The Right to Repair movement has significantly progressed as more consumers choose to repair and reuse devices. Rising tech prices and inflation have driven many people to keep electronics longer, seeking repair options rather than replacing devices. A long-standing opposition to the right-to-repair, Apple has made headlines in recent years for switching sides in support of the movement but has recently announced a feature that seems to counteract prior support and left many in the repair and reuse industry frustrated once more.
Apple Expands Lock Feature
According to a Mashable article, the upcoming iOS 18 update will debut an activation lock for valuable iPhone parts, including the battery, display, and camera. The new feature is an expansion of a lock feature that previously existed as an anti-theft feature that could be remotely activated to help prevent a stolen device from being used. The expanded activation locks are meant to “deter stolen iPhones from being disassembled for parts,” Apple said, adding that customers and law enforcement officials requested this feature.
Apple said in a press release, “The feature was designed to limit iPhone theft by blocking a lost or stolen iPhone from being reactivated. If a device under repair detects that a supported part was obtained from another device with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration capabilities for that part will be restricted.”
The Importance of Repair & Reuse
While the expanded feature may deter theft and device disassembly, it also prevents repairing and reusing some devices with the feature turned on. Parts pairing is the process of authenticating a repair part before the software allows it to work, which has been banned in several states by several right-to-repair laws, including Oregon and Colorado. Colorado refurbishers recently petitioned the FCC over the detrimental effects of the software lock on the secondary phone market. The letter noted that software locks make “millions of donated or handed-down phones unusable, harming the environment and the used phone marketplace.”
Many people do not know they need to unlock their phones or forget to do so before donating them, and software locks would cause millions of devices to be thrown away or disposed of rather than repaired and reused. Repairing used IT assets helps prepare them for remarketing, and remarketing used devices helps create sales channels for those hoping to find alternatives to new devices. Remarketing can significantly reduce the demand for new devices as well as the resources required to mine new metals for new devices. Device repair and reuse are critical to a circular economy, especially in a digital world. With the overflow of technology, reuse is the primary method of preserving functional materials and expanding the lifecycle of retired electronics.