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The Case of Apple's Mystery Screw
Pickens writes "Network World reports that in the past if you wanted to remove the outer case on your iPhone 4 to replace the battery or a broken screen, you could use a Phillips screwdriver to remove two tiny screws at the base of the phone and then simply slide off the back cover. But now Apple is replacing the outer screw with a mysterious tamper-resistant 'pentalobular' screw across its most popular product lines, making it harder for do-it-yourselfers to make repairs. What about existing products in the field? Pentalobular screws might find their way into them, too. 'Apple's latest policy will make your blood boil,' says Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit. 'If you take your iPhone 4 into Apple for any kind of service, they will sabotage it by replacing your Phillips screws with the new, tamper-resistant screws. We've spoken with the Apple Store geniuses tasked with carrying out this policy, and they are ashamed of the practice.' Of course, only Apple-authorized service technicians have Pentalobular screwdrivers and they're not allowed to resell them. 'Apple sees a huge profit potential,' says Wiens. 'A hundred dollars per year in incremental revenue on their installed base is a tremendous opportunity.'"
Thanks, Apple! I love being told I'm a fucking idiot and shouldn't be allowed to open my PURCHASED device, should I choose to do so.
Yes, that goes for all companies that use screwy screws like this.
Living With a Nerd
This screw design was patented in - 1974. Yeah keep that conspiracy going, boys. Especially when the screwdriver costs $2.35.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
screwdriver bits coming out of China via eBay in 3...2...1...
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
- just another word for I want your money
Apple has become an evil empire. I still hold out hope for Google.
We're complaining about their choice of screws now?
Isn't that called theft?
Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
Of course, only Apple-authorized service technicians have Pentalobular screwdrivers and they're not allowed to resell them.
In before someone simply makes one and sells it online.
It's just a screw, not a miracle of modern engineering.
Doesn't matter what the bit looks like - a screwdriver is just a piece of metal. And reverse-engineering the design couldn't be simpler. If there's any real demand for opening Apple cases (and there is), expect these screwdrivers to show up for sale very soon.
Nintendo tried doing a similar thing with their NES and SNES game cases, but "gamebits" are not at all hard to find for anyone who wants them.
Apple likes speed bump security. They did it on the music system. THey create technical obstacles to casual piracy but don't worry about locking it down. I noticed in my imac and powerbook computers the clever use of different screw types for regions that should be easy for a user to access and ones that it would likely not be neccessary for a user to access or might contain fragile parts. very smart.
I've also admites the way apple, unlike Dell and others, minimizes the number of screw types in use so I usually only need 2 tools to get in. this nice detail has become more consistent with each generation of mac.
SO now we have a 5 sided screw. So it discourages casual opening but prevents absolutely no one from getting inside if they want to.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
How convenient that just by pure accident, the same site that posted the article has a screwdriver for sale that fits that darn impossible pentalobe screw :) Oh, what are the chances?
Changing screws won't keep determined /. users out. Still I think it's a dumb idea and though my AAPL stock is up, I'm glad I bought an Android phone.
and step gently into the Pentalobular while muttering "Jobs is my God"
2. Yes, special screwdrivers will stop the casual tinker, but not a business man, or any other determined person. This is why most normal businesses do not use weird screws as security. The idea just pisses off your customers WITHOUT in anyway affecting competitors.
3. Apple has always been a control freak of a company. Luckily, their are other products out there that are cheaper, just as well built, that encourage more tinkering (aka android).
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
When I google "torx 5 point" sans quotes i get a ton of results for suitable bits.
Does Apple have some special version that are incompatible with these?
One place where I'm happy about tamper proof screws is elevators... At least Kone seems to have their very own screw for this purpose.
.: Max Romantschuk
It looks as if all you need are five pieces of piano wire, or guitar string, suitably fastened together to approximate this; maybe with a smaller diameter wire in the center of the bunch. I think a suitably dimensioned tube over these would hold everything together, at least as much as you would need to torque a small screw.
Security bit tool set, $3 for the small one, $7 for the large one.
Problem solved.
So go ahead, set your iPhone free with our iPhone 4 Liberation Kit! Rid your phone of those terrible Pentalobe screws forever. The $9.95 kit includes a Pentalobe driver, 2 replacement PHILLIPS screws, and a regular #00 Phillips screwdriver.
I suppose they weren't selling all that many of these so they decided to go ahead and do some mud-raking to generate sales. You can even get one of these screwdrivers for less if you shop around. How about iFixit's diabolical plan to screw you out of a few dollars on tools?
Right back at you.
iPhone 4 Liberation Kit
http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPhone-4-Liberation-Kit/IF182-019
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Ehhh.. Nintendo has had funny screws on their systems for a while. I think everything past the NES and the GB have had funny screws (IE. Triwing screws, or ones requiring security bits). Luckily, screwdrivers or bits for swappable screwdrivers are very cheap (less than $3), and as others have noted above, so are these ones. Whatever. It prevents the morons who just open things because they can from opening them. It's not hard or expensive to get in to the device, you just have to actually WANT to get in, by paying a few bucks.
A quick Google found a cheap and easy kit for removing and replacing these screws. You can probably get the screwdriver alone for less.
My guess is that the point, like most roadblocks on customers, is to discourage casual hobbyists from messing with their devices. Everyone else can get around it pretty easily.
Just another reason to buy an Android phone and not an iPhone. Maybe I'll buy a PC laptop instead of that MacBook Pro I was thinking of buying in case they decide to pull crap like this on their other lines of products.
Weird. I've had a bit for that in my screwdriver for years. And anyone who *wanted* to open that screw could easily do so - you just need to attach to it in a way strong enough to withstand the torque needed. Any one of those magic "stripped-screwhead removal" tools would do it just by drilling a new top to it, and there are tools that will do it without damaging the screw. Then replace with Philips if you really wanted to.
If you work in console repair, or any sort of electronics repair, you've been able to open these for years.
Further proof that Apple is evil.
Actually, it's just a pentalobular screw. Many tool vendors already have these You just have to look a bit. If you have some patience, you can make one yourself.
If Microsoft did this, somehow the screws would allow hackers to remotely take over your system. Five years from now a patch would be applied in the form of masking tape over the screw heads.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Apple has perfected the "closed world" model of computing.
IME, and I'd be happy to be wrong, the only modern phone that isn't 100% vendor/carrier lockin bullshit is the Nexus, and only if you bought it right from Google.
If putting my app on MY device is harder than copying a .jar file over USB, it's not my device, it's bullshit.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
Take a picture of your laptop or device, carefully documenting the screws.
Take it in for service
Tell them not to change the screws
If they change the screws, ask them to put the old ones back.
Document change in screws
Take it to your states AG, and start a criminal investigation.
ITS YOUR COMPUTER, if they change it against your will, we have laws to protect you. It is illegal for them to do this without your permission.
1999 just called. They want to borrow your tired argument because their copy just died.
While its true you can buy screwdrivers to open them...
Why aren't they using Philips? What's the point? Why are they REPLACING the Philips?
Its clear that its an attempt to have less people open them. Its just like DRM. You just piss off some consumers, even though in the end you have no real effect.
This has a picture of the screw in question:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1349144/Apple-fits-iPhone-4-fixings-impossible-remove.html
Karnal
Torx style bits rick the socks off phillips or flat. Why old style bits, bolts, and screws are still manufactured and sold is beyond me.
Apple is a publicly traded company and as such here's what's important to them.....
Making money for their stockholders.
That means using sweatshops make their products and doing things like heading down the dangerous path of closing off the Darwin source for development so that OSS geeks can't find a way to make OS X work on commodity boxes.
It also means doing the little things like changing the little screws so that they can continue to hold proprietary sway over their products for maximum revenue. Of course when Microsoft does anything proprietary, people scream about it.
The difference between the two is roughly this.....
Getting your money taken from you by a crack addict with a lead pipe in Atlantic City = Microsoft
Getting your money taken from you by a smooth hooker in Las Vegas = Apple
Apple is going to do what is best in their corporate interest.
Surprised? Don't be. It's business
This screw design was patented in - 1974. Yeah keep that conspiracy going, boys.
I don't know what the screw design patent has to do with it, it's more the fact that the average household does not have a pentalobular screwdriver. I'm reminded of Tim Wu's proposition that there were two Apples: Steve Wozniak's and Steve Jobs'.
There is no conspiracy, it's just another omen that we have moved so far away from Wozniak's Apple that we are seeing this in Jobs' Apple. There's no question who's been making the most money but the days of Apple encouraging the user and hobbyist to open up their products and tinker and learn are over. Wozniak's Apple is dead. This is no conspiracy. This is simply fact; the final screw in the hobbyist's ass is yet more unneeded evidence indicating this.
My work here is dung.
The CEO of iFixit talks about how evil Apple is for changing the screws in their iPhone, but thankfully his company has a solution, a $10 USD "liberation kit" which liberates you from the evil hands of Apple by selling you a pentalobular screw driver for three times its normal cost. Gee, thanks!
"I see undead people" Warcraft III - Necromancer
1. Replacement philips screws
2. A philips screwdriver for said screws
3. A second, non-approved, screwdriver that they claim will easily remove the penta-stupid screws. As it is not an official penta screwdriver, this makeshift screwdriver is likely to damage the penta screws (but NOT the iphone).
I have no connection with ifixit, and have not even purchased their stuff. I can not attest to their quality.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
This is just another way to get screwed by Apple .....
or
Apple really screwed us over on this one ....
or how about
They sure are screwing it to their users, aren't they?
Should I continue .....
No man is an island, But if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie them together, they make a pretty good raft.
Once so called "smart screws" hit the market. The idea has been in the theory/laboratory stage for some years now: basically fasteners that, under electrical control, can move between their fastened and unfastened or extended/retracted states(assorted pizieo, MEMS, tiny motor, etc. principles of operation have been tried).
Cool thing is, since you no longer have to be able to reach the head of the fastener with a driver, it becomes possible to do case and assembly designs that would be impossible with conventional fasteners. On the minus side, if the fasteners are no longer exposed, and under electrical control(via a simple bus in the chassis) you'll have to gain software control of the device just to open it(without extreme violence to the case. Obviously, nothing resists a good power tool for long...)
Take a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel, grind down the wheel to a small diameter, cut a slot in the screw, remove with a standard jeweller's flathead screw driver. Works great for stripped out Phillips screws too.
Apple Inc...
Apple Inc...
First I bought an iPod for my songs, because CD's weren't good enough. But it was white and white was still not good enough. I bought it again in Black.
D'oh D'oh Apple Inc, maker of the iMachines, you've got us feeding at the trough again.
Then I bought an iPhone 'cause I needed calls, so I ditched the iPod on Ebay. But then my iPhone battery died too fast so I bought an iPad instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tasNHKun_EY
Posting as AC but you can guess.
But why not just use torx? It's far more common.
I'm sorry.
This thread needs a bicentennialman tag.
I come here for the love
There have been far too few bad car analogies on /. as of late.
Consider taking your car to the dealership, and they tampered with your car so you couldn't change your own oil in the future. Wouldn't a lawsuit be involved shortly there after?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
The message is clear and obvious: Screw The User. There you have it - what's so mysterious about it?
This is untrue and utter nonsense. It is not about the new screw. The whole story invented to conceal the truth about the old one. By stupid mistake and criminal negligence the batch was made out of rare meteorite, and so has a mysterious properties. The fact was discovered by accident while investigating the deterioration of signal quality and cracking covers (made from a perfectly invulnerable glass). It was next to impossible to honestly tell the truth, because evil geniuses will simply buy out all the screws and put them together to create the weapon of terrifying power. So they had to invent this story about the new screwdriver, because people would rather believe in some new Apple's closed garden conspiracy not the real thing.
Apple continues to behave in ways that make their products more trouble than they're worth. What are they hiding by doing this? Certainly nothing from their competitors. While it's claimed above that this will enhance repair profits, my personal suspicion is that it's ultimately meant to conceal embarrassments in products' internals.
Devil's advocate here: If Apple standardized on this, it wouldn't be a bad thing. The Phillips screw bit really needs to go the way of the dodo. It was made popular because it would cam out before the screw would break, back in the days where "turn it tightly enough until it strips, then back off a quarter turn" was the best way of describing amounts of torque. These days, screws have such a relative small amount of material that having them strip is at best a PITA, either having to slot larger ones, or apply Superglue to a throwaway screwdriver in hopes that would get a smaller one out.
For a standard bit, it would be nice to see something splined, as opposed to the five lobes. Mainly because a splined bit would transmit torque more effectively.
Really what does Apple hope to accomplish with this? Any do it yourselfer will simply order the screwdriver on line and be off and running...uh.. or off and unscrewing as it may be. This is just Apple going for the 'low hanging' fruit of people too lazy or not caring enough to get a simple cheap piece of hardware.
A lot of companies have done this sort of thing over the years. I remember even my old university used special screws on everything in the dorms to keep the students from tampering with anything in their rooms without authorization. And, as for Apple, at least they HAVE screws now. Anyone remember having to pry open their Mac Mini with a freaking putty knife?
Does is suck? Yep. Is is anything new? Nope.
The only thing that strikes me as new is the issue of patenting the screw design to keep third parties from designing screwdrivers. I wasn't even aware that screws were patentable. But I guess you can patent anything these days.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Compaq did this way back when, by standardizing on the Torx t15 screw. Of course, Torx is a standard fastener and it was relatively trivial to get a t15 screwdriver. But it solved the problem without offending anyone (except my dad, who spent an evening grinding down a flathead screwdriver to fit in the screws). Amateurs were kept out, and knowledgeable people had a minor barrier to overcome. The "noise" of the system- the people capable enough to buy a Torx driver, but not capable enough to not ruin the computer- was easy to overcome. Now Apple innovates and introduces "noise" all over the place- angry customers, annoyed techs who have to horde screwdrivers or else lose the ability to make a living, having to deal with supply chain issues with the screws. All to keep people from replacing their own batteries. But as usual, Apple has mined the depths of ingenuity to find new ways to screw its customers. Now, literally!
Apple screws you. Oh, wait...
What about the leverage this gives Apple from a legal perspective? If they ever wanted to prove that you knowingly and with willful forethought of process, opened and illegally modified or sabotaged this equipment, they can point to the fact that you had to obtain or create a specialized tool in order to access the unit. That you could not have "accidentally" accessed the device with commonly available equipment. Just saying...
You can sometimes get good results with weird-ass screws by the following trick:
Obtain a cheap screwdriver of the sort sold with "modular" sets that contain one handle with a socket and a bunch of bits. Should run a few bucks retail or online.
Obtain some silicone spray lubricant.
Obtain some high-strength epoxy(putty is easiest) "J-B STIK" or similar.
Coat the inside of the screwdriver socket and the head of the exotic screw with silicone spray. This will keep the epoxy from sticking and act as a sort of mold release agent.
Prepare the epoxy according to instructions and fill the head of the screwdriver with it. Leave some excess sticking out. When the epoxy is of putty-like consistency, press firmly into the head of the exotic screw, to create a "positive" in the epoxy corresponding to the void in the screw head. As soon as it has firmed up enough to do so, remove the epoxy slug from the screwdriver, you don't want it sticking there.
After the manufacturer's recommended cure time for the epoxy, you now have a custom screwdriver bit that is compatible with modular handle systems and is a perfect fit for whatever weirdo screw you have encountered. Don't expect it to last as long as a proper, well manufactured bit; but it should do the job for low-torque stuff.
For 'one-way' screws, or if you don't care about the survival of the exotic screws, there is an easier way: Obtain a quantity of standard screws, for which you have a driver, and cut the heads off. Epoxy a standard head onto the head of each exotic screw. Allow to cure and remove.
With the MacBook Pro Core i5 released last year, though, Apple seemed to be getting out of the screwdriver business. Apple switched from the patented 5-point Torx screw to the more common Tri-Wing screw.
Can anyone confirm for me that Apple ever used a 5-point Torx screw in a MacBook Pro? Sure, they used an odd size (T-6, and a T-8 in the early days of the Powerbook), but it was still a proper 6-point Torx, and screwdriver bits for that size aren't too hard to find. Also, this is a phone, so it's not like you need to open it to swap out a hard drive or something. People are jailbreaking them just fine without opening the case.
And the bit about the new screw being "patented", with people posting here that yes it was patented... in the '70s (and thus long since expired)... that just adds to the potential FUD level.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
No really a new idea, these are on the XBOX 360 as well. I have a few lying around already, in fact the precision screwdriver set I bought last year has one that looks like it will work just fine. Any regular DIY is not going to be deterred by this change. So the real loss here is the $0.002 cost to apple for pentalobular screws over phillips.
If you take your device in simply forbid them from changing the screws.
How many of you actually have a Pillips screw driver small enough to remove the screws in an iPhone? The screws are tiny. You'd likely have to buy a screwdriver anyway.
You people love screaming at the moon (Apple), just because it happens to be the brightest object in the sky.
Apple (like any company) wants to minimize how often their customers call support and how often a customer takes advantage of their warrant coverage. If they can stop people from taking their phone apart, even it's only 20% of their customers base, it's going to save them a lot of money.
Its not what it is, its something else.
There's no mystery to this screw. It's perfectly clear who Apple is screwing. ;)
Ever lovable and always scrappy,
kawaii
Most people don't want to open their devices for any reason. This new screw doesn't affect anyone.
People who really want to open their gizmos still can. Just get the tool or improvise. The pentalobe screw didn't even slow me down. Hell, I didn't even google it first. Christ, you all are a bunch of whiners. You think Apple should sell every phone with a personal attendant to crack the case open for you whenever you want? Turn in your geek cards all of you.
You want to know the real story here? How iFixit managed to raise such a stink that yesterday when I finally went to google the screw type, the first 9 pages of results were all sites relating back to iFixit's article. And isn't it interesting that iFixit is also SELLING a pentalobe screwdriver? They just got a butt load of free publicity for their tool-kit thanks to all the salivating Apple haters out there.
99% of the public doesn't care. They won't ever open any device they buy. Those of us who do want to open our devices can't be stopped. Ever. If the device is in my hands you can't stop me from doing anything I want with it. If you're afraid that Apple is trying to keep you out of your device even though you've never before tried to get in, go ahead and buy iFixit's toolkit just to feel warm and safe inside.
Kudo's to iFixit. I hope they sell a ton of their kits. I still don't feel the need to have one.
"The avalanch has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote." -Kosh
And perhaps when you sell millions of units and a good percentage of them are of the age that likes to take things apart for no other reason than being bored they decided maybe if they make it a little more difficult to do it would cut down on the number of returns to the store for broken units.
Who's surprised? Serves them right for buying Apple shit.
Meanwhile virtually every other phone manufacturer manages to include a removable cover. My HTC desire accomplishes it with the mind crushingly difficult inclusion of a little indentation to insert a thumbnail and pop clips that allow the back to be removed. A spare battery costs 20 euros.
I am surprised the EU hasn't stomped on Apple or passed regulations that force them to stop doing what they're doing. There is no reason aesthetic or otherwise for sealing the battery in like this.
And old arguments are always wrong. Clearly.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
I love how out of one side of their mouth they claim to be a "green" company yet they'd rather you buy a new iPod than replace the battery of your existing one.
Sure, they'll replace it for you for some huge extortion fee at an Apple store... They just want you and your wallets in the store.
I also like how you can't use an iMac as a regular display for other machines (Mac or otherwise). So when your iMac craps out or gets obsolete you have to throw away a perfectly good monitor.
Its especially funny that they claim those iMacs are environmentally friendly because they don't user mercury. They'd be a hell of a lot more environmentally friendly with a VGA, DVI, and HDMI port on them.
It took me less time to find that iFixit already sold a Pentalobular screw driver kit and write a post about it than it did for you guys to bitch about the change in screws: Solution is here for those that can't be bothered using google ---> http://www.techemperor.com/how-to-remove-a-pentalobular-screw-from-your-iphone-4/
Enjoy.
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
Would the masking tape double the capacity of the device? 'Cause I'm very experienced in doing that before.
If Apple wanted to be real assholes, they could have made the screw heads look bitchin' like this. Good luck finding a common source for screwdrivers that look like that. And then they could use trademark/copyright/DMCA to crush anybody trying to sell Chinese screwdrivers on ebay.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
With apologies to the folks of MST3k for shamelessly stealing one of their best ideas:
Tom: Hey, fellas, this sure is a screwey screw in this device, isn't it?
Mike: It sure is!
Crow: Yet despite all the goofyness of the thing, I just can't come up with a word that describes it
Tom: Well I can
Mike: You can?
Tom: Why, sure!
Tom: Oh, it's stupid-alubulal, annoya-nonpractical pentular lobular fun!
Mike: Aggravata-maximal irrita-scam-ulal?
Tom: Right-o, that's the one!
Crow: Is it frustrate-orificcal, butt-in-your-face-ical screwya from morning 'til night?
Tom: Well you're rip-off fantastical purloin-irascable Stevejobs-an-ass-hola right!
All: It's a swindle-a-boobulal rip-you-off-obulal Toobular Pentalobular joy!
An expososular-buttular humped without lubular fun for girl and boy!
An Apple-fantastical scamu-lal job-ulal financial-al steal-it-all ball
Crow: the most defraud-o-riffical
Mike: Fleece-yer-customeral
Crow: con-game-el-fuck-you-lar
Tom: Jobs-u-big-crook-ular
All: Screw job off them all!
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
Diyers can use this kit.
Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
"Professorial Pentagram Screw Driver Opening Tool for iPhone 4"
http://www.sw-box.com/Professional-Screw-Driver-Opening-Tool-For-Iphone-4.html
30 seconds of Googling demonstrated to me that this screw is already long in the tooth in the medical field.
But that doesn't make for good copy, nor a way to sell your kits.
... Apple screws you
http://www.wihatools.com/700seri/716_IPR_serie.htm
damn, nobody sells Torx Plus! oh wait, look, there, and there and there! Idiots submitting articles again. It took me 10 seconds to find that link, learn to use google please. This is just one of almost a dozen security screws, though it's one of the newest, it's only been around a few years. As with most security bits, you can't usually find it at your local small hardware store, but that's about it. Larger hardware stores and tons of places online carry them. It's to keep people that think they're a technician out of the equipment to stop them from breaking it.
Anyone that knows what they're doing has these bits and drivers already. And if you buy a kit online to replace something, it always comes with the tools you need. We've replaced so many ipod parts here we have a box full of ipod tools that the parts keep coming with.
So if you're one of the people that don't have the tool to open it, you probably ought not to BE opening it and it kinda proves the point.
Apple also puts these screws on a some (but not all) of the screws that hold down the internal batteries in some of their laptops, to stop people from trying to swap batteries out with spares because the internal connectors aren't meant for frequent use and will wear out and break. (those are the previous gen tamper screws, triwing - they don't use them for the smaller screws because they aren't good for small screws and don't torq well)
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPhone-4-Liberation-Kit/IF182-019
There is always a tool for the job.
Yeah, the size may be, but anybody that has ever done a lick of hardware work on a Mac knows that these screws date all the way back to the original Macintosh. They were hexalobular, but at the time, it was just as hard to find the drivers for them. Apple has been pulling this kind of stuff for years. I used to turn a blind eye to it, but I have just gotten tired of the creeping amount of control they exert over every new iteration of their products. I honestly see them as the biggest threat to free and open computing out there, bigger than Microsoft ever was.
You say you want a revolution....
Device makers have used funny fasteners for many years. I suspect that what Apple is trying to prevent was curious teenagers from idly popping the thing open, damaging it, and then filing a warranty claim. I sincerely doubt it was their intention to block all repairs forevermore; doing so obviously would be impossible.
Anybody that wants to open the thing should have no issues whatsoever getting the correct tool from whatever phone parts source they go to (just like you go there for your spudger, phone prying tool, etc.), and I'm equally sure that Apple knows this and does not care.
This is a stupid publicity ploy by iFixit to get you to buy your special screwdriver from them, instead of somebody else.
Screws like this have been around for at least 50 years, and you'll most definitely find them in your car somewhere.
Examples:
http://www.brycefastener.com/myth.htm
I've run into these things over and over on electronics, automobiles, etc, etc for the last 20 years.
It doesn't keep anyone who really wants to open the thing from opening it. You can buy whatever bit or screwdriver you need. It DOES keep the stupid people out (and kids) which is what they want. In theory it can reduce their support costs compared to having joe 6-pack (The target audience for this device) decide he wants to open the thing to fix it or "just to look at what's inside".
... that metal working is the basis of most other crafting. It must be hard to get something exactly pentalobular, but with just a bench-top grinder and a cheap ass screwdriver, you can make pretty good star shaped ones. The longest part is cuting the stripped philips head with a hacksaw.
If you replace the screws with Torx because it resist cam-out better than Phillips head, fair enough, I'll by a Torx tool set. Now if you replace them with yet another obscure head just to make life harder for everyone, WTF!!! If you think the device should not be open, place a seal and write to it "warranty void if removed".
Apple doesn't like servicing their products either. My Touch got dust under the screen so I asked if I could have it serviced. They said they didn't service them. A couple of years earlier I took in an iMac that died. They gave it a half hearted look and claimed the motherboard was fried. I had them pull the hard drive so I could get the data off it. Well before I got around to trying out the drive I tossed the shell of the computer. Well it turns out the hard drive was what was fried. They seem to want you to buy the stuff and after it breaks just toss it and buy another one. They are happy to show little old ladies how to use their painfully user friendly iPhones but actual service seems too much of a bother letting you service your own stuff costs them a potential sale. Service across the board is a joke these days. The Geek Squad are a bunch of kids with testing equipment that seem to have less than a year's experience with computers and the Apple Genius Bar is made up of people that know the basics of using their hardware and software but not much more. When I was learning Final Cut Pro I happened to ask one of them an obvious but slightly advanced question and he was like a deer in the headlights. They could show you how to load clips and do basic cuts, they taught them that much, but if you asked them anything beyond that they froze up. None of the places will pay to hire real computer geeks because they need money. Hard to be a computer expert when they don't pay enough for them to buy what they are selling. It's like all the tech support in India. The people they are hiring have never used a computer before so their "training" mostly amounts to reading off a cheat sheet. Get them beyond what's on the sheet and it's like talking to a wall and the supervisors are even clueless.
If the Chinese factory used regular screwdrivers, the workers would steal them all the time for home use.
That is why there are proprietary screws on Apple products.
Jesus christ. I swear, Steve Jobs is gone for one day and this happens.
Maybe Google doesn't need adult supervision anymore, but it looks like Apple still does.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
If all else fails, get one of these machines and make your own tool and stop crying!
Most Respectfully Yours Mark Allyn Bellingham, Washington
Not so mysterious, really.
Apple obviously figured out (through their characteristically thorough market research) that 5 is the optimum number of lobes for further screwing their own customers.
If Microsoft did this, there would probably be some sort of legal action.
Well, MS does mice and keyboards, control devices. I just checked, they use pretty standard Philips screws.
My first car was a used Oldsmobile Omega. Yes, the salesman promised me it had only been driven by a little old lady.
Anyway, when I wanted to try working on it, I couldn't. It used these weird star-head screws that looked exactly like what Apple is using.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
My blood doesn't boil on command. Who cares? Apple products almost never need to be opened for repair, and if they do, take 'em back to Apple.
Sorry to be such a troll on Apple, but is this anything new? Anybody remember the original Mac and Mac Plus? Case removal required a "Mac Cracker," which was a Torx driver with an exceptionally long handle. This was back when Torx drivers in general weren't widely available, and it basically prevented anybody except authorized service techs from getting to the goodies (e.g., to add ram to a Mac Plus, or re-solder the dreaded yoke connections for the monitor). Ahhh, those were the days. -1zd
The second linked article offers a kit that includes the pentalobular driver and a replacement Philips screw. I think the last thing a person would want to do is replace the factory-supplied screw with something different. That's a red flag in any warranty issue.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
Taping over the device to prevent hackers? Man that sounds like some shitty hypothetical initial design and foresight so typical of Microsoft.
Next thing you know M$ will be recommending tape to ensure even basic functionality like the ability to get signal on a phone! Ha those silly bastards.
1. They will deny anything.
2. You should worry more about the data on you r phone, what happend to it? Did anyone use it? Did they reformat it, and killed your data?
3. I bet they will send you a free screw after your lawyer sends a letter. In that case you are screwed. (Lawyer takes his standard fee, you cannot replace the screw, you lost a lot of time etc etc...)
I doubt this is even legal, unless they offered the screwdrivers for sale.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Not buying into the nerdfroth on this one.
I have a drawer full of tools that weren't supposed to be sold. If I want to open an iphone, I'll either have the tool within a day or figure out an alternative.
I love being told I'm a #$%&@# idiot and shouldn't be allowed to open my PURCHASED device, should I choose to do so.
I guess this proves that if you purchased an Apple device, you probably are an idiot.
What's the big deal? We had these things in the Navy -- 30 years ago. It's not like nobody makes the screwdrivers for these things.
Proverbs 21:19
I don't really see the problem. It's an Apple product. They sell to people who buy Apple products despite knowing for forever that it's a lock-in business model. They don't quite keep this a secret you know, in fact they advertise it as the reason for delivering 'superior stability and user experience'. Really, the only thing that pops in my mind when reading this is "serves them right, that's what they bought".
Why do you want to deny the Apple fans their bi-annual rear-pumping? They pay a lot of money for it.
Just take a real small torx, epoxy it to the silly thing then remove it. Afterward replace it with a standard screw.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
If you've replaced the screws, you probably have that pentalobular screwdriver anyway, so why not just leave them in? If Apple replaces them, you still have that screwdriver, don't you? What's the problem?
If the comlaint is that this complicated screw is preventing users from servicing their own phones, then I suggest the following:
Anyone smart enough to mess around with the internal electronic components of a cell phone better damned well be smart enough to know how to acquire and operate a $3.00 screwdriver.
Or back in the real world, only the most seriously nerdy electronics hobbyists will ever open their cell phone and this is a complete non-issue.
I was annoyed before reading the comments, but I've come to the realization Apple fans actually deserve this treatment.
You're the perfect customers.
When it comes to Apple and screwing, there is no mystery.
The next step will just be to permanently fuse the case shut. If you want a new battery, just send them a couple hundred bucks for a new iPhone. A true Apple fanbois wouldn't even blink at that requirement.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Still getting screwed by Apple. I swear they've got a UEC gateway straight to Hell under Steve's credenza.. Thanks, guys!
And will his coffin be fastened with security screws?
It's just another example of those buying Apple products getting what they are paying for.
If you are soliciting bids for phone or computer equipment and you want a reason to reject Apple out of hand, put a clause in that all recordable media or other memory that isn't erased on power-off must be accessible to any technician in your company or any outside technician using only ordinary, widely available tools without destroying the device, rendering it unusable, or causing noticeable cosmetic damage.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
'Apple sees a huge profit potential,' says Wiens. 'A hundred dollars per year in incremental revenue on their installed base is a tremendous opportunity.'"
Whatta dumb comment: it implies that none of the current installed base takes their machines into Apple at the moment. The fraction of the installed base who take the back off themselves (or go to a non-Apple place to do it) is going to be small -- I'd guess 5% or lower. Of this fraction, the number who do this and don't have the technical wherewithal and motivation to get the correct screwdriver is going to be small as well -- businesses who do the servicing are clearly going to source the screwdrivers, and keen DIYers are likely to as well.
Anyone know of a chemical you can pour into the hole to make it a "no-head" screw and, while it hasn't set yet, put a mold in so you get whatever kind of screw you want?
Or, alternatively, a chemical you can pour into this screw (or any screw for that matter) as if it were a mold and insert shank into it before it sets, so you have a matching screwdriver when you are done? Actually using this to make a presumably-patented penta-lobe screw may violate a patent but I dare Apple to sue everyone who does this.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The "Borg" face should be Steve Jobs. He's a full order of magnitude more assimilative than ol' Bill.
I'm guessing that there is a size in these that will work until someone starts making a driver.
I posted previously about the problems I had getting my father's iPad to work. What a headache.
So then my brother and his wife visit me with their iPhones. They have some video that they want me to watch.
So I first I try putting in an standard A/V plug to my TV. It works with my smart phone. Nope. No A/V on iPhone.
So then I think, I'll just download the video to my computer over the USB connector. So I connect the iPhone to my computer. Nada. It does not appear as mass storage device or anything. What? I have to install iTunes to get data off it? And my computer has to be 1 of the only 5 computers to which this thing can ever connect? My brother only visits me once every five years!
So then I think, I will have my brother upload the video to my web site. My brother brings up the browser and my web page on his iPhone. And guess what? The "choose file" button is greyed out! Something as basic as uploading a video file is not allowed.
Any of the above work just fine on my smart phone. There is no way I would ever recommend anybody buy any kind of Apple product. What a headache.
No but seriously, I've bought plenty of hardware that has had some screwy screw. I give it a month (at most) before someone gets their hands on this screwdriver and starts reproducing it.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
This is one of many reasons I switched from the iPhone to an Android and haven't looked back - better network, better features, just better in all ways...
They do things like this because the sheep that buy their products put up with it - in capitalism, money talks... So speak up by denying they your dollars and this type of non-sense will stop.
the lobes for business.
You failed to prove your statement that Red Flayer was "completely wrong".
- This is the date at which the manufacturer can still guarantee the full potency and safety of the drug.
- The FDA sets expiration dates of drugs when the active ingredients reaches 90% efficacy.
The first statement does not disprove the second. What I read is that the FDA considers 90% efficacy to equal a full dosage.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is part of the price of doing business with Apple. If you think this is news you haven't been dealing with Apple very long: they've been trying to lock people out of their hardware since at *least* the Mac Plus, which required a narrow six-inch long Torx driver to open. (And this was in the days when it was easier to find a sonic screwdriver than a Torx bit.)
Apple's chutzpa in doing this is matched only by the author of the original fixit.com article, who in the same paragraph berates Apple for trying to make a quick buck, and then shamelessly tries to make a quick buck selling you the WRONG SCREWDRIVER for the job.
Us long-term Mac fanboys know that it's a useless effort, that in a few days you'll be able to buy an evil flower-head screwdriver from any of a dozen Chinese toolmakers.
But you don't need to buy one. If you take your Mac in to be fixed and it comes back with evil flower screws, just make a stink. Say they've broken your Mac, now the screws don't work as they did when you bought it. Demand they "fix it" and if they won't, start getting gradually annoyed. There are lots of problems with Apple, but one really *good* thing about them is their pride in in-person customer service. Every Apple store I've visited has fallen over themselves to go beyond their warranty obligations, when you show up in person.
Superglue new screw to a bit of metal, e.g. a nail
Uncrew new screw
Replace with regular screw
Could not be easier!
Is Apple replacing for all products that go into service or only products that are currently under warranty that go into service. For example, all iPhone 4s are under warranty as it was launched less than a year ago. A Powerbook G4 is not. If they are only replacing currently warranty items, then it may be a tamper-resistance measure. If the product has been serviced before and then it comes back with standard screws, then Apple knows the product has been opened and they are not as likely to honor the warranty. Sure you can open it if you are willing to get the right tools but it keeps casual users from tampering. If they did it for all products, then that's rather unacceptable.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
From TFA:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/012011-the-case-of-apples-mystery.html
This isn't the first time Apple has used screws to gain an advantage. Apple had been using 5-point Torx screws for its MacBook Pros, not standard 6-point Torx screws."We did a little bit of research and found out that this particular screw has been patented," Wiens says. "It is illegal to import screwdrivers that can open this screw into the U.S. unless you buy it through Apple's sales channels. Apple sells the screwdriver for $40." (Wiens doesn't know if the Pentalobular screws have been patented.)
So I guess if you smuggle one of those penta(hahaha)lobular screwdrivers into USA you'll be an OUTLAAAW!
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
This thread is worthless without pictures.
No no, you don't understand. The new corporate model is that you're purchasing a "Service" The hardware and shit, that's just a tool to render the services they are providing you. When you hack their tools (what you may THINK is your hardware), you're rendering theft of "Service".
And the best part is, they don't intentionally brick their tools when your service contract expires. See, don't you feel loved doing business with Apple? Ya, warm fuzzies all around. Not!
Life is not for the lazy.
http://www.sw-box.com/Professional-Screw-Driver-Opening-Tool-For-Iphone-4.html
What? You never heard of a Sony screwdriver? When I worked at the California Museum of Science and Industry in LA back in the late 80s, they sent me to a training class to learn how to work on the Sony 3/4 video tape players - which we used a lot in the museum because they had better video quality and were built like tanks. Anyway, only people who had attended that class were allowed to purchase a special screwdriver that would work with certain screws in that VCR.
Tamper resistant screws have been around for ages. The problem isn't the screws. The problem is using them to jack up revenues at the customer's expense for things that could otherwise be easily done by an average customer or electronics technician. In Sony's case the screws only protected parts of the VCR that one would not know how to adjust properly if one had not taken the class. In Apple's case the screws only protect Apple's bottom line.
In the years since the iPod came out Apple has shown their true nature. Anyone who has purchased an Apple product since then deserves what they get and should not complain.
Just one more reason for me to continue with my "i" boycott. I buy NOTHING that comes from Apple. I use a Sansa Clip, a Compaq, a Dell, and a Samsung cell. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that the Apple products are fine peices of engineering, but Apple wants to engineer your wallet, also. Imagine how peeved you would be if your brand new Ford was engineered so that you could only go to a Ford dealer to have the oil changed because only Ford has the tools and the proper oil. And, yes, I'm afraid I still haven't broken my M$ addiction, though, so I guess I would have to tolerate a Ford that needs to be re-booted every 1000 miles and catches viruses. "Does that Taurus come with Linux?"
I doubt that this is done for adding several more hundred dollars in to their bank account. Kyle Wiens is just making a viral campaign to shell his "iPhone liberation kit" and improving the ranking of his web site in search engines, all the while he is the one screwing some suckers.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
If you care... Cast your own screwdriver. A little silicone lube, JB-Weld (or similarly strong epoxy), and a straw of appropriate diameter as a form. Attach a handle if you are in the mood.
If you don't care... Drill a small hole in the screw and insert an easy-out style post. Remove and replace the screw.
If you really don't care, drill the damn thing out and use duct tape.
TFA quote -Wiens says. "It is illegal to import screwdrivers that can open this screw into the U.S. unless you buy it through Apple's sales channels. Apple sells the screwdriver for $40."
What's to stop a company such as Wright Tool out of Barberton, OH http://www.wrighttool.com/ from reverse engineering the pentalobular screw, making the tool, and selling it for less than $40?
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Having read the Fixit article it seems mostly an advertisemnet for their screwdrivers, and replacement screwkit.
As an old tired engineer, this is cr*p, you need some mild steel rod, a lathe, a file, hot, and carbon hardner powder and 10 minutes to make a Pentacr*p screwdriver if you arnt smart enough to go to the right place to find the REAL name of this fixing.
They will be on eBay next week.
On December 31 at the Apple Store in Forum Shops in Vegas, it has Torx heads.
I own a cell phone repair business and just encountered these pentalobular screws this week, much to my surprise. Lacking the proper driver, I just tried my trusty Phillips #000 screwdriver and they popped right out, no stripping (and went back in just as easy). So in a pinch, you may not even need the proper driver.
Also, search eBay for "iphone pentacle" and you'll find several vendors selling what they claim are proper drivers for these screws. I already have a few on the way but won't know if they're really the correct drivers until I get them.
For me, this raises from the dead the whole issue of who's more evil, Microsoft or Apple. I *just* got my first Apple product last Christmas, and after looking into the OS-X terminal realized what I'd been missing out on and vowed to get closer to Apple/Mac products in the future. But Jobs is increasingly working *away* from user productivity, whereas Apples were always touted as the most productive computers. And now he doesn't even want people to bite their own Apples. What's screwier, he can't even get along with Adobe, but *they're* evil, too. In the long run, is this Jobs' way of trying to shepherd us all? Into what corral?
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
Many years ago, my cable TV provider was screwing their set-top boxes shut with screws that appeared to take an Allen wrench to open them, except they had little metal pegs/posts right in the middle of the indentation in the top of the screw, so no normal tool could fit into the opening to turn them. Apparently, only their authorized service people had a special wrench with a hole in the middle that the post would fit into.
People wishing to hack the boxes with different chips to get free cable quickly figured out the work-around was to take a small drill bit and drill out the posts in the middle, converting the screws back into something you could open normally.
I agree that it's a "dick move" on Apple's part. Especially in the case of the iPhone 4 where the glass back cover often gets broken when the phones are dropped, the ability to remove those two screws was a nice feature, really. You could buy a cheap aluminum or plastic replacement back cover if you didn't like the glass, and solve the problem for yourself (and/or customize the look of your phone). But like people said, this won't last long. People will simply find ways to remove the non-standard screws and replace them with Phillips screws like they used to come with.....
I guess that you never have used Lotus Notes.
The horror, the horror.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
by the people who before complained that you really, really couldn't replace an iPhone battery, and now loudly complain that with this move Apple stops you from replacing your battery.
Fandroids hate facts.
Let the yuppies keep their Apple products, but this is exactly the type of shenanigannery that keeps me away from Apple products. Heck, look at their computers. It's just overpriced Wintel running Linux. They don't make money by innovation, they slap an Earl Scheib paint job on a used car and sell it for top dollar. Then make a killing on the repairs and such. User can't even replace his own battery? That's just absurd.
Of course I'm the type who keeps things for a long time... Until they are genuinely won't do waht I need them to, or breaks and is cost prohibitive to repair. I have an old flip phone, it makes phone calls. I might do an Android based phone in the next couple years whenever mine finally bites the dust. My last computer I had for 8 years. Only upgraded because I wanted to watch and edit high def videos from my new camera. Apply makes disposable products and their marketing strategy is to force those on the bandwagon to buy a new Apple products every 1-3 years to replace their "old" one.
I pull up alongside you on the freeway and hit the button on my "blue box" transmitter. Your motor mounts unscrew and your engine falls out.
Have gnu, will travel.
that those people will of course ignore that iFixit actually sells those unobtainable pentalobular screwdrivers so you can still replace the unreplaceable battery.
Fandroids hate facts.
Every time I see yet another thing like this, I just have to wonder how Apple fans perceive this.
I see it as Apple attempting to tell me what I'm not supposed to do with something they do not own. It is degrading and insulting and even Apple employees feel guilty for following their orders.
Mark me as troll, but Jobs doesn't have long with Apple. Once he's out, maybe there will be some good changes in Apple.
Is that how you'd keep the antenna from shorting out?
You do realize that older iPhones (and pretty much the rest of the Apple line of products.) don't even HAVE screws. Requiring the use of special tools. Apple just doesn't want wanna-be DIYers wrecking their phones and then coming back to them for a warranty replacement.
Arguing about smart phones like they are equal to freedom. They are expensive devices that 99% of worlds population can't afford. Running water, shelter, basic health care, public education, rule of law and political freedoms are far more important than this stupid debate about Apple and Android.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
Obviously, these screws are more stylish than conformist Phillips screws.
The Internet has given stupid people the resources of intelligent people.
I bought a car and I had to buy a welder, socket set, wrenches, pulley pullers, spanners, hammers, tool boxes, pliers, compressors, testers, probes, programmers, and a GD screw driver.
It's the end of the world, I need a cool looking star ended screw driver to take apart my iPhone.
That's nothing like the fricken 17mm alen wrench I needed to change the oil in my Jetta.
The above is not worth reading.
this walled garden is so beautiful - especially when the sunlight glints off Steve's razor wire.
This is a job for the 3d printer.
1. Download tool
2. Print tool
3. ???
4. Profit
I'm going to say something and I know it's a generalization. In fact, it is specifically a generalization. Just know that I am not talking about you, specifically - I'm talking about people, in general... other people.
People are idiots...
There. I said it.
I have a friends that work at Apple and they tell me stories... You would be surprised about how often someone shows up at the genius bar wanting warranty service on some Apple device that they disassembled themselves, presumably looking for that tell-tale loose wire, and failed to correctly reassemble. Quite often, Apple is justified in not honoring the warranty in those situations, but the users are generally unhappy and not very understanding of this policy.
So it makes sense to me for Apple to use some unusual screws to discourage those idiots (remember, I'm not talking about you) from senselessly endangering their Apple products.
Anyone who is savvy enough to actually fix one of these devices is probably savvy enough to look on-line for the special tool that they need... or manufacture their own.
So remember, Apple isn't doing this to get your money. They're doing this to protect the idiots from themselves...
they can damn sure patent said shape and sue the bejeezus out of anyone daring to sell screwdrivers that fit them. Watch out, iFixit.
http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPhone-4-Liberation-Kit/IF182-019
If Microsoft did this, somehow the screws would allow hackers to remotely take over your system. Five years from now a patch would be applied in the form of masking tape over the screw heads.
Make that bright, day-glo (tm) orange, safety, masking tape. With a holographic Microsoft (R) logo on it. And foil accents.
doesn't do this post justice; some sort of lifetime achievment award is in order.
this is exactly whats going to happen..
...with their iPhones,
That just the way it is.
Joe Blow is either going to Apple for service or he's not going to mess with it.
Nowhere does it say: "Apple will manufacture its products like a street corner whore."
You've got to be inventive or acquisitive enough to get your own set of tools.
Rolls Royce covers the engines on their cars with a similar screwed down shield.
I don't read articles about Rolls Royce, now do I?
Get over it.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Five round points will do very well. A star will work OK. Even a flathead screwdriver will work OK. For one-time use, a regular bolt (bonus points if reverse threaded) and some epoxy will do the job. Pick a bolt small enough to fit into the weird head, glue it in place, and then use a regular tool to remove it with the evil screw attached.
Age 1-30 - use tools taken from my parents
Age 30-36 - bought a $2 box of standard screwdriver bits to put into wife's screwdriver-that-takes-bits, so when they get beat up, i can use that. She got from her parents I think.
Age 36 - last year - $7 screwdriver set bought from Home Depot. Now I can finally get into her car's steering column.
So yeah, I've spent about $9 on all screws in my entire life. Now I'm supposed to double that to open my iPhone?
Actually, I don't own a working iphone [I have a free one with no service plan that I only use to play mp3s, given to me by apple people who paid $600 for it and hundreds more for its replacement] and will never pay a cent for one.
I'm just amazed at how Apple users not only throw away their money, but celebrate it.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
You buy apple, you get screwed. where is the mystery?
Technically, a tamper resistant torx is still six-lobed, but it has a post in the middle. This isn't really an option for tiny screws like the one in the iphone.
'A hundred dollars per year in incremental revenue on their installed base is a tremendous opportunity.'
There are also tremendous opportunities in scamming money out of elderly people. But I'm not going to do it.
My bad...looks like the "Torx TS" is five-star with a post. However, the Mac "pentaglobular" drivers is different than Torx TS.
...unless they use a softer alloy for the screws and then tighten them up with electric screwdrivers or maybe even a drop of glue/epoxy/silicone at the bottom.
You end up stripping the groves on the screw and still not unscrewing it.
Bonus points for screw sizes below 5.
FYI I did both what you suggest and what I describe, at times. Some you unscrew, some you screw up.
Depending on the above mentioned conditions.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
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Why would want to replace batteries in an iphone? It will develop some kind of adverse reaction and the iPhone will reject the batteries and get into some serious sickness. You may have to douse the phone with some kind of immuno suppressant all its life to make it keep the battery? By the way most people talk replacing the battery is some simple trivial task like a pancreas transplant.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
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From the "Finder has driven me up a wall" comment, you're a Windows user.
The iTools are far from perfect, but they're a lot more robust on Macs.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
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This is certainly not the first time Apple is using tamper resistant screws. They have used non standard torx screws in several products before. This is a useless "feature", millions of screw drivers from China is already on a container ship to here... But this is exactly what you could expect of an evil company which have done these kind of tricks before.
You jackasses:
http://www.amazon.com/Pentalobe-Screwdriver-iPhone-generation-Silverhill/dp/B004IU9EDM
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I wonder if you can sue Apple for performing unnecessary repairs to your system. The replacement of the screws is not necessary to the work being done so should not be performed without consent of the owner. The replacement of the screws does not in anyway affect the job being performed so should not be done.
Sounds like a class action suit.
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Are there really any user-serviceable parts inside an iPhone? And I can't think why you'd need to clean inside it, either - it's not like there's a fan inside that's pulling dusty air through it. I've owned my iPhone for almost 3 years and haven't seen the need to open it up to either clean or repair it.
If I had an iPhone I would change the Phillips screws to the Nintendo portable Y type screws before turning it in to Apple for repair. Two can play at this game.
Yeah, I can understand the fuss somewhat...but this isn't THAT uncommon of a screw, i took one look at a picture of one and found that I already have a bit that would fit it that can be used in my tiny ratcheting driver (really handy in cramped spots) or my solid handle magnetic one. The name of the screw is new to me though, but a bit that fits it seems to be in most nice "security bit" sets (a must have for a hardware hacker anyways)
Maybe next we'll hear some complaints that nintendo uses those weird "y" shaped screw heads..or the thousands of products that use torx with a raised peg in the center. It's crappy yeah but most of us already have the tools.
I think the REAL news here, and the real crappy thing apple is doing is purposefully replacing screws on phones brought in for service. That's just underhanded there :/
I'm sure Apple will mass produce these screws and special key tools in China, if so I would expect to see the tool on Ebay.
a chemical you can pour into this screw (or any screw for that matter) as if it were a mold and insert shank into it before it sets, so you have a matching screwdriver when you are done?
That would be handy- a chemical with cylindrically pentagonal symmetry (e.g. one of the 32 pentachiral isomers of pentavalent pentacyclo-1,2,3,4,5-phenylpentaterp-1,2,3,4-pentasterylpenta-5-pentylpentanene) that undergoes a phase transition into long pentagonal needle-like five-sided crystals with wide comfortable handles as it cools down past 55 degrees.
Can you even patent a shape?
If you describe it just the right way, you can patent anything. For example, I just invented a vehicle that is 100% cellulose-and-water-powered, manufactured in a process using zero carbon and waste products, which parks and drives itself in many conditions, and self-replicates too.
It's called "horse".
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
And My coworkers wonder why I think apple as a corporation sucks. They are stupid. I see a large market for black market copies of the driver.
application of arbitrarily large torque. In fact, they're designed to cam out at a certain torque, so you don't snap off the screw head (not hard to do with a socket head cap screw and a simple allen key)
Their biggest failing is that they sort-of work with the wrong sized driver, but provide unsatisfactory results. The properly sized driver in a good Philips screw does work quite well.
The slotted-head screw, on the other hand, is the tool of the devil. Or, fastener of the devil, I suppose.
A prisoner faced with a tamper-resistant screw goes and fetches his toothbrush and his lighter. You can do the same. Heat the plastic in a cheap toothbrush, one made from a single kind of hard plastic (acrylic ?) and press it onto the screw while it cools. It will conform perfectly and the plastic is strong enough to turn the screw if you don't let it slip or twist.
I'm not really opposed in principle to Apple using any screw they choose what gets my goat is the fact that after you purchase the product they can change the screws; new product fine existing product not so much. So they are basically saying that we no longer want you to have access to your property after you purchased it. Sony has taught Apple the way to bait and switch after the point of sale so it seems.
If the shoe fits, it's ugly.
looking at the close up of the screw head i don't really see the big deal , i've been able to unscrew nearly anything with the wrong tool just by jamming it in hard enough like a gorilla, and its not like the iphone can take a lot of torque you won't need captain america to help turn it.
Doesn't matter if Apple employees are allowed to resell them or not, someone in China will soon start manufacturing them.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
These screws, and resulting ./ thread, is the most entertaining news in January. Well done Apple - Entertaining world for free!!
Could the new screws be lighter? They seem to have more volume removed from the screw head. That would be a good reason for using them.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
They are subminiature USB 4.0 ports. I've got an external terabyte hard drive and a document scanner plugged in right now and both are working great!
Man, you guys really screwed the pooch on this one.
A previous poster was correct... a simple search for "Pentalobe Screwdriver" will yield the right tool for the job. They tried... they seem to keep pissing off customers... When the iPhone 5 is released with the new OS version 5 and all of the new features only work on the iPhone 5 I am sure they will piss lots more people off. I am tired of it already.
Just take an old cheap screwdriver and a file (or a dremel) and you should be able to convert it into an iScrew driver in about 2 minutes. Am I the only one who has done this in the past?
Sounds like the first person to reverse-engineer the screwdriver and offer it for a reasonable price will make a hansom profit. I expect every parts store to include one in their kits within a year.
I mean, really, proprietary screws? Does the iScrew have a sexy white finish?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The luxury SUV I bought last year did not come with locking wheel nuts to protect the supposedly expensive alloy wheels. Now Apple is giving iPhone owners this "feature" for free. What's wrong with this picture?
http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPhone-4-Liberation-Kit/IF182-019 That didn't take long.
After being an Apple customer for fifteen years, and despite the high usability and desirability of Apple products, I decided I couldn't be an Apple customer about two years ago. They fucked me over on the video cables for my iPod, and I just decided I couldn't allow myself to be a chump consumer. I understand most people don't mind being chumps, but I just couldn't do it, so I gave up on Apple. Since that time, Apple has gone even farther down the chumpy road, so I don't regret my decision. But I do wish some other companies would start making equally awesome products.
This is a non-story for anyone who owns an iPhone 4. If your iPhone 4 breaks under warranty, take it into an Apple store or authorized repair depot. If the battery needs replacement and is not covered by warranty, send it in to Apple for replacement.
There is no need to open up an iPhone 4 yourself.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Is there any irony here: a company who's first products came in kit form, which helped establish their reputation among geeks, now goes to great lengths to make it very difficult for DIY'ers and anyone with a clue to fix, modify, or use their own possessions as they please?
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
I fully expect a penta-what-fucking-ever screw remover to appear on eBay sometime soon for less money that it'll cost to ship. Not that I really care as I don't buy fucking Apple but other manufacturers do seem to get ideas from Jobs&Co.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Calling this tamper resistant is like calling a phillips-head tamper resistant because all you have in your toolbox is a flat-head. Just because you have to buy a new tool doesn't make it tamper resistant.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
Many years ago, General Motors invented the Torx screwdriver and screw so that you'd need to pay Mr. Goodwrench each and every time you needed a light bulb replaced. Eventually, the government forced them to allow 3rd party manufacturers to sell a compatible screwdriver, because consumers have a right to not get "Screwed" for the right to work on something they own. Perhaps the same will happen to Apple, but I like to believe that consumers are smart enough to purchase an alternative product.
While I ostensibly discourage vigilantism, I would find it absolutely hilarious if, during the night, someone screwed an apple store's front door shut with larger versions of their pentalobar screw.
the pentalobular screwdrivers you are looking for...
Get a DROID!
http://www.toolstoday.com/p-6071-broken-stripped-screw-remover.aspx?variantids=10937,0&affiliateid=10054?source=googleproducts&gdftrk=gdfV22404_a_7c1444_a_7c5979_a_7c608_d_732 It will remove any screw type, then you can replace with the head of your choice
You cannot get them, as they are patented and only sold to specific, authorized businesses. But you can get Torx-Security-alike with 5 instead of 6 notches and they will fit, albeit in "high tool wear" mode. Not an issue for low usage. I got my set cheap from a British shop off Ebay. Apparently these screws are also used in attempts to lock-down car parts against "unauthorized" maintenance.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
the comment in the article by the CEO of iFixit should be read along with the iFixit adv which wishes to sell you a 20 cent screwdriver as part of a Liberation Kit, for $9.95. Profits can be made on both sides.
http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPhone-4-Liberation-Kit/IF182-019
There was an unknown error in the submission.
So only an idiot will open it if not being necessary, if the product fails under warranty simply is better, cheaper and faster to go to an authorized service provider and get a shinny new iPhone 4. I understand curiosity, but this is not like a huge change for Apple consumer products. Since the original G3 iMac many products from Apple are really hard to disassemble, I have in my workshop table a clam iBook from 1999 that needs a new hard drive, you have to follow 19 or 20 steps in a precise order to change the hard drive, is almost a full disassembly of the computer.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
Something tells me we're being screwed five times over...
Simple way to fix this:
1. Get a hardened steel flathead screwdriver and a hammer.
2. Pound a new slot into the screwhead.
3. Turn, the screw is now liberated.
Now you have clear and easy access to fix the damage you did to the rest of the device.
Penta - 5 - pentagram...
Don't ANY of you people know about werewolves?!? This is indeed a frightening development.
What Apple REALLY does not want you to know however, is that all their evil intentions can be thwarted by those north of the equator by whirling around in a counterclockwise motion and chanting "maria ouspenskaya" over and over again until they pass out. SOUTH of the equator you must spin in a clockwise motion. This is VERY important. You do not want to know the consequences of going the wrong direction. If you live near the equator, you must travel AT LEAST ten miles to the north or south before you do this. Personally, I would not go less than 50. And again, be VERY, VERY careful that you have the direction right!
Since replacing the screws has nothing to do with service requested by the customer, this is simply vandalism. It looks to me like Apple is just asking to be sued. It's as if you took your car in to the dealer for service and they added a lock on the hood to which only they had the key.
Buy some single or two part expoxy metal filler. Get some light water repellant aerosol oil. Get four inches of straight wire from a coat hanger from the dry cleaners. Bend one end of the wire at one inch by 90 degrees to make a handle to turn the scewdriver. Cross cut the other end about one quarter of one inch with a small hachsaw or small file to make a rough keyed surface. Make up a small sphere of the expoxy filler of about one quarter of an inch in diameter. Push the sphere onto the keyed end of the wire, so the wire tip is at the center of the sphere. Form the sphere up the wire where you pushed the wire in so it will adhere to the wire. Lay the phone with the awkward screws so the screws are face up. Fix the phone down with some Blutack to the desk. Make a card support to hold the wire vertically over where the screw is in the phone. Give the sphere a light puff of spray water repellant and carefully press it into the screw by pushing the sphere into the screw and not with the wire that's embedded into it. Support the wire vertically over the screw with bits of card and Blutack to keep it normal to the screw. Let the epoxy cure and then pull the tool free. Clean the surface of the cured expoxy. The tool should now be good to go.
A pentalobular screwdriver designed to fit the screws for the iPhone 4 is available at amazon.com for $6.99. Better hurry though, only one left! http://www.amazon.com/Pentalobe-Screwdriver-iPhone-generation-Silverhill/dp/B004IU9EDM
1) This is old news.
2) ifixit.com and others sell pentalobe screwdrivers.
3) You _know_ Apple is doing it's very best to lock you in and screw you over. Either accept that or buy somewhere else.
Are the Pentalobular screws also known as thorx screw heads? Our local Canadian Tire store sells the screwdrivers (all size heads) for these screws. We now have to wait for an enthusiastic entrepreneur to post the screw drivers on Ebay. A new market for enginuity
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
I realize I'm late to the party, but this is just begging for the comment.
I just spent 90% of the retail price of a MBP, with Apple Care Protection Plan, to fix one filled with Lipton's Yellow (why is it that the price of fixing a non-warranty failure on a Mac always costs 75-90% of the retail price btw?) I found that I was unable to remove the battery due to an unknown screw that I immediately dubbed the holy trinity. Now this pentalobular screw is nothing but a pentagram in disguise.
The trip from heaven to hell is truly a short one. (And I'm sure I'll follow the same path because of this post, but so are you for those chuckles...)
That's one I wouldn't have thought of. I've managed not to crack mine so far, but this is a good tip in case I do.