Right to Repair advocates aren't sold on Apple's Self Service Repair program

Right to repair advocates and organizations say that the launch of Apple's new Self Service Repair program is a great step, but added that there are still "too many hoops to jump through."

Nathan Proctor, the right to repair campaign director of the U.S. Public Research Interest Research Group, said that the organization is "really pleased to see" the new program. The U.S. PIRG previously gave Apple an "F" score for its difficult product repairs.

The U.S. PIRG director added that Apple's program is a sign that Right to Repair its "breaking through." However, he said that the iPhone maker is still exerting too much control over the process.

"While this is a start, there are still too many hoops to jump through to fix phones. As it's becoming clear that Apple and other manufacturers can give us the Right to Repair, we should require them to," Proctor said. "And we should have more options. Not just one set of parts. Not just a few manufacturers. No product should be tossed in the scrap heap, wasting money and adding to our toxic electronic waste problem, because the manufacturer doesn't properly support repair."

Similarly on Wednesday, the repair experts at iFixit praised Apple's program as a good first step, stating that "anything that enables more people to do repairs is great news." However, iFixit noted that the company is still "doubling down on their parts pairing strategy, enabling only very limited, serial number-authorized repairs."

"While it's a great step for repair, and a change of course for the mighty Apple, the program doesn't do what Right to Repair legislation around the world aims to do," iFixit's Elizabeth Chamberlain said. "A true right to repair will give independent repair shops a chance to compete in the repair marketplace, bringing down the cost of repairs for everyone."

Apple launched the Self Service Repair program for iPhones earlier on Wednesday, creating a dedicated storefront for ordering iPhone parts and making available a number of repair documents. Similar repair resource access is also coming to the Mac down the road.