DIY repair site iFixit has launched its own app for iOS and Android, featuring its extensive library of repair guides and resources, a battery health monitor, and a new AI “FixBot” tool that’s been trained on those same guides to help with repairs.
The heart of the new app is the company’s existing library of repair guides, optimized for your mobile device. You can save the devices you own, giving you quick access to the relevant resources, and buy both tools and replacement parts from within the app.
What’s entirely new is FixBot, an AI helper designed to talk you through repairs and troubleshooting. “You tell it what’s happening: your phone dies at 30 percent, your washing machine won’t drain, your mower sputters and stalls,” CEO Kyle Wiens says in a blog post. “It asks follow-up questions. It eliminates possibilities. It thinks out loud with you, the way a master technician would, until the diagnosis clicks into place. Then it finds the parts and walks you through step by step.”
iFixit says the bot pulls its answers from its repair guides, cache of PDF manuals, and user forums. For devices without a dedicated iFixit guide already, the bot “will do its best with manufacturer docs, targeted web searches and information from similar models,” according to Wiens. Right now FixBot is entirely free to use, but eventually its voice controls and document uploads will be limited to a $4.99/month paid plan, with access limits applied to the free version too.
There are other app-specific features that take advantage of being installed on your phone or tablet. If you have an issue with the hardware it’s installed on, it will automatically detect the model, saving you from searching. It also taps into your phone’s battery information to report on your battery health. Most modern phones now include built-in battery health scores anyway, but iFixit’s unique touch is to predict future battery degradation, helping you plan a replacement ahead of time.
“We want to demystify batteries for people,” Wiens told my colleague Sean Hollister. “It should be like an oil change, you know when you’ll need to replace it and plan on regular maintenance.”
The iFixit app is available now on both iOS and Android. It isn’t actually iFixit’s first app, but it’s been a while — the company first launched an iPhone app in 2011, but a few years later was banned from the App Store for tearing down an Apple TV developer unit. Apparently it’s taken until now to get App Store access again (and Wiens’ personal developer account is still on the naughty list) but hopefully it’ll stick this time — he says iFixit has made sure Apple knows it still intends to teach people how to open up their devices.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
