Fix Apple Watch Yourself With iFixit Apple Watch Repair Guides For Battery, Screen, More

The iFixit team released four Apple Watch repair guides on Friday, according to MacRumors, to help DIY enthusiasts fix the latest in wearable technology themselves.

Two of the iFixit guides focus on replacing the battery and the screen and the other two focus on fixing the damage created when opening the watch to fix it in the first place.

The iFixit team, founded by Luke Soules and Kule Wiens in 2003, released the Apple Watch Screen Replacement Guide and the Apple Watch Battery Replacement Guide on Friday as part of the company’s ongoing mission to make DIY gadget repair easier.

Because using these guides typically results in destroying the NFC antenna and the adhesive that keeps Apple Watch water resistant and held together, iFixit created two extra guides – the Adhesive Repair Guide and NFC Antenna Repair Guide.

According to 9to5Mac, iFixit notes that “opening up your Apple Watch may damage the NFC antenna, which also serves as a gasketing seal.”

These extra guides show DIYers how to fix the damage to the NFC antenna they are forced to create by implementing the Apple Watch battery and screen replacement guides.

iFixit says that gadgets will last longer if people can learn to repair them – more people will fix their own gadgets if it is easier to do.

“At iFixit, repair is out mission – a way to fix the world, one broken gadget at a time. Reuse, repair and re-manufacturing are better than recycling. It lengthens the life of products and conserves vital resources.”

According to MacRumors, replacing the Apple Watch screen and battery are almost identical processes. The adhesive replacement and NFC antenna guides seem to complete the battery and screen replacement guides by detailing the steps needed to put Apple Watch back together.

This tends to confirm that DIY fixers cannot use one Apple Watch repair guide without the other.

Apple often makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the average user to repair Apple gadgets at home. This explains why fixing the battery or screen creates more damage than the guides fix.

According to Extreme Tech, “it’s no secret Apple doesn’t give a fig for do-it-yourself device repair.” Apple’s hostility towards DIY repairs tends to show in the Watch a bit more than in other Apple products that earned a better iFixit Repairability Score.

The iFixit team has done many Apple tear downs of their devices over the years, and given them a score according to iFixit’s Repairability Score scale. The scale ranges from one to 10, with one being the most difficult to fix and 10 being the easiest.

MacBookk 2015 scored a 1, while the 6th generation iPod Nano scored an 8, though most Apple products fall between a six and an eight on the iFixit Repairability Score scale, according to the Inquisitr.

Apple Watch Sport scored a five when iFixit tore it down on April 23, according to iFixit. Apple products average a 6.7 overall.

Despite Apple Watch’s middle of the road score, iFixit classified three of the Apple Watch Repair guides as “difficult” to implement, and rated the fourth, the Adhesive Repair Guide, as moderately difficult to implement.

Using the iFixit Apple Watch Guides requires the use of specialized tools. Because of iFixit’s mission, iFixit designed tools specifically for use on Apple products to keep the products repairable.

When iFixit tore down the Apple Watch Sport, the team found that their usual Apple tools weren’t good enough.

The team wound up modifying an already existing tool in their office. They filed down a bit usually used on the iPhone to create a specialized tool that they now call the Apple Watch Driver Bit.

“This handmade tool isn’t pretty, but it will get the job done,” notes iFixit, confirming that the tool was indeed tested on an Apple watch.

All of the iFixit tools are available via its online store currently, as is the adhesive needed to fix Apple Watch. Other parts like a replacement battery and display, however, will become available soon, and will also be available via the iFixit store.

[Photo Credit: iFixit, Apple Inc.]