Apple to Allow Used Parts for Repairs, Starting With iPhone 15 Lineup

Apple today announced that customers and independent repair shops will be able to utilize used genuine Apple parts in repairs starting later this year.

Apple Self Service Repair Program iPhone
Apple told The Washington Post that the new policy will initially apply to parts for iPhone 15 models and newer, including screens, batteries, and cameras. Apple's press release said the policy will eventually extend to used biometric sensors for Face ID and Touch ID. Apple's existing parts "pairing" process will confirm whether or not a used part is genuine.

In the fall, Apple says calibration for both new and used genuine Apple parts will happen on device after the part is installed. If an iPhone has been repaired, a "Parts and Service History" section appears in the Settings app under General → About, and Apple says it will be expanding this section to show whether a genuine part is new or used.

Apple also announced that customers and service providers will no longer need to provide a device's serial number when ordering parts from its self-service repair store for repairs not involving replacement of the logic board.

To deter stolen iPhones from being disassembled for parts, Apple said it will be extending its Activation Lock security feature to iPhone parts:

Apple will also extend its popular Activation Lock feature to iPhone parts in order to deter stolen iPhones from being disassembled for parts. Requested by customers and law enforcement officials, 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.

Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus said the new policy will be more environmentally friendly by extending the lifespan of parts:

For the last two years, teams across Apple have been innovating on product design and manufacturing to support repairs with used Apple parts that won't compromise users' safety, security, or privacy. With this latest expansion to our repair program, we're excited to be adding even more choice and convenience for our customers, while helping to extend the life of our products and their parts.

Apple said the policy will apply to future iPhone models.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Include These New Features for Your iPhone

Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update. Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far. Redesigned Camera App A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19. On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...

Top Rated Comments

AgeOfSpiracles Avatar
12 months ago

To make sure an owner with two broken iPhone can't end up with a working iPhone...

FTFY
If you own both phones, then why would activation lock have any impact on you?
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AgeOfSpiracles Avatar
12 months ago

Because the parts are still LOCKED. Apple's not going through the trouble of determining WHO owns the lock.
Uh, then unlock them? If you own the broken phone, you can remove the activation lock. If you buy a broken phone, then the seller should remove the lock. If you buy a stolen phone, then yeah, you're going to have a problem.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TokyoKiller Avatar
12 months ago

If you own both phones, then why would activation lock have any impact on you?
Just rage farming.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AgeOfSpiracles Avatar
12 months ago

I love Activation Lock on paper, but in practice it seems like would-be thieves haven't gotten the memo yet.
In practice, do you see a lot of iPhone thefts? I'm sure it happens, but anecdotally it seems like it is way down since activation lock was implemented. Looking on eBay, locked phones are nearly worthless compared to clean phones, and extending it to all the serialized parts in a phone will take that value to the friggin' basement.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AgeOfSpiracles Avatar
12 months ago

Making iphones stolen or maybe simply lost, unusable, will be more environmentally friendly ?
Truth is icloud block is only apple's another greedy way to make money, masked by the best antitheft system ever.
A thief will get a sitting phone on a table regardless if its an cheap android or an iphone 15. It's an occasion to get it so he will get it! What then? He will sell it anyway, even for few bucks. BUT when it will realize that its worth 0, he will throw it. No money for thief, no phone for the victim, who will buy another one. One iphone stolen = one more iphone sold by apple. Yeahthe victim may have the satisfaction that damn thief doesnt earned a buck, however another big thief earned a lot more...
Another example not involving thiefs. My friend works in a big company, where workers are given phones, some iphones some androids. When they stops working there, they obviously return those phones. Well, no one checks the state of those phones and most of them are given back locked. While u can unlock androids, iphones are unusable. My friend sent my once a photo of a box full of locked iphones... Again apple earns, my friend's company loses...
That's a process problem. Not a tech problem. Just poor asset management and poor policies; there are plenty of solutions to your friend's problem, they just require planning.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JonnyMacx86 Avatar
12 months ago
I love Activation Lock on paper, but in practice it seems like would-be thieves haven't gotten the memo yet.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)