Apple’s New Software Locks Will Limit Third-Party Repair Abilities

Vice’s Motherboard reports that Apple’s new Macbook Pros will be immune to third-party repairs, requiring customers to go directly to Apple in order to troubleshoot and fix any issues happening with their device. This new development has not become operative yet, but marks the birth of a potentially fatal threat to businesses that specialize in repairing technology like computers and phones.

Once the new security measure is in place, all Apple computers that are equipped with a ”T2” chip, such as the 2018 MacBook Pros as well as the iMac Pro, will be rendered “inoperative” after any repair that is not concluded with the run of a specific Apple “system configuration” software.

For Macs with the Apple T2 chip, the repair process is not complete for certain parts replacements until the AST 2 System Configuration suite has been run,” reported Apple in a document distributed to distributed to Apple’s Authorized Service Providers. “Failure to perform this step will result in an inoperative system and an incomplete repair.”

This new provision will involve repairs concerning the MacBook Pro’s display assembly, logic board, top case (the keyboard, touchpad, and internal housing), and Touch ID board and the replacement of the iMac Pro’s Logic Board or flash storage. The computers will begin to function again once an Apple Authorized Service Provider runs a diagnostic test called Apple Service Toolkit 2, which is only available to those particular authorized Apple employees.

“This service document certainly paints a grim picture, but ever the optimists, we headed down to our friendly local Apple Store and bought a brand new 2018 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar unit. Then we disassembled it and traded displays with our teardown unit from this summer. To our surprise, the displays and MacBooks functioned normally in every combination we tried,” explained a representative from a third-party repairer called iFixit testing. “That’s a promising sign, and it means the sky isn’t quite falling—yet.”

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