Apple now offers tools and parts to repair your own iPad, but the instructions provided by Apple show that working on one of its tablets is not for the faint of heart.
Just removing the screen from an iPad Pro is a 32-step process that requires special tools to detach the glue, tape and screws holding everything together.
iPad repair is about as difficult as it gets
At the end of May, several iPad models joined the Self Service Repair program, Apple’s answer to criticism from “right to repair” advocates. It helps users set right the most common problems with its products, like broken screens or worn-out batteries.
But a report from iFixit covers just how challenging actually working on an iPad can be. The lengthy, delicate process for removing the display requires dealing with lots of glue and tape, unscrewing screws, plus disconnecting sensors, cameras, shields and cables.
Plus, glue and adhesive are required to reattach the various components when the repair is done.
As iFixit points out, the first step in virtually any iPad repair is removing the display, as this is the only way to access the interior of the tablet. So, those 32 steps are required before starting to fix anything else.
Take note that following the instructions that are part of the Self Service Repair program requires a set of tools that can be rented from Apple. For DIY, the rental costs $49 per week.
The program includes genuine Apple parts for sale. There might be some sticker shock for these — a replacement 13-inch iPad display costs $749.
To be fair, iFixit says Apple’s repair guides are “excellent,” and that removing and replacing an iPad display is “totally doable, with patience, the right tools, and a great step-by-step guide.”
But there’s also the warning that “the iPad is a real bear to repair, probably the hardest to fix of all Apple’s products (not counting disposable gadgets like the AirPods Pro).”
To be clear, iFixit offers its own DIY tools and iPad repair guides (like this one for the 11-inch iPad Pro), so it might be a bit biased against Apple’s versions.
Make iPad more like iPhone
In recent years, Apple made great strides toward making iPhone far more repairable. Most notably, the back of recent iOS handsets can open to replace the battery so that removing the screen isn’t required for this common DYI fix.
None of that applies to iPad. That’s why the iPhone 16 gets a 7 out of 10 on iFixit’s repairability scale after a teardown, while the M4 iPad Pro gets a 3.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
