Apple is switching to a new type of tamper-resistant screw across their product line. It is not a standard Torx, and there are no readily available screwdrivers that can remove it. They chose this ‘Pentalobe’ fastener specifically because it was new, guaranteeing repair tools would be both rare and expensive. The iPhone 4 originally shipped with Phillips screws, but Apple has transitioned completely to this new security screw. Shame on them.
This screw head clearly has one purpose: to keep you out. Otherwise, Apple would use it throughout each device. Instead, they only use it at the bulwark—on the outside case of your iPhone and MacBook Air, and protecting the battery on the MacBook Pro—so they can keep you out of your own hardware.
That’s bad enough on its own, but Apple’s latest policy will make your blood boil: If you take your iPhone 4 into Apple for any kind of service, they will sabotage it by replacing your Phillips screws with the new tamper-resistant screws! We’ve spoken with the Apple Store geniuses tasked with carrying out this policy, and they are ashamed of the practice.
Our friends at iFixit have a blog post up today that’s hard to read without coming away thinking that Apple really do make some wanker-ish moves at times. We’ve known ever since the iPhone launched that they are deadset against jailbreaking. Now – through iFixit’s post and video – we learn that they also want to make sure that we cannot get to the insides of our iPhone 4s and latest MacBook laptops.
They’re swapping to a new, non-standard type of screw – one that requires a rare, expensive, and difficult to even get hold of screwdriver. And it looks like the only reason for doing so is to do their best to lock users out of the internals of their iPhone 4s (and MacBooks) – so we can’t attempt our own repairs or upgrades to our devices.
Apple is switching to a new type of tamper-resistant screw. This is not a standard Torx, and there are no readily available screwdrivers that can remove it. This isn’t the first time they’ve used this type of screw—it first appeared in the mid-2009 MacBook Pro to prevent you from replacing the the battery—and Apple is using a similar screw on the outer case of the current MacBook Air. This screw is the primary reason the 11″ MacBook Air earned a lousy repairability score of 4 out of 10 in our teardown last October.
Apple chose this fastener specifically because it was new, guaranteeing repair tools would be both rare and expensive. Shame on them.
Here are the details on which devices are affected by this initiative by Apple:
Now that we’ve got the background out of the way, what’s Apple doing with these new fasteners?
- This screw head first appeared in the mid-2009 MacBook Pro as a fastener for the battery.
- The 2010 MacBook Air uses this screw on the lower case to prevent any access to the internals.
- Many non-US iPhone 4 units have had smaller versions of these evil screws all along.
- Apple has switched production, and new U.S. units are shipping with the evil screws.
- If you take your phone into Apple for any kind of service, they will sabotage it by replacing your screws with the new tamper-resistant screws.
And here’s the solution that iFixit have come up with, for those of us who would still like to be able to access our own iPhone 4 devices:
This screw head clearly has one purpose: to keep you out. Otherwise, Apple would use it throughout each device. Instead, they only use it at the bulwark—on the outside case of your iPhone and MacBook Air, and protecting the battery on the Pro—so they can keep you out of your own hardware.
Fortunately, our always-creative hardware acquisition team has been on this problem for a while. It’s our responsibility to provide you with all the tools you need to work on electronics, and we have a solution for you!
iPhone 4
The real solution is to get rid of these pesky screws so you can use a normal Phillips screwdriver on them. We now have replacement Phillips screws so that you can reverse Apple’s dastardly handywork. We have found a driver that works for the 5-point “Pentalobe” fasteners on the iPhone 4 case. It’s not a true Pentalobe driver — the tip is more star shaped than “flowery,” so there may be some slight play in the fit when using. This screwdriver gets the job done, but we don’t recommend it for repeated use. It’s really just a hack to get the screws out and then replace them with standard screws.
So go ahead, set your iPhone free with our iPhone 4 Liberation Kit! Rid your phone of those terrible Pentalobe screws forever. The $9.95 kit includes a Pentalobe driver, 2 replacement PHILLIPS screws, and a regular #00 Phillips screwdriver.
*** It’s worth noting that if you bought your iPhone 4 in the US and it’s not very recently purchased (I’m not sure what cutoff dates are), or one that you recently had repaired by Apple, then you should still have standard screws on it and won’t need this liberation kit. iFixit also has similar kits available for MacBook Air and MacBook Pros affected.
My iPhone 4 and my MacBook Pro still have standard screws in them, so I am able to open them up with standard screwdrivers – but I still feel this is a shitty new policy from Apple. While do-it-yourself repairs and upgrades are clearly not a good idea for everyone, there are lots of us who are willing and able to do some of these on our devices (especially with help from the excellent iFixit guides) and there is no good reason for Apple to intentionally block our ability to do so.
For a much better overview of this issue and all the details of it, check out iFixit’s post and video here:
http://www.ifixit.com/blog/blog/2011/01/20/apples-diabolical-plan-to-screw-your-iphone/
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
TAGS: iFixit, iPhone 4
