Fixers

Everyone is a Genius

Article by: @oliviawebb

Apple made a pretty smart choice (dare I say…genius choice?) when it named its in-store repair service the Genius Bar. The name aims to assure customers their broken device is in the right hands—but it also subtly downplays people’s inherent skills. It suggests they are not qualified to tackle a shattered screen or puffy battery. So many take their iPhones and iPads and MacBooks to the Genius Bar, presuming  Apple employees must perform some “repair magic” behind a big curtain. 

We are the geniuses, Apple says, not you. You cannot begin to know what goes on in that complicated little box. 

We proved them wrong three years ago, when we gathered ordinary people around the world and showed them that they can fix their devices. These fixers—students, brewery managers, healthcare workers, YouTubers—proved you don’t need magic powers, a super-brain, or a fruit-logo polo shirt to do a repair. 

Apple eventually started to come around. Late last year, Apple announced its program to sell parts and tools for iPhone 12 and 13 repair to individuals, with plans to add more devices later. Apple finally realized that everyone is a Genius, and with the right knowledge and tools, anyone can do a repair. 

To celebrate, we want to share stories of everyone’s Genius. We want to show the world that we’re all capable of fixing the things we own. So we’re giving away $100 to the iFixit store to a lucky fixer. For the rest of January, we’re asking you to post pictures of your successful screen swaps, share videos about your kid’s first repair, or tell us what you’re planning to fix. Make sure to use the hashtag #ImaGenius and tag us @ifixit on Twitter and Instagram so we can see it! We’ll announce the winner on our blog on February 4.

We don’t need Apple’s permission to fix the devices we bought from them. But we can prove—to Apple, to ourselves, and to the world—that we are all Geniuses, and we can fix anything.

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