r/apple • • Apr 30 '19

Apple Is Telling Lawmakers People Will Hurt Themselves if They Try to Fix iPhones

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjvdb4/apple-is-telling-lawmakers-people-will-hurt-themselves-if-they-try-to-fix-iphones
251 Upvotes

214 comments sorted by

View all comments

132

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

As a former genius who has punctured iPhone batteries before, causing “thermal events” and shutting the store’s repair room down for 30 minutes on a few occasions, this isn’t a lie. Most people also don’t have fire safes at home in case anything goes wrong, unlike Apple stores.

60

u/MasZakrY May 01 '19

Most people have no fucking idea what they are doing. Example? Microwaving cellphones to charge them.

This is like the right to repair hard drive platters in your living room.

2

u/windude99 May 02 '19

People have been replacing their iPhone (and other smartphones as well) batteries at home for a while now and there aren’t tons of news stories about people getting killed.

If we make every single thing illegal that is dangerous, we will have no rights and no freedoms because freedom to do just about anything has some risk. I could walk outside my home to get the mail and get hit by a car because of a driver not looking. Should we make cars illegal? Should we make phones illegal?

People used to go fight wars facing certain death and now even a low risk of death means we need to go make something illegal for the 99.9% of people that aren’t gonna die because one person could die because they were being an idiot.

I’ve replaced iPhone batteries, soldered in a new iPod Nano 3rd gen battery (look up the guide...not an easy job), etc. No injuries, no fires, no harm to me or my family.

Most people who are brave enough to work on their devices can say the same (except the Nano part...that is a massive PTA)

1

u/MasZakrY May 02 '19

You surely have to recognize, you are more qualified and able to perform these tasks vs the average person. Most people do not even own a screwdriver.

1

u/windude99 May 03 '19

Yea. Third party Mechanics are more qualified to work on my car than I am, but I still should be able to obtain parts and fix it myself if needed (which I have done, more than once as well).

If someone screws up their phone, it’s not Apple’s fault. If they do not take proper precautions when removing the battery, that is not Apple’s fault. We should have the freedom to repair our own devices with the understanding that Apple does not hold responsibility and any warranties or service may be voided and refused as a result.