Will doing this void my warranty?

October 24, 2010 1:36 PM

I know this is a long shot, but I've seen answers here before on occasion from Apple techs: Could someone tell me once and for all if this is a Bad Idea That Is Going to Void My Warranty?
posted by 4ster to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Apple's Limited Warranty for iPhone excludes coverage for damage resulting from accident, disassembly, unauthorized service and unauthorized modifications.

If you want to get niggly, that doesn't necessarily include the simple act of opening the case and changing stuff as long as you don't break anything. But actually winning that argument is probably going to be another matter altogether.
posted by Su at 2:00 PM on October 24, 2010

If you want warranty service, remove the third-party backing and replace it with the original. Then the issue will be irrelevant, because they see a completely unmodified phone.
posted by jrockway at 2:02 PM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

It looks like a Good Idea That Is Nevertheless Going To Void Your Warranty.
posted by valrus at 2:05 PM on October 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

If you want warranty service, remove the third-party backing and replace it with the original. Then the issue will be irrelevant, because they see a completely unmodified phone.

But is anything broken, such as a seal, when you unscrew these screws?
posted by 47triple2 at 2:05 PM on October 24, 2010

But is anything broken, such as a seal, when you unscrew these screws?

Kind Of.

I know that when I took apart my iPod a while back, there was a seal I had to break to put in a new battery that explicity said "If you break this, you are voiding your warranty". You might be able to change the case without breaking said seal though, as (iirc) it onlyblocks the internal parts.
posted by sophist at 3:29 PM on October 24, 2010

But is anything broken, such as a seal, when you unscrew these screws?

Probably Not. iFixIt's Teardown Suggests No.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:19 PM on October 24, 2010

But replacing the original cover if and when you ever seek "official" repairs is a smart idea, whether that's Apple or any other hardware manufacturer.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:20 PM on October 24, 2010

I doubt the back is as fragile as they want people to believe, but if you don't like the current back, or prefer this one I'd say go for it if you have the necessary tools and have done anything like this before. You can always start then chicken out and you're only out the cost of the back if you think it's harder than it looks.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:20 PM on October 24, 2010

This one's easy: walk into an Apple store, go up to the genius bar, hand them the phone and the new back cover, and ask them to install it (and to make a note that they did it and the warranty is intact.) If they tell you that you can make the change yourself without voiding the warranty, have them make a note to that they've told you that.
posted by davejay at 6:56 PM on October 24, 2010

Best answer: As a person who fixes iPhone 4s for a living at an Apple store, yes, this would void your warranty. But seriously, just go for it. I'm doing it too.

There is no permanent seal that would be broken by replacing your phone back. As long as you remember to save your original back and can put it back on without damaging your phone, you're going to be fine. If you bring in the phone with a non-apple part on it then we're going to deny you service, but if you put your original back back on there's no way they'd ever know.

Speaking as a MeFite and NOT as an official Apple employee, just go for it.
posted by raygan at 8:39 PM on October 24, 2010

Davejay: Apple won't install your 3rd party part for you, regardless of warranty status or concerns. MAYBE RAM if it's slow at the Genius Bar, but please ask nicely.
posted by now i'm piste at 9:33 PM on October 24, 2010

Wow. That thing looks really slick. Please post an update here after you do it to let us know how it went.

One thing to consider (but you surely know this already): they say this thing protects your iPhone, but it only protects the back glass (protects it by replacing it, I mean). I'd think this will do nothing to protect your iPhone in the event that it's dropped. Apple's bumpers do a good job of protecting in the event of a drop... but wow... an iPhone 4 with that back just might be perfection!
posted by 2oh1 at 5:11 PM on October 25, 2010