious though. This is unfortunate because getting OE quality parts straight from Apple sounded awesome.

[aeonjoeyd]

Dude, a magnetizer costs $.99 cents at Home Depot, or $5 bucks on amazon for a WIHA brand one that will last you and your grandchildren’s life times, sure it’s not a commonly known tool, but it is common and cheap, so a tech savvy person would already have one or get one. even ifixit recommends one, and there’s reasons you’d mag and demag your tools as needed bc sometimes it causes issues (eg taking out an older iMac panel with a magnetized driver is maddening lol)

[fVNzO]

So, magnetizing is essentially like "aligning" all the small magnetic poles in the screwdriver (over simplification). I learned in primary school or whatever, that this is simply done by taking a magnet (a strong one wont hurt) and then just slide it down the driver towards the tip. I thought this was pretty common knowledge.

[wokecults]

The two parts that made me laugh. Luke's happy face when he said "Too many boys!". And Sam saying "If you love yourself, don't do this!" LOL

[GarrettCrespo]

I used to work at Geek Squad and this is the exact same hardware we had to use. The difference is that we had to go through multiple hours/days of training to know how to used these things. But now Apple is just selling them to people with absolutely NO training… that is a recipe for disaster!

[yinh]

I don’t get those people that says it’s too much tools for just a screen repair, well apple does just sell the parts individually, if you think that’s too much tools then just buy the replacement part and did it your way.

[HumphreyMurray]

It's actually all seems brilliant! DYI phone repairs are not worth it for a single repair, & haven't been for a long time. But this enables all the indy repairers to do professional repairs. The equipment prices are very reasonable for someone who is setting up a screen replacement business who will do multiple repairs per day. Being able to rent all the parts for $50 means a small business can rent all the equipment and test it out before buying.

Watching this video convinced me that if I'm paying somebody, I wouldn't want a repair done by someone who hasn't got this specialised tools. I got rear glass of an Android replaced at an Indy shop, and it was never the same again.

[DeeDubious]

These tools offer a level of consistency that's near-perfect while at the same time negating any user error that may damage new replacement screens and customers' phones when doing multiple repairs which can cost ALOT OF MONEY. The price is honeslty a really great investment for any repair shop to maximize their bottom line. You are not buying these tools if you are doing just a single repair.

[wallacenaaz]

I repair iphones and learned a lot of stuff on getting best results in disassembly and repairing with classic tools. These are simply put out there to make it look like you have the right to repair (fully) when its not. Also, tip for magnetizing, rub tip of screwdriver on speaker magnet a bit and voila. Thank me later.