We’re all familiar with the phrase “if you break it, you buy it.” But in the case of many electronics, automobiles and smart appliances, if you buy it and it breaks, you might not get to decide how — or even if — it gets fixed.
That’s because the question of repair isn’t just technical, it’s legal. For years, manufacturers have used copyright law and proprietary protections to control who can fix what, boxing out independent, third-party repair shops and kneecapping consumers’ ability to work on their own devices. While companies argue these restrictions help prevent security risks, liability issues and counterfeit parts, critics say they come at the expense of users’ freedom and contribute to unnecessary waste. Now, with public support growing and concern over e-waste mounting, the so-called “Right to Repair” movement is finally gaining some momentum.
What Is the Right to Repair?
Right to Repair is a movement to rebalance control back to product owners and independent repairers by ensuring access to the parts, tools and information needed to fix devices. It seeks to let consumers repair what they own without being forced to go through the original manufacturer.
At its core, Right to Repair is the idea that consumers should have the legal right to fix and modify the products they own, without having to go through the manufacturer. The movement is picking up serious steam in the United States: So far, six states — California, Colorado, Minnesota, Maine, New York and Oregon — have passed some version of a Right to Repair law. And with new tariffs poised to raise electronics prices by 30 to 50 percent, these protections may be more vital than ever.
Right to Repair applies a wide range of products, from farming tools to medical devices to military equipment. The movement has become particularly prevalent in the personal electronics space, where companies like Apple have fought to maintain strict control over device repairs, often citing safety and intellectual property concerns. But many consumers are calling BS, and are advocating for more control over how and where they fix their own products.
“It's honestly just common sense,” Rob Link, founder and CEO of Tech Care Association and former director at the advocacy group Repair.org. For example, when your car breaks down, you can take it anywhere — your buddy’s garage, the shop down the street or wherever you trust. “But somehow with tech, we’ve let companies lock us into their ecosystem.”
What Is the Right to Repair?
Right to Repair is the idea that if you own something, you should be able to fix it — or take it to someone who can — without going through the original manufacturer. This concept pushes for laws that guarantee public access to the tools, parts and repair manuals needed to service a product. The Right to Repair movement began in the early 2000s, when independent auto repair shops pushed for access to diagnostic data held by dealerships. Since then, it has shifted toward consumer electronics, where software locks, glued-down components and serialized parts have made independent repair increasingly difficult.
“At its most basic level, the Right to Repair is a conflict between manufacturers and consumers,” Courtney Sarnow, an IP, technology and corporate law attorney at CM Law PLLC, told Built In.
But the conflict isn’t always about greed, it’s also about changing technology. Consumers love the convenience of smart devices — a washing machine that orders its own replacement filter, for example, or a car that finds the nearest coffee shop. But these features come with a tradeoff, Sarnow said: Devices that were once purely mechanical now run on integrated software systems. That means even basic repairs often require permission (or even a license) from the manufacturer. Repair jobs that used to just take tools and know-how now involve code, compliance and legal restrictions. As this kind of technology becomes more standard, repair is no longer just about physical parts, it’s about navigating a complex ecosystem that didn’t exist a generation ago.
Ultimately, the goal of Right to Repair is to prioritize restoration over replacement, making fixes more affordable while promoting a more sustainable economy and cutting down on electronic waste.
Why Is Right to Repair Important?
The Right to Repair movement is especially important in industries where manufacturers tightly control the maintenance of their products, such as electronics, appliances and vehicles. When companies restrict access to parts, tools and diagnostic software, they are effectively forcing consumers to rely on expensive authorized service networks, while third-party repair shops (which could offer faster, cheaper alternatives) are locked out of the process altogether. Right to Repair policies seek to level the playing field a bit, requiring manufacturers to make repair resources available so that individuals and small businesses can keep products working longer on their own terms.
It’s not just about cost or convenience either — this is also an environmental issue. When consumers can’t fix their own broken products easily or affordably, they’re more likely to toss them out and buy new ones, contributing to the growing piles of electronics and appliances sitting in our world’s landfills. These discarded items contain toxic materials that pollute surrounding land and water, and they’re a waste of valuable metals that are energy-intensive to extract. By making home and third-party fixes more accessible, the Right to Repair movement helps reduce unnecessary waste and supports a more sustainable approach to consumption.
This isn’t a fringe issue, public demand is strong and growing. One Consumer Reports survey of American adults conducted in 2021 recorded an overwhelming support for Right to Repair, with more than 80 percent of respondents expressing support for such policy. People appear to want the freedom to fix their own stuff — or at least have more of a say in who does. It’s a movement that goes deeper than just fixing things, though, it’s about ownership, autonomy and trust in the products we rely on every day.
Is the Right to Repair an Act, a Law, a Policy or a Movement?
The Right to Repair is simultaneously an act, a law, a policy and a movement, Sarnow explained.
Right to Repair as an Act
As an act, it exists in the form of legislative templates drafted by advocacy groups that are presented before state legislatures and Congress. Some versions, like the stalled federal REPAIR Act or the Agriculture Right to Repair Act, mirror that template closely.
Right to Repair as a Law
As a law, Right to Repair already exists in various forms across several states. Some are narrow, like Colorado’s law applying only to motorized wheelchairs, while others are more broad, like Oregon’s 2023 legislation, which covers consumer electronics but exempts vehicles and medical devices. The United States does not have any Right to Repair laws at the national level, but countries like Canada and Australia, as well as the European Union, do.
Right to Repair as a Policy
As a policy, Right to Repair is championed by consumer rights groups focused on restoring basic repair access. At its most expansive, that policy push calls for manufacturers to share proprietary information (including source code), which has sparked concerns around intellectual property and competition.
Some legal protections already exist under federal law, such as the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which bars manufacturers from voiding warranties just because a consumer used third-party parts or independent repair shops. But Right to Repair aims to go further than that — potentially far enough to force companies to open up systems they see as essential to product security and market advantage.
“The policy, as promoted by the chief advocates and activists in the movement,” Sarnow said, “would place consumers’ interest in being able to theoretically repair the goods they purchase above manufacturers’ interest in bringing technologically advanced goods to market.”
Right to Repair as a Movement
And as a movement, Right to Repair leans on the intuitive idea that if you bought it, you should be able to fix it. That’s a compelling argument rooted in property rights, but it becomes more complicated when applied to smart devices and software-driven machinery. Modern cars, for example, blend mechanical systems with encrypted tech that often requires specialized tools and skills to navigate. In those cases, the Right to Repair collides with the realities of complex design, data security and the economics of innovation.
“Opening proprietary software so competitors can steal it easily would destroy the incentive for manufacturers to provide cutting edge tech at competitive prices,” Sarnow noted. “That would likely result in fewer smart devices on the market at higher costs — a trade-off that consumer freedom wouldn’t offset in any meaningful way.”
How Does Right to Repair Play Out Politically?
Since their introduction, Right to Repair bills in the United States have consistently garnered bipartisan support, but they’ve never successfully cleared at the federal level. So far, they’ve surfaced in all 50 states, and as of March, at least 20 state legislatures are actively debating them.
As lawmakers shape what exactly a “right” to repair looks like, the bills themselves vary in scope. Some are only written for car manufacturers, while others exempt certain categories like medical devices or agricultural equipment, and others cast a wide net, covering all consumer electronics.
As for the current president, experts note that it’s hard to predict the Trump administration’s stance on the Right to Repair, which “can generally be characterized as lax,” according to one report. During his first term, Trump never directly addressed the issue. In fact, the closest he ever got to commenting on the issue was a social media post trolling McDonald’s perpetually “broken” ice cream machines, which is linked to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that restricts third-parties from fixing proprietary equipment, like McFlurry makers.
Overall, Trump’s relationship with Big Tech has been adversarial and inconsistent — at times attacking companies like Apple over censorship and trade, while also supporting deregulation efforts they favored. That ambiguity extends to Right to Repair, where Trump has remained uncharacteristically quiet.
Apple’s Role in the Right to Repair
Apple has long been one of the most influential — and polarizing — players in the Right to Repair movement.
For years, the company resisted reform, building locked-vault products. One of Apple’s most controversial practices has been parts pairing, which uses software to verify and approve each individual component. It may even disable functionality if a non-approved part is detected. That means even replacing a cracked screen or a battery with an identical used Apple part could trigger warning messages or break Face ID. While Apple has argued this is necessary to protect device security and performance, critics say it’s an anti-consumer tactic meant to control the repair market.
“I’ve sat across the table from Apple executives. I’ve researched their tactics extensively. They are absolutely the biggest roadblock we face,” Link said. He pointed to serialized parts, proprietary screws and glued-down components as deliberate design choices that hinder repair. Technicians in the TCA, he added, often have genuine Apple parts on hand, but then get locked out by software that refuses to recognize unregistered components. “It has nothing to do with quality or safety; it's about control and keeping those profit margins fat.”
Public and legislative pressure has started to shift Apple’s stance. In 2023, Apple surprised many by endorsing California’s Right to Repair bill — and in 2024, it announced it would begin supporting used genuine Apple parts in newer iPhones, easing some restrictions. Still, the company continues to oppose broader bans on parts pairing, including in Oregon, where lawmakers passed the first law outlawing the practice. Apple has also faced criticism for past practices like throttling older iPhone performance through software updates, which some saw as a form of planned obsolescence. As a result, Apple’s evolving position is seen as both a sign of progress and a reminder of how tightly repair access is still controlled and contested in the hands of manufacturers.
“Passing the law was just step one,” Link said. Now it’s about making sure they actually stick, without being undermined by exemptions and loopholes. “Even when we win, companies will spend millions to find ways to gut these laws.”
Right to Repair: A Timeline
From its automotive roots in the early 2000s to the high-stakes battles over consumer electronics today, the Right to Repair movement has evolved through two decades of legal milestones, industry pushback and shifting public opinion.
2001: The term “Right to Repair” is coined, entering policy discussions as Massachusetts and Congress introduce legislation focused on automotive repair access. This marks the movement’s formal beginning.
2012: Massachusetts becomes the first state to pass the nation’s first Right to Repair law, requiring carmakers to provide independent repair shops with access to diagnostic tools and data. The voter-approved ballot initiative set a national precedent.
2013: Under pressure from Massachusetts’ new law, automakers sign a nationwide memorandum of understanding. A uniform Right to Repair standard is established across all 50 states.
2017-2019: Right to Repair begins to expand into consumer tech as advocacy groups like iFixit and U.S. PIRG pressure electronics manufacturers. States begin introducing bills targeting smartphones, tablets and home appliances.
2017: Apple lobbies against state-level Right to Repair bills, warning lawmakers that consumer repair access would be great for hackers and that DIY fixes could trigger a security setting that would “brick” the device.
2021: President Joe Biden issues an executive order promoting competition, urging the Federal Trade Commission to curb manufacturers’ restrictions on independent repairs. It marks the first federal-level support for broad Right to Repair protections.
2022: New York passes the Digital Fair Repair Act, giving consumers and independent shops legal access to the components and information needed to fix common electronic devices.
2023: Apple launches its Self Service Repair program only for certain devices (iPhones and Macs) in select countries; however, the high costs and technical difficulty led many to see it as a strategic concession rather than a serious move toward supporting independent repair.
2024: California state senator Susan Eggman introduces SB 244, a broad Right to Repair bill aimed at electronics. Major tech companies, including Apple, quickly mobilize to shape the legislation.
2024: Despite the company’s previous support, Apple later testifies against Oregon’s Right to Repair bill, warning that a proposed ban on parts pairing would “undermine the security, safety and privacy of Oregonians” by allowing the use of parts “of unknown origin.”
July 2025: In a rare change of heart, Apple publicly backs California’s SB 244 in a letter to state lawmakers — while also pushing for limits and carveouts within the bill — which is signed into law.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Right to Repair law in California?
California’s Right to Repair law, SB 244, requires electronics manufacturers to provide consumers and independent repair shops with access to the parts, tools and documentation needed to fix devices, with requirements varying by product size and applying to goods sold after July 1, 2021.
Why is the Right to Repair important?
The Right to Repair gives consumers and independent shops the ability to fix products affordably and sustainably, reducing e-waste, extending device lifespans and promoting true ownership.
