For folks who want to crack open their smart phones to do their own repairs or tinkering, there is some encouraging news. Apple, Google, and Samsung have announced programs that allow customers and independent repair shops to purchase official parts. Here’s more from Popular Science:

This has been a long time coming. Right to Repair advocates, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and iFixit, have been fighting for greater access to official parts for years, and they’ve finally found success with the Biden administration. An executive order signed last July called on the FTC to hold smartphone manufacturers accountable for “making repairs more costly and time-consuming, such as by restricting the distribution of parts, diagnostics, and repair tools.” Similarly, the Copyright Office expanded exemptions for fixing devices last October, essentially making it legal to bypass software locks to repair certain consumer devices.

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