With Apple relaxing its rules on who can repair iPhones, the company is also looking to ensure consumers are going into third-party repairs with their eyes wide open.
A new feature set to launch in iOS 15.2 will let users know if their treasured smartphone has been fitted with unofficial parts and components.
As first noted by Gizmodo, the latest iOS 15.2 beta includes a new “Parts and Service History” section within ‘Settings > General > About’ on an iPhone.
This will give users a snapshot of the work done on their phone and whether a new battery, camera or display was a “Genuine Apple Part”.
If that component isn’t the genuine article, users may see an “Unknown Part” if it was made by a third-party or has already been installed in another iPhone. That’s likely to undermine the efforts of scammers to swindle unsuspecting iPhone owners with dodgy repairs.
The feature will vary depending on which iPhone you’re using, according to the report. For example, if you have an iPhone SE you can only see if the battery has been replaced, whereas the iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 models will display whether the battery, display, or camera have been replaced.
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Regardless of whether the part is genuine, it won’t impact your ability to use the phone fully. That’s a bonus because the company hasn’t been above that kind of behaviour in the past. iFixit recently discovered that third-party screen replacements were breaking Face ID functionality because it required the repairer to transfer a control chip over or lose Face ID functionality completely.
Because that method required some proprietary Apple software, it became the realm of authorised service providers only and ensuring smaller, independent businesses wouldn’t have the capability to perform the repair effectively. Apple has since performed a u-turn on the matter, once again enabling third-parties to replace iPhone screens without knackering the biometric security tech.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
