Apple Is Locking iPhone Batteries To Stop 3rd Party Repairs

Apple is known to be against 3rd party repairs. Previously, it was confirmed by the company itself that the T2 chip in Macs were also made to discourage 3rd party repairs. Apple has cited reasons for this with the foremost being security and fraud. It is understandable that unsuspecting people can be scammed with inferior repairs which are cheaper than Apple’s services.

However, known Apple repairers such as iFixIt have accused the company of monopolizing its products after-sales services. Now, Apple has reportedly activated a software lock on iPhone batteries to make it difficult for unofficial replacements as well.

According to an iFixit report, Apple appears to have intentionally added a feature in which replacement batteries lacking Texas Instruments microcontroller with a unique Apple authentication key are barred from providing crucial battery health data to users. In other words, the battery health data is not shown to the users or repairers. It also includes data regarding the max capacity and peak performance capability. Furthermore, users receive a service indicator that informs them to contact an Apple-authorized repair service. 

Additionally, official Apple batteries will not work properly until they have been verified by the company. As an example, imagine if you have a car with a check engine light on which can only be deactivated if you receive service from the official dealer; and getting the car repaired from local mechanics does not help either.

Notably, the feature has been rolled out to iPhone XR, iPhone XS and XS Max models that run the latest iOS 12 versions. The news isn’t a good public relations move considering it arrives after Apple’s controversial throttling of iPhone devices performance.

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Apple has fought the repair legislation in the past which prevents them from voiding warranties or discontinuing support if consumers have had 3rd party repairs. As mentioned above, Apple has insisted it is motivated to control repair qualities but does not sell fresh device parts to outsiders.

There is a clear monetary incentive for the tech giant here and it is openly against lobbying for the right to repair bills. Conclusively, users are advised to always get repairs done from authorized services as Apple has more or less crippled 3rd party repairers to a certain degree.