Two Years After the FineWoven Fiasco, Is TechWoven Better?

When I smushed a greasy thumb into Apple’s FineWoven case two years ago, I thought that was the last time I’d need to deal with a tech-textile case.

I was wrong. My wife bought a used iPhone 15 Pro last year, and it came with a FineWoven case. It was in fine condition, so she shrugged and used it. Then, we had our first child, and life got crazy busy. 

Over the next year and a half, the case went through the rigors of mom life. The edges got chewed up by the gravel driveway. The woven surface got stained and smoothed out from constant handling. The magnetic Pop Socket permanently embossed the MagSafe area. Sure, the case is holding up, but it aged like it lived through a war. One FineWoven case year must equal 50 human years, or so it goes.

A pristine FineWoven case, and a FineWoven case that’s lived with a busy mom for a year.

This year, Apple announced the TechWoven cases, seemingly the next generation of FineWoven. After the disastrous launch (we weren’t the only ones dunking on it: The Verge called it “categorically terrible”), they appear to have gone back to the drawing board. They say the case is made from 100% recycled polyester, and they promise it’s undergone “thousands of hours of testing.”

Okay, great, but did they put nigiri on it?

Seriously, though. Have they improved on durability and stain resistance? Did they change how the material showed its age? Thanks to Evident and their DSX2000 Digital Microscope, we’re going to take a deeper look!

A Closer Look at TechWoven

This is a TechWoven case, in Sienna.

As I held its pristine edges and ran my fingers over the stippled surface, I immediately noticed how different the texture looks and feels compared to the FineWoven fabric. It’s rougher and harder, feeling less like fabric and more like ruggedized plastic.

Here’s the TechWoven fabric under magnification, with a strand of hair for scale:

And here it is compared to a Fox Orange FineWoven wallet, both under identical magnification:

There are some things to note:

• The TechWoven color is created using three color threads woven into a base thread. This should settle your “is it orange or purple?” debates once and for all: yes.
• The TechWoven color threads are 35% thicker than FineWoven, measuring at ~280 μm wide, compared to ~180 μm. 
• There seems to be a shiny coating of sorts over the TechWoven fabric…

Can It Handle Spills and Other Thrills?

Even though the TechWoven weave feels more rugged than its predecessor, how will it handle spills? I grimaced as I dripped some old Colombia dark roast onto the case.

Whoa. That was unexpected.

I waited a few minutes. The coffee remained undisturbed on top of the fabric. Here’s what it looks like under the microscope:

Whatever Apple coated the fibers with, it’s working successfully as a liquid ingress shield. I wiped the coffee away with a paper towel, and it left a light residue. So, I doused it with high concentration (>90%) isopropyl alcohol and wiped again. That removed all visual stains. I can still smell the coffee faintly on the case, though.

This is very unexpected and promising! But will the surface repel other stain-inducing liquids? Up next: olive oil. I made sure to press a greasy finger firmly into the case. In 2023, this left a permanent stain. But this time, the surface resisted the assault and kept the liquid at bay.

Wiping the oil away with a towel, I can see some shiny residue. A closer look shows that some oil puddles in the lower recesses survived my cleaning attempt:

An IPA shower and more earnest wiping later, the case is back to a pristine, uniform look.

Last up, some spicy sauce! Once again, the coating performed flawlessly, and I’m left with an indistinguishably clean surface after cleaning up with some IPA. I can still smell the sauce though, so there must still be some particles left behind.

Can It Handle Mom’s Purse? 

The TechWoven case has proven to be much more stain resistant than its predecessor. How well does it resist a scratch? I scrape a car key as hard as I can over the surface a few times. It didn’t feel like it was cutting in, and I couldn’t find the markings afterward. It feels like the coating acts as a slippery shield that prevents the key from digging into the weave.

What about a knife blade, like this one, from a popular YouTube durability tester? (If you want one yourself, check out our new iFixit x JerryRigEverything toolkit.) I make multiple diagonal slices across the bottom edge.

There is definitely lasting damage that shows up as light scratch marks. On a microscopic level, the blade sliced through the translucent coating, as well as some threads. 

Liquid Tests, Round Two!

Now that we’ve sliced through the coating, let’s see how it handles coffee.

Oof. Not good. The coating is only a surface layer and not a full permeation. Once the ingress coating was breached, liquids easily soaked into the fabric. No amount of IPA cleaning will get this out, now that the coffee’s under the coating and is essentially unreachable. 

This test revealed something else a little startling: it looks like the perimeter’s not well sealed either! A few spots along the left edge allowed the liquid invaders in. Boundary edges between different, flexible materials are challenging to seal. Plus, edges normally experience more wear and tear, though in this case, it hasn’t even experienced a full day of life yet.

Oh, and the inside surface of the case is uncoated, so don’t spill coffee there!

More Durable, but Less Natural Feeling

After the FineWoven fiasco, Apple clearly redesigned the TechWoven case with a different emphasis in mind. The coating makes the weave significantly more durable and stain resistant, though it’s not impervious. I think this will last much longer than FineWoven cases.  

The drawback is that the fabric…no longer feels like a fabric—it feels like textured plastic. The weave still gives off visual cues of a soft material, but even that’s weakened by the ingress coating, which changes the reflectivity subtly to look unnatural. 

My wife’s keeping her FineWoven case for now, but when it’s time for a new one, I can’t say I’m sold on TechWoven. But I am loving the DSX2000 microscope, its motorized lenses, and the opportunity to add some killer “zoom and enhance” moments to our teardowns. Here are some high rez photos. Thanks, Evident!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, we tore down Apple’s thinnest iPhone. We’re also going to be tearing down a couple more things from the 2025 Apple lineup…