iFixit ( ) is an American

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

and how-to website that publishes free

wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

-like online repair guides and tear-downs of

consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...

and gadgets. It also sells repair parts, tools, and accessories. It is a private company in

San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

founded in 2003, spurred by Kyle Wiens not being able to locate an Apple iBook G3 repair manual while the company's founders were attending

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

Business model

iFixit has released product tear-downs of new mobile and laptop devices which provide advertising for the company's parts and equipment sales. These tear-downs have been reviewed by ''

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online-only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tec ...

'', '' The Mac Observer'', '' NetworkWorld,'' and other publications. Co-founder Kyle Wiens has said that he aims to reduce

electronic waste Electronic waste (or e-waste) describes discarded electrical or electronics, electronic devices. It is also commonly known as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or end-of-life (EOL) electronics. Used electronics which are destined ...

by teaching people to repair their own gear, and by offering tools, parts, and a forum to discuss repairs. In 2011, he travelled through Africa with a documentary team to meet a community of electronics technicians who repair and rebuild the world's discarded electronics. iFixit provides a

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike o ...

platform known as Dozuki to allow others to use iFixit's documentation framework to produce their own documentation. O'Reilly Media's '' Make'' and ''

Craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

'' magazines use Dozuki to feature community guides alongside instructions originally written by the staff for the print magazine. On April 3, 2014 iFixit announced a partnership with

Fairphone Fairphone is a Dutch electronics manufacturer that designs and produces smartphones and headphones. It aims to minimise the ethical and environmental impact of its devices by using recycled, fairtrade and conflict-free materials, maintaini ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, iFixit and CALPIRG, the California arm of the

Public Interest Research Group Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) are a federation of U.S. and Canadian non-profit organizations that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy on issues such as consumer protection, public health and transportation. The PIRGs are cl ...

, worked with hospitals and medical research facilities to gather the largest known database of medical equipment manuals and repair guides to support the healthcare industry during the pandemic. In 2022, iFixit announced plans to open a new distribution center and office in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

Reception

In September 2015, Apple removed the iFixit app from the

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

in reaction to the company's publication of a tear-down of a developer pre-release version of the

Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...

(4th generation) obtained under Apple's Developer Program violating a signed

Non-Disclosure Agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...

, and accordingly, their developer account was suspended. In response, iFixit says it has worked on improving its mobile site for users to access its services through a mobile browser. In April 2019, it was revealed that some Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S devices contain a physical

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

reading "Hi iFixit! We See You!", demonstrating that device manufacturers are aware of iFixit. In March 2022,

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

announced that they would be collaborating with iFixit to provide a self-repair program and parts store for a range of their electronic devices. iFixit ended their collaboration with Samsung in May 2024, with co-founder Kyle Wiens saying "Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale." In April 2022,

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

announced that they would be partnering with iFixit to provide replacement parts for their

Pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

series of smartphones.

References

{{Authority control Knowledge markets Internet properties established in 2003 Maintenance DIY culture Creative Commons-licensed websites

Business model

Reception

See also

References