"Security" is an excuse that Apple (and other anti-repair companies) love to use and it disappoints me to see people fall for it on a technical forum like this one.

It is debatable whether the devices that are restricted have any security impact to begin with (the fingerprint or face recognition sensors should just be untrusted input devices with the actual comparison happening inside the secure element of the CPU - compromising this device wouldn't give you anything you don't already have), but either way, even if there was a security impact, you can always let the user choose by giving them the (per-device) keys to override said security.

This is a bad excuse.

0.002% of our customers need security against sophisticated hackers who have the capability to hijack a repair service and replace it with a spying custom made iphone screen replacement.

Let’s make screen repairs 5-7x more expensive for 100% of our customers !

That will get the hackers !

Yea, right.... If you’re that paranoid about your security, go to an authorized apple repair centre which doesn’t bother repairing the parts and just charges you to replace the entire circuitry.

No one’s stopping you. Leave the rest of us, alone from this.

My opinion of this dismissive attitude towards security, were I to express it with sufficient honesty, would probably get me banned from Hacker News. It is the hardware equivalent of “only people with something to hide need encryption”.

It is not.

Encryption issue is about banning it altogether.

This is about user choice in terms of repairability.

This excuse is more to the equivalent of , we are banning all communication in plaintext or any encryption standard, except aes-256.

Everyone has different requirements, choice and deserve the freedom.

Companies dont get to excuse away freedom and choice, in the name of “security”.

> Companies dont get to excuse away freedom and choice

Companies don't owe you freedom and choice. If you don't like their product, if you don't like their concern for your freedom and choice, don't buy it.

Now you’re just being defensive.

We were critiquing a product, now you’re saying, companies dont owe us the right to criticise their product, and that we must move elsewhere instead of complaining.

one second you’re saying “it’s for our benefit”, the next, you want us to stop using the product, because we aren’t “owed anything”.

When did I say that companies don’t owe you “the right to criticise their product”? I didn’t say that.

Arguments with a dishonest interlocutor are frightfully boring. Reply as you see fit, but I’m closing this thread and not looking at it again.

But this doesn't add any real security because it addresses a made up threat scenario.

If people with that kind of resources are out to get you, they can simply lift your fingerprints from elsewhere. A transparent tape on the home button would probably be enough.

It makes my phone much less attractive to thieves would would strip it and resell the parts.

Maybe that isn’t so important to you, but it’s a very practical concern for many people.

Please explain to me how pairing a screen, vibration motor and battery to the motherboard keeps me secure... I'd understand faceid (which is paired of course), sure. But not these.

I really have a strong feeling that some folks have Stockholm syndrome or something.

For the record, I don't think Apple does this entirely for security. I think they do it to stop the illegal distribution of items which leak from Apple's supply chain, as well as counterfeit goods sold as though equal in quality to Apple parts. (I know multiple people who have had non-genuine screen replacements and they've always been low quality fragile glass.)

If someone tried to sell whole iPhones assembled entirely from parts leaked from Apple's supply chain, it ought to seem obvious to anyone that this is wrong. Why is the principle any different when it's not an entire iPhone?

If they sold the parts outright with resonable pricing as any other manufacturer I don't think there would be any reason for supply chain leaks...

Why would it be any different for Apple?

I agree that spare parts should be more widely available, but I take issue with your broader assertion. Are you seriously arguing that when something is too expensive, theft is justified?

Hmmm, I always wanted a Ferrari.

Wow that strawman is really quite poor. I really hope you can do better than that...

If you want a Ferrari, go buy one. They have quite long waiting lists from what I've heard.

edit: In order not to be completely off topic: Apple might have just the same problems with parts stolen from their suppliers but since every single iPhone needs to be activated, I'm very sure they would be able to catch "iPhones made entirely from stolen parts". So this is clearly not it. The fact that they don't sell anything will probably make this whole thing quite worse because if you could buy a genuine display for 250$ from Apple, why would you really buy from anyone else? That market would of course exist but it would be much much smaller.

I would not expect them to sell motherboards or for exampe face id sensors without some kind of pairing. But batteries and LCDs? Come on!

They are doing it just to stick it to anyone who wants to repair their device. Quite sad when you think about the origins of that company :-(

It makes your phone a much less ripe target for thieves who sell it for parts. Depending on where you live, this might greatly increase your personal security.

Couldn’t an adversary replace the screen in my phone with one that records the contents of what it displays? And/or tap locations. Modern keylogger.

My guess is Apple started doing all this pairing stuff due to some security threat they saw before we did.

Apple does not do this for security but just to piss user off - hence disabling the TrueTone & autobacklight features. These features are hardly anything that could be argued is "security relevant". I mean would you really velieve that vibration motor or battery could compromise security of your phone? One has to (unfortunately) stay in the realm of possible and feasible despite all the James Bond & CSI Miami & Bones TV shows...

Apple does somewhat care about users privacy (I like that very much) but this is really not it. And it goes for the battery as well. And vibration motor. And rear facing camera. All these are just plain and simple middle finger to third party repair shops. You could argue about FaceID sensor and motherboard and I would agree with security concerns, but that's pretty much it.

Why are you just taking Apple's claims at face value?