The notion that Apple would voluntarily provide repair manuals, sell spare parts to strangers, and permit independent retailers to lawfully fix iPhones seemed as plausible as the company disclosing its source code for a considerable amount of time. Apple had been erecting political, legal, and technical barriers around its products for years. proprietary chips, parts pairing software, tight screws, and discreet lobbying against laws that facilitate repairs. The business defended the closed system with the kind of tenacity that tends to deter competitors.
Then, on a Wednesday morning in November 2021, Apple declared that it was completely changing its direction. The public would have access to authentic parts, tools, and manuals through the Self Service Repair program. The statement had the subdued impact of something important making a great effort to appear unimportant. A representative for Apple referred to it as “the next step in increasing customer access,” which is precisely the kind of language a business uses when it’s making concessions and would prefer that no one notice.
| Key Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Movement Name | Right to Repair |
| Primary Target | Apple Inc. — maker of iPhone, Mac, and consumer electronics |
| Key Advocacy Organizations | iFixit, PIRG, Repair Association, Green Century, EFF |
| First Major State Law | New York — first statewide electronics Right to Repair law |
| Apple Policy Reversal Date | November 17, 2021 |
| California Law Enacted | October 2023 — Right to Repair Act championed by CALPIRG |
| Apple’s New Policy | Self Service Repair — parts, manuals, diagnostic tools made available publicly |
| Shareholder Resolution Filed | September 2021, by Green Century mutual fund |
| Legislative Reach | All 50 U.S. states have introduced Right to Repair legislation |
| Environmental Impact | Californians generate 500 lbs of e-waste every 10 seconds |
People took notice. A few weeks prior, Green Century, an environmental investment fund, had filed a shareholder resolution with Apple requesting that the company reevaluate its anti-repair stance. The resolution was immediately withdrawn. “The timing is definitely no coincidence,” stated one of the participating advocates, Annalisa Tarizzo. Almost all of the information regarding the outcome of this specific battle is contained in that sentence.
But it’s important to consider how the conflict was initially fought. Well-funded lobbying firms operating in mahogany-paneled corridors in Sacramento or Washington were not the driving forces behind this story. Farmers upset about John Deere’s software-locked tractors, repair technicians witnessing customers pay three times the fair price for a screen replacement, and environmental advocates carrying 500 pounds of e-waste up the steps of the California Capitol to demonstrate what planned obsolescence actually looks like in real life are just a few examples of how it truly and somewhat improbably grew from the ground up. It is difficult to forget just that picture—a pile of abandoned electronics on marble steps in the August heat.
In ways that seemed almost archaic, groups like PIRG formed coalitions that cut across political divides. Rallying points are not usually shared by city-based fixers and farmers, but this one was. Repair guides and repairability scores were contributed by iFixit, providing common people with a vocabulary and a framework for the discussion. The Repair Association methodically worked state legislatures, introducing bills, winning some, losing others, and then coming back the next time around. Perhaps the effort’s sheer tenacity was just as important as any one political or legal tactic.
The movement may have really taken off after California’s Right to Repair Act was passed into law in October 2023. Something had truly changed when Apple and HP, the biggest printer manufacturer in the United States by market share, both declared their support for the California bill before it was even passed. From being one of the movement’s most ardent opponents, Apple now supports the very legislation it had spent years opposing. It was a first, according to Jenn Engstrom, director of CALPIRG. Yes, it was.
Observing all of this, one gets the impression that the right to repair narrative isn’t really about technology or even consumer rights in the traditional sense. It concerns who has the authority to determine how you use something that you have already paid for. There is something stubborn about that question; it doesn’t go away, it doesn’t cease to feel relevant, and it turns out that enough people care about it to move even a big, established company like Apple. Not completely, and not without simultaneous pressure from several directions. But enough.
Right-to-repair laws have now been introduced in all 50 states. They haven’t all passed legislation yet, and the ones that have differ greatly in terms of their strength and scope. It is still genuinely unclear whether the momentum will continue or if manufacturers will find new legal and technical ways to limit whatever ground they have given up. However, the movement has already accomplished something that didn’t seem possible at first. Apple blinked as a result.
