Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers’ Conference is going on now. But we’re still reeling from some other recent Apple news: Apple has finally completed its multi-year plan to provide parts and repair resources for its main computer lines. On May 29, the iPad joined the Self Service Repair Program. And the documentation they released confirms what we’ve always known: the iPad is a nightmare to repair.
While we totally love that Apple is making all these resources available, we had to laugh at the sneaky way it was announced in the news. The press release came out on Wednesday May 28th, announcing that the iPad program would begin “tomorrow,” the 29th. Why? Because that way, news outlets could happily repeat the news without seeing just how ridiculously bad the iPad repair process can be, even when documented by the folks who designed and built it. The news reports about iPad repair wouldn’t include parts pricing, or any of the messy details.
Here’s a look at what “tomorrow” actually brought.
47-Step Program
Just thinking about repairing the iPad gives even the most hardened iFixiter the heebie-jeebies. To see the extent of the problem, let’s consider iPad screen removal. This step is required before you can do pretty much anything else, as the screen is the only way into the iPad.
For comparison, let’s take a look at the iFixit guide to removing the screen of the third-gen iPad Pro 11-inch, which requires 47 steps, and follows a similar procedure to that for the latest entry-level iPad (we don’t yet have a guide for the latest basic iPad, but they’re both just as miserable to take apart). It begins with softening the screen glue and gently easing it part-way off to get to the cables that need to be disconnected before the screen can be freed. Along the way you’ll deal with screws, lots of glue and tape, and you’ll have to remove (and later replace) many sensors, cameras, shields, and of course cables. Lots and lots of cables.
Some of these steps require more heat to soften glue. And even when you’re done, you’re going to need your own tape and adhesives to glue those parts back in place. And be careful with that glue. One warning in our guide says, “Only apply adhesive to the edges of the sensors. Placing adhesive on the front will break them.”
If you’re replacing a broken screen, then the pressure is off, somewhat (though you’ll want to put a layer of tape over the screen to minimize the broken shards and give you a clean surface to pull against with a suction cup). But if all you want to do is replace the battery, then you’ll have to make sure your screen-removal is perfect, otherwise you’ll be ordering a replacement screen, too. In this case, screen removal could be considered the equivalent of opening the battery cover. That’s nuts!
We don’t want to scare you off this repair. It’s totally doable, with patience, the right tools, and a great step-by-step guide (the latter two of which we totally have covered). Still, it’s way harder than replacing a consumable part should be.
The Apple Way
So how do Apple’s guides compare? Well, they’re excellent, as you should expect from the manufacturer. But there are no inside tips or shortcuts. In fact, Apple’s guides require the use of some rather esoteric tools to get the job done.
For example, the entire iPad repair process takes place in a custom jig, called the Repair Tray. This tray can then be mounted into a Heated Display Pocket, after which step “one” of screen removal is to place this entire assembly into another machine, the Heated Display Removal Fixture.
The iPad repair tray looks amazing. It has suction-cup attachments to hold the glass cover and display while you work on the cables and sensors, and to align them again on reassembly. It’s a nice look behind the scenes at a fully armed and operational Apple Store repair shop, but it might be a stretch for an independent repair shop to buy all the gear necessary (the Heated Display Pocket alone costs $1,450).
For home repair, you can rent the tools from Apple (for the iPad, you get two cases full of tools), which is pretty neat, but really, who’s actually going to do that other than tech journalists writing articles like this one, or iFixit teardown specialists ordering one in for a look under the covers?
And as we mentioned, there are no shortcuts. You still need to remove all those parts, and reattach them later. Apple’s iPad battery replacement guide looks quite easy, at just six steps. And it actually is pretty easy. But those six steps don’t include the removal of the cover glass and display, which is another 32 steps. Technically, that’s fewer steps than our guide, but that’s because we split things out into more steps to help you follow along more clearly (we walk you through adhesive removal in 9 steps, for instance).
As we’ve said, we’re very happy to see Apple’s repair program progressing so well. It’s slow, but when the parts, tools, and guides arrive, they arrive fully formed and very well put together. A typical Apple product, really. But despite this, the fact remains that the iPad is a real bear to repair, probably the hardest to fix of all Apple’s products (not counting disposable gadgets like the AirPods Pro).
Partly that’s down to the shape of the thing. An ultra-thin tablet is hard to make rigid and strong without a lot of glue and tightly-packed parts. But part of this is down to design. The MacBook Air is also thin, but getting to the battery is easier. And the iPhone packs even more tech into an even smaller space than the iPad, yet Apple has managed to make it easier and easier to repair over the years. iPad battery replacement should be much simpler.
People keep iPads for years longer than they keep their phones, and battery replacement is just a part of the general maintenance. But so far Apple doesn’t care enough to do anything about this. When it comes to Apple’s green concerns, you can file iPad repairability right alongside Apple Intelligence, under E for “embarrassing.”
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