I didn't watch this whole video, i stopped when the guy said he could buy replacement parts for from china. While i have no interest or incentive to defend apple, I will admit, there has to be a part of apple that doesn't want generic parts being used for replacement parts. Apple typically has superior hardware and to start replacing it with "knock off parts" doesn't seem like a great idea. If you owned a Lamborghini and the motor went bad, you wouldn't replace it with a motor from a kia would you?
I'm glad you were open and honest at the fact that you didn't listen to a word I said. Those are literally used sensors from other Macbooks, the only reason they do not work is because the calibration routine for the sensor is not included with the device that you paid $3000 for. Pinning as an example of a braindead post.
no, but if that part from kia is sold to lamborghini and used the same, but if you buy it for lamborghini costs more, than why not. i have seen a guy that worked to repair an expensive car, that he found out the same parts were the same as a economical car maker, it was some indicators or something... just put upside down in the expensive car... there was a diference ike 300 to 2.5 dollars. or just now i was checking the fuel filter for lamborghini gallardo of 2014 is sold for 87dollar, while it is 19.65 if ou buy for other models. the filter is the same, mann filter
Lamborghini has a long history of using parts from cheap cars. Like tail lights, and other bits of trim. Why pay the Lamborghini price if its the same exact part?
Back in the late 80's, I did board level repair for a tech company. It didn't matter what computer came in, they all used off the shelf parts that were easy to source. Power supplies, motherboards, hard drives, monitors, you name it, we fixed it. Not allowing right to repair is a scam. It is a money grab. Keep fighting the good fight Louis, or we all lose.
Because of what I've learned from Louis, about how Apple truly treats its customers, I will no longer purchase another Apple device. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but I've spent over 10 grand on Apple products over the years. No more. I'm switching to a brand that allows third party repair to fix any problem I might have with no hassles.
@@Mizuumisan Sometimes we need those even though we don't want to. I know a friend who is a Windows fanboy (he's a hardcore gamer and can do game from 6 to 6) but he forced to used Mac's ecosystem because he needed to. Poor him.
It's insane how innovative and smart the whole repair industry is becoming. And all because these big companies don't want them to do it. This is really a perfect example of how life will find a way and humans being at their best!
I also don't want them to do it, currently Louis is enabling dumbass apple users to keep depending on apple products by fixing it instead of saying "it's dead, buy a brand that can be repaired". Of course he's running a business and money is money so that point is moot after all, but the solution to this is obvious, just not obvious to dumbass apple consumers who keep giving Louis money whose business would cease to exist if people learned to cope with buyers remorse, deal with losses, and buy a repairable laptop that's so easy to fix that Louis isn't needed and anyone can fix their laptop at home.
It also brings money to your business. "I/My business can repair/replace [Apple Product] (components) at a cheaper price than Apple WITHOUT the [Apple Product] knowing!"
Very good point (though no one will read this). Nature will find away to protect its interest, in any given situation. Since the human interest seems to be our own security, which then is equated in our minds and society to money, these large groups of people work together to create systems that assure they make the most possible by protecting against the actions of others. We get into the aspect of right to repair and the meaning of ownership in a different conversation. It is and amazing aspect of nature here; apple not letting anyone else repair their custom devices. Really, we as a larger group of people (consumers) can fight this easily. We just don’t mess with the group defending a it’s interest. By not buying their product at all. They will die out and the groups making things that are repairable will thrive. Easy peasy.. right? That said, I fight for right to repair, and support it fully, and yet just bought a MacBook used. So, exhibiting a nice bit of cognitive dissonance right there (another aspect of human nature)
They are open sourcing the software to do this after 350 orders (already 14% there). This is really a great thing; it pays for the development of the device but allows everyone access it eventually. Really impressed.
They need to add a second item, for those of us with no need of the tool, but will to throw €5 toward the cause of open sourcing this. Maybe throw a nerdtool sticker in an envelope, but not necessary.
@@Bialy_1and after 350 units are sold the project goes open source. This way the work which was put into it for development and research gets compensated. Not a bad thing.
@@Bialy_1 You mean... He is planning to sell a tool to help repairmen better fix your property? OH NO! How could someone sell things to professionals for them to do their jobs.
We had our commercial espresso machine go out on us recently. After some troubleshooting I found the problem was with the circuitboard somehwere. I contacted the manufacturer and described the problem - the heating elements in the boiler weren't turning off and it was overheating. They said it needed a new board, but they cost nearly $2000 (!) So this was a huge incentive for me to get out my multimemeter and go around the board looking for a fault. I found two faulty triacs (they control the heating elements and there were three of them). I replaced them and it's working perfectly now. They cost about $8 each. I replaced all three triacs and with shipping it cost me $46. I had to get help from an electronics forum, with pictures and start to build a picture of how the circuit board worked and find out what the various components were, what they did and what they controlled. I'm glad this was a fairly easy fix, but they weren't too forthcoming with a circuit diagram or any other help. They also ghosted me when I told them I'd found the problem and was ordering the new parts for $46 🙂
@@onemprod Yeah, it was the cherry on the top and I learned something new along the way. 🙂 I ain't paying two grand for something that should only cost maybe a few hundred tops, even if it was a bit specialized. 2 big ones? They're having a frikkin laugh....
When I was a kid - my parents bought my Grandfather a Hifi set. It came with a user guide AND **SCHEMATICS** - so any company could fix it. That should be the default for any over the counter electronic device.
even the faceid pairing is not a security problem because the device REQUIRES a pin after a reboot which is also required to recognize a new faceid device. apple's claims for "security" are just pure bullshit
@@zahnatomif they had just 1 or 2 things that requires pairing and DETAILED reasons why, I think most would be like ok. But when EVERYTHING is paired for just generic safety and security reasons. It has to be safety and security of thier revenue stream.
I don’t fix Apple devices anymore because of all the crap Apple does to stop us nowadays, but I LOVE to see their anti-repair tactics foiled. Hopefully we get more of this. Great job to everybody involved!!!
@@silverhawkscape2677Given enough time, _any_ booby trap these fat-cat companies set can and _will_ be circumvented and/or neutralized. Consider how much (or how little) time it took hackers like Empress to defeat Denuvo!
If it were a real security issue, Apple would have used an old-fashioned, mechanical switch, and / or would have added a light to the lid to show the operator that the laptop was still active.
Wait, you mean a mechanical interlock that is so dead simple it never breaks, AND keeps the lid closed until you want it open?! That would make far too much sense! We must think different!
Congratulations to everybody involved in this tool's development and thank you Louis for sharing it with us. You have become a symbol to us all. May God bless you in your journey, we all support you man!
Going forward, that last part of the video might be the most important. That the current gen of hardware is now reparable is great, but without some sort of sword of Damocles to stop them, does anyone want to give odds on the next version breaking that tool? Public shaming is about the only tool we have that can be used right now to avoid getting kicked back down the hill. I don't know how well it would work to make it clear that they will get called out for changing things, but I don't know of a better strategy.
Unfortunately once Apple sees this bypass, rest assured they will come up with an uncrackable version with better encryption. It's a never ending cat and mouse game (Clinton vs. Apple lol) By the way, normally there should be NO need for calibration as each MacBook has the same case and closing angle. Obviously this just another Apple BS.
I love the way they sell their boards. After 350 orders they will open source it. That's perfect. It takes care of the missing income of open source hardware/software, and is still open source once the developer has made "enough" money to sustain their living. From that point, people are welcome to create their own so that also those people who cannot afford one, can use it.
Damn that is actually an awesome model to keep open source running as a concept. I always liked those projects that open source everything so you can DIY but if not you can still buy the completed product straight from the source
This right here is why I'm against "intellectual property". The ability to be paid for the work *you do* should have nothing to do with the ability to leverage the "product" of that work against those that need it more and can therefore be extracted from with greater prejudice. Legally this is called largess and it means to have an *arbitrary* choice over which laws apply to whom with regards to A piece of property.
@@webbugt Especially when something is primarily made for consumers and even if it doesn't require any coding, a LOT of people would rather pay 150 bucks for a finished gadget than tinker around for even an hour with some OSS.
I hope they will go for something like CERN-OHL-S. It would let anyone develop the product further, but at the condition that the hardware design stays open
So, are Apple products actually easily reparable once you get past an artificial hurdle? I assume there is a limit once you get past a certain level of SoC integration.
rossmanngroup.com/sleeptool For those wondering why this matters, wHy nOT JuST hAvE ApPlE fIX iT, sometimes Apple tells customers they need an entire motherboard replacement when the only issue with the machine is the angle sensor: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yG6hCH3XAJE.html Not allowing us access to the tool to do the repair means the customer is forced to pay Apple for motherboard replacement when they do not need it. Learn more about the issue here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RIFQC8iA65k.html
The one thing that makes me most angry is that consumers are our own biggest enemy. It’s so hard to educate the average person to actually care about R2R. If you explain it, they get it, but they don’t care enough to fight for it. This is because of dozens of reasons, but we honestly need to drag the average person kicking and screaming into the future if we’re going to get anywhere. I understand why so many people get burnt out trying to help this movement. Thanks Louis and Nerd Tool!
It's the same everywhere. Fast fashion? It's a problem, but how do we realistically fight it? Predatory freemium monetization that abuses FOMO in games? Even though everyone recognizes it's bad at this point, that doesn't stop it from being effective against the consumer it's psychologically designed to target. Unfortunately these problems are bigger than individuals, or boycotts, etc, because they're designed either to trap people in a dependency for which there is no alternative, or to weaponize understandings about statistically significant populations' psyches. I can't blame the consumers for a tool designed to manipulate them being effective, but at the same time, the only way for us to claw our way out of these things is by making them ineffective, which requires leveraging those same consumers. Definitely a vicious cycle, definitely doesn't feel like it's likely to get better in many of these areas for a long time, and if it does, it seems likely to me that it gets a lot worse before it gets any better
It's not the average person you need to educate, that's why it's so hard. iPhones are a status symbol, a luxury brand. It's not for the average Joe. Not owning a refurbished piece of equipment is part of the image. What apple want to establish is you're practically unable to join the club by buying second hand.
Is it still a case though? It doesn’t feel a luxury anymore, around me at least. I think people wants to be able to fix their iPhones and macs for reasonable price and not buying new one often
@@gusteyigor It's not that it's luxury because it's good, it's luxury because it's overpriced for its value. That's all "Paying for the brand" ever is. A lot of people still have that mentality, as someone who works in an IT space and noting some of the people who request macs, not because they have any actual reason to want a mac (Softwares, use cases, etc) but just because they wanna look like a certain kind of person and they think a mac fits that image better. They're essentially cosmetic as far as some of these peeps are concerned, so the status symbol overview is pretty on the nose. Those are the same people who will get annoyed at us when Apple does some random anti-consumer thing, as if we have control over Apple and as if they didn't very intentionally go into that ecosystem themselves lol
@@Nudgarrobot I understood what he meant by that. But I thought people don't do this any more, at least in US. I live in US now but I'm from East Europe and there is definitely the case. People obsess about Iphones, some even buy iphones with credit money just to look "cool".
Good idea. Only problem is that Android accessibility is nowhere near as good as Apple, so, us blind folks are just going to keep buying IPhones.@@cagneybillingsley2165
Don't worry, this will be fixed in the next patch "Removed the ability to use external calibration tools to calibrate the angle sensor". Apple don't want you fixing their stuff, they want you to buy new ones!
CVE2023-1111A There exists a vulnerability in the screen angle sensor replacement that will allow an unauthorized attacker to home invade you and kill your kids and kick your dog. Apple has removed the ability to replace the sensor after version 10.15.7 blocking this attack and providing pie and punch for everyone.
Likely impossible without new parts. It's most likely a standard SPI flash just like a bios. Which means that the Apple calibration tool is likely something like flashrom (because why not rub it in by using open source software) which flashes the tiny rom with the calibration settings. At a guess, the way this was reverse engineered was by reading the SPI flash of a few working units and seeing there were no differences in the code. From there it's just a matter of making the board to make it easy.
well apparently the people still buying apple products want to...how else can they brag to their fake friend coffee group that they got the new iphone gazillion and are having louis rossman repair it 😂😂😂
The sensor needing calibration is fine and normal. The procedure not being built into the device with a simple wizard in some service mode is beyond any explanation - amazing work on reverse engineering that!
That's not even normal nor acceptable. A new sensor should be flashed so that it assumes that its initial state is closed because the technician working on the machine would only be able to do so with a closed lid. Edge cases could be worked around by having a reset button in the motherboard.
German engineering triumphs again. No but in all seriousness, even though I don't even own any Mac, thanks to everyone involved for sticking the finger to Apple.
I wouldn’t call myself a security expert, but I am currently working on my masters in cyber security. I personally can’t think of a single way that Apple’s “solution” provides security to the end user. It does the opposite lol
yes, the only precaution against eavesdropping would be a clear indicator that the mic is on (or at least that the machine is running - which they deliberately _removed_ in the newer ones by replacing the transparent logo with an all black one!)
Brilliant work to the team. It's people like you all that make the world a better place. Shame on you Apple for not being supportive. Now, IF Apple does something malicious to make it so this calibration tool stops working, I say it's time to take action against Apple.
Apple really doesn't have any leverage in this case as I see it. Unless they start using their own proprietary angle sensors, which wouldn't make economic sense.
I have to give this man credit for not only figuring out how to program the sensor, but creating a tool and deciding to sell it to anyone that wants it. It would have been more profitable to buy the sensors from the manufacturer, program them, and then sell the programmed sensors for 10-100 times the cost of the unprogrammed sensors. It would result in many more sales at a higher profit margin and no one other than apple would complain about it. The repair community is much richer for the work this man has done and his ethics in not choosing to maximize his profits.
This really is a nice new invention that opens up doors to calibrating other components in other apple products. If apple software or hardware engineers make amendments to this then they will have made a conscious decision and we will have concrete evidence of this. Evidence against all those supporters and legislators who oppose right to repair.
The way to calibrate this specific sensor does not necessary have anything in common with anything else in a Apple product. The caibration routine is device- and manufacturer-specific.
Was wondering if this means a solution could eventually be reached for calibrating a new screen? Or if their system configuration tool is a different ballgame.
It depends on what calibrating a new screen entails. Is is something in the screen (display) that needs to be set, or is it something in EFI (the mainboard) that needs to be set - i don't know. But everything is doable is you just probe and research enough. With stuff being obfuscated and no way of "looking over the shoulder" while Apple calibrates a screen, it's hard to know what is really going on.@@notmyname6452
The German dude said he was tinkering in Arduino and then got other people, more proficient than him, to finish the fix, so yeah, the path to achieve the fix is now open but it will need to be reimplemented for all other devices that Apple shits out too
I have long been thinking why people haven't created DIY calibrators for apple components before. Very glad this is starting. Onto iphone screens, etc.
Good solution! This problem only occurred in new models due to the changed magnet design! In previous models (a2141), the magnet was always in a certain position and this problem did not arise.
It comes to mind that basing their business model on increasing absolute losses to only spur repairmen to innovate both loses them massive amounts of money, but makes repairmen richer. **Ideally, we wouldn't need this rigmarole, but I love how it always tends towards the benefit of the product owners and secondary markets in spite of a malevolent first party** .
It's weird when I miss Jobs, Apple got so much more anti-consumer after he died, and they were far from perfect beforehand but at least you could still fix things without having to homebrew tools to do tasks that used to be possible in the device's software.
This is fantastic news! Having access to a third-party repair service that not only costs less but also delivers superior quality over Apple is a significant advantage.
Kudos to Stephan and his partners for making this happen! Here's hoping the word gets out and repair shops can support the work of his team to keep fixes like this coming!
This wonderful German man is doing God's work. The fact his team developed a tool to make this possible is truly a good thing for Mac owners. Thank you Louis for featuring him.
This wonderful German man is doing God's work... Since at least 1939 this sentence isn't usually followed by good news. Glad we finally get to celebrate something good coming from Germany again.
Ah yes I remember that passage, apple1 verse 2 "and God wanted to have apple parts replaceable and so he buildeth thy calibration tool, but was lost to the floods".
This guy is great Louis thanks for highlighting him. You know how you know its not about security, you said it right in the beginning, the thing stays awake with a bad sensor. smh..
This is fantastic news! Heaven knows you needed a morale boost like this. We're rooting for you and the Right To Repair movement from all over the globe.
I was expecting Stephan to capitalise on this genius tool by selling it for $500+ but was happily surprised that he's made it extremely affordable, even for a DIY repair, at only €169!!! Even though I do not own ANY Apple products, I thank you wholeheartedly for your efforts with this and wish you all the best with developing similar devices for other locked out anti repair hardware on other Apple devices. ❤ To Louis and Stephan From Australia ❤
@@DaRealV i mean he did really heavy lifting in reverse engineering so i completely understand that he wants to earn some money from it i just really hope apples cease and desist doesn't come to him
@dairiskuznecovs7233 Huh ? He just did the one thing people didn't bother to do and read the fucking chip datasheet to send i2c calibration commands. 169€ is extremely expensive. That card should not cost more than 15€ all in to make.
yhe and wat about the time to make sure it works? you pay for more then just the parts you pay for a proven solution and the parts. also aparently after 350 unit sold it wil go open sorce. YOU are not made to buy it you are perfectly within your rights to do it yourself if you can@@henria.277
I love it when intelligent people get together and solve problems such as this. Corporations use the "security " excuses to keep you from getting your own product repaired.
I've never even owned an Apple product but this is great. A lot of Apple BS trickles down to other manufacturers so stuff like this might be something we'll see more often in the future. Great to see there are people finding their way around it.
@@ReelixThat's very disingenious, €169 per unit and after 350 units it will be opensource, that does get to ~60k, but you have to think about the time and cost it has taken to make this tool. He just wants to be compensated for that time, and also the time and effort to build each of those units. He could've also decided to never make it open source
Its why they gave China the data of hong kong protesters and full access. they use the lie of privacy but the protestors had to switch to samsung and most likely utilized its customizability to download a better OS.
I can't say they are malicious/evil in EVERY way, but definitely in most ways that *matter* Aluminum as a casing material? Fancy. Silicon tech? Rad. Software design? Refined as heck. *Then they DRM the shit out of their stuff, overprice and gatekeep.*
I made a clone of a proprietary repair tool once. It's for Brinks security systems from the 00's. Programming the system requires a proprietary handheld device that connects to the system, which was only given to Brinks employees. But I found one on eBay, reverse engineered it, and wrote some software that replicates its functionality. It's helped many people get their system working when they otherwise would have had to buy a new one or sign up for a monitoring contract.
@@johnpublic6582 My cousin played in MLB. His High Desert affiliate coach always said : "if you dont work hard this year, next year there is always someone YOUNGER, SMARTER , FASTER, STRONGER than you that will take your job"
Their main business is hardware. The operating systems come free with the hardware It makes sense that THEY are able to do the repairs (against a fee, of course). But they're going about it the wrong way right now
this is brilliant, even when you are an Apple technician, you are only able to perform screen calibration when you have an open repair and use a new lid angle sensor. They are a one-shot device and if you calibrate it incorrectly, you cannot re-calibrate it, and it must be replaced again. But even when you have access to these tools you cannot simply throw lid angle sensors at random MacBooks. If you want to you have to have a repair open which means that whole process has to be followed. I’ve always been curious and have not believed that tiny chip could be all that complex and I am glad that someone has finally figured it out so people can just fix their MacBooks that they own, and should be able to do whatever they want with.
I was having quite an exhausting day and been watching your videos. I can't remember if I told you, but I called your shop and told them how much I appreciate all the good work they are doing. They were very receptive of it, and that was awesome. I share your channel with people almost every day. You do great work, as always. Thank you.
@@elenabob4953 That's highly unlikely, they already have engineers that do their every bidding, and even if somehow it did happen, Apple would just find new engineers.
Apple only cares about money. I bought my first Apple product 2 years ago, a Macbook Pro M1. Here in Montreal, Canada, it costs me $4195 CAD including taxes. 6 months later, I broke a key on the keyboard. I booked an appointment with a technician at Apple. He said: "I'll try to fix the key for free but if I can't, it's going to cost $833 CAD to replace the keyboard." What's the point of the famous AppleCare+ thing! Luckily, in the end, he was able to fix the single key for free but I don't understand how replacing a keyboard could be that expensive. I replaced the keyboard on my Lenovo ThinkPad X1, it costs me $70 and took 15 minutes. 😂
I agree with the initial basic conclusion. That it isn't nor was it ever intended to be any particular security feature, as evident by its failure state; full self-defeat of that supposed "security function", with little to no indicator to the user that something is wrong. Arguably even worse; it packs the lock so the door closes as usual but the lock silently doesn't engage. It would be like having locking bolts on a safe door, with a sensor that detects them starting to move, and then activates some electric actuators that assists the movement to make them lighter to cycle. But designing it so that if that sensor fails, when you rotate the wheel to cycle the bolts, it will rotate as if everything was fine but "under the hood" the actuators didn't get triggered so the locking bolts never moved. If the door front facia didn't overlap the opening, it might be possible for you to shine a flashlight in the gap and notice that the bolts are not engaged. But with no significant indicator that something is wrong, you certainly wouldn't do that because there would be no reason to suspect something was wrong. So you'd leave it like that thinking it's safely locked, when in reality the door is closed but that's it.
I love the international collaboration and effort in the fight for right to repair. This tool is so cool! I hope you guys are able to help as many customers as possible before Apple pins them down again.
Why do I feel like that'll play out like the McDonald Ice-Cream Machine story where the company who made the machine tried to sue the couple who made the tool to allow the store workers at McDonald to fix the basic stuff, like unclogging the nozzle and delete the error code to allow operation to continue?
@@mantacid1221 Seems like you found the story I was referring to... But if you concider that the maker of the ice-cream machine is one of the largest shareholders of McDonald and McDonald one of their largest shareholders...it kind of makes sense :(
Good one Louis, and your good German friend. Amazing that the electronic equivalent of a DIP switch can't be fixed without tools but the pc/lap-top can't handle...Good on the man there!
this is what ive been waiting for. if companies are going to get away with bricking devices you paid for, we as consumers or repairmen should find ways to once again own what we paid for
yup... this is exactly what i was saying about the sobny headphones, batteries run down becaue they ARE IN USE. whether mic or camera or what have you.. you're not only tracked (blutooth to phone to gps etc), but also recorded. .. NON STOP surveillance. :(
I love how it's such a small tool too. And simple! Just two buttons and three LEDs. One two done. Everybody should be able to repair stuff as easily as this.
Louis, I'm not an Apple fan, but I am a fan of Right To Repair and Apple has always been one of the largest violators of Right To Repair. So, any time someone can "stick it to the man" it makes me smile and feel like we're all winning just a little bit. I applaud and thank you for all of your hard work on Right To Repair and I also thank and applaud your German friend for his hard work on "sticking it to the man".
As a avid hardware hacker/phreaker I love exploring people's custom hardware builds like this device. I love when there's a successful instance of breaking hardware and software limitations and I would of loved to have been in the room with the team that cracked this problem and ended up with the prototype. At defcon last month we did a lot of cool stuff like this and this makes me miss it all over again. Very cool success story
THIS is why the community and the industry NEED you Louis, your leadership and your team. It makes a difference in hearts and minds and eventually that shines through. The business soup is slow and stuck in its ways but you are doing important work yourself and with FUTO.
For those that query why focus on one companies products, the answer is pretty simple really. People need them repairing often enough and they can't do it themselves and nor can they send it to apple because of the cost. It reduces waste and makes money, but it should be easier. It is important to note Louis is actually arguing for more competition in his sector. And these tools enable that competition.
