iFixit launches FixBot AI assistant to guide users through DIY repairs with camera recognition

iFixit Put a Chatbot Repair Expert in an App

The app, now available for both iOS and Android, can help users check on the health of their phone's battery, find tools and instructions to repair things around their home, and fix their way out of all manner of device problems. It offers mobile access to repair manuals and guides for the more than 125,000 devices iFixit has cataloged in its long running repair library. The new chatbot, called FixBot, just makes finding what you need all that much easier. Need to replace the screen on your iPhone? Change the tire on your 1986 Volvo station wagon? FixBot can help if you just type or speak your request by describing the problem you're having. You can even use your phone's camera to get started. Snap a pic of that Volvo's flat tire, your non-working iPod, or your broken espresso machine, and FixBot's computer vision engine will probably be able to recognize what model it is and walk you through the process of fixing it. FixBot is a fusion of a dozen different AI models from just about every player in the generative AI space. The bot is intended to focus solely on repair, pulling from iFixit's ever growing pool of repair guides and giving you links to find where to get the spare parts or special tools needed to do the fixing. (Most of those links go back to the iFixit shop, naturally.)

iFixit's FixBot helps with repairs 'the way a master technician would'

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.

iFixit's new app uses AI to help you repair your stuff

We've all been there: You can't (or won't) get help when something breaks, but the YouTube clip doesn't cover your specific issue. It's what repair gurus at iFixit want to solve with FixBot, an AI-enabled app that talks you through whatever repair you're doing. The chatbot will help you diagnose the problem and then walk you step-by-step through the fix. Plus, it's voice-enabled so you won't have to get your phone all smeary when you're elbows-deep in a job. After all, iFixit's guides don't just cover fixing your electronics, but everything you might fancy doing yourself, from appliances through to cars and trucks. Unlike traditional AIs, FixBot has been trained on iFixit's library of 125,000 guides, its forum and database of repair manuals. The company says there's less risk of hallucination as it pulls from and shows you the schematics it's referencing to ensure you don't order the wrong gear. Users can even upload images from their phone, so the app can point out which bit is which. The company is open about its limitations: It's an AI, so it's not bulletproof, and its knowledge only runs as far as its library. It can hunt elsewhere for manufacturer data and on other repair forums but you'll be warned about the information it pulls from it. In addition, FixBot will keep an eye on your phone's battery health in real time to tell you when it's time to get a replacement. The tool is, for now, in beta, thanks to the fuzzy way some companies track their battery health, but iFixit is promising greater detail than what you currently get. Plus, when it is time to swap out your battery, you can order the parts and kit all within the app. FixBot is launching for free on both the App Store and Google Play but it won't remain that way forever. At some point, free users will switch to a version with access limits, and will be prompted to upgrade to the paid tier for $4.99 a month or $50 a year.

iFixit's new app is ready to take the lead on repairs with its FixBot AI assistant

FixBot can look at pictures of your problem hardware and guide you through repairs of supported devices. For as satisfying as it can be to repair your own gear, going the DIY route can absolutely be an anxiety-inducing experience. How many times have you wanted to undertake a project but just lacked the confidence to get started, not even knowing where to start? If you've come to appreciate the utility of AI systems in helping bootstrap solutions to problems like that, you're definitely going to want to check out iFixit's new app, introducing its AI-powered FixBot helper.

Dropped it? Smashed it? iFixit's new AI-powered app can help you repair it

Everything is free, though the AI will eventually charge a fee. iFixit, which has become known for its teardown videos and repair solutions, is launching a mobile app with a twist: AI assistance to complete repair jobs you normally wouldn't be able to do. While the iFixit app for both Android and iOS will be free, the new FixBot may not be. The company's plan is to make it free for now, then split it off into a free tier with access limits and then a paid Enthusiast tier with voice and document upload, according to the company. That tier will cost $4.99 per month or $50 per year, the company said. If you've heard of iFixit, it's probably in the context of the detailed teardowns of popular devices like Apple iPhones and other consumer gadgets. What iFixit learns in those teardowns, however, contributes to both thousands of repair guides on the site for you to review and download. The iFixit site also maintains a database of parts and tools, all of which will be in the app as well. But the iFixit app also includes two neat additions: the FixBot application as well as a battery health intelligence application. The whole point of iFixit, however, is do-it-yourself repairs. The iFixit site has existed as sort of a text-based alternative (aside from the teardown videos) to how-to videos on YouTube. The site shines when the number of devices is small and/or popular. You'll find detailed guides to repairing an Apple Mac Studio or a Microsoft Xbox Series X; however, the laptop repair section simply gets bogged down by the incredible variety of offerings from, say, HP. The same goes for the site's section on car repair. Fixbot: the chatbot mechanic What the Fixbot app promises to do is essentially replace ChatGPT. LLMs, or "generative AI," are trained on a vast corpus of knowledge, so Copilot or ChatGPT can try to answer questions about the causes of the French Revolution, the lifecycle of a starfish, or how best to code an application. The FixBot app is essentially AI trained on the iFixit site itself, so that any questions you might have will hopefully be a more efficient manner of searching the site itself. According to iFixit, the Fixbot application will help you identify what you're fixing and what needs to be fixed, based upon information you provide and questions it might ask. Obviously, FixBot will try and point you to an existing guide if one exists. "We spent over a year building a custom retrieval system that searches our entire library in seconds," Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, said in a blog post. "And an evaluation harness that tests FixBot against thousands of real repair questions, so we catch the bad answers before you do. We created a database with millions of pages of documentation; the data sheets and service manuals and specification tables that the rest of us only look at when we're desperate. FixBot will find the right PDF manuals, look deep inside, and surface the answer on page 576. It'll even cross-reference part numbers against your specific model." The app allows you to describe your problem via text or even voice -- the latter's the most useful when your hands are full or you're leaning over a malfunctioning appliance. You can also upload a photo of the interior of your malfunctioning gadget, and let FixBot help diagnose what you're looking at. The other interesting thing that the iFixit app can do is to give you an estimate of your phone's battery capacity, in real time. Like any battery, your phone's battery degrades, so that the total capacity at "100 percent" becomes less and less over time. shrinks In a laptop, that's relatively simple: you can use the Windows' battery report tool. In a phone, it's a bit more complicated. The iFixit's app tracks the first time that your phone was first used, and the current capacity versus the total rated capacity. Divide one by the other, and you can get a measure of your phone's battery health -- and an indication on when you might consider replacing it. The challenge is accuracy. iFixit says that Apple doesn't make its data available via an API that the company can access; Samsung's software is reserved for its own service and repair centers. Still, the company promises that you'll at least get a basic explanation of your phone's health. iFixit might not have the answer you're looking for, because of all the varied appliances, cars, and gadgets available. But it's a free app that benefits you immediately with the phone battery monitor. I'll be downloading it onto my phone.

iFixit launches FixBot AI repair helper, with free and paid versions - 9to5Mac

iFixit has launched a new AI repair assistant known as FixBot. The company says Fixbot will make it faster and easier than ever before to figure out what's wrong and how to fix it. There are both free and paid options, although the feature list suggests that the free option is very limited. The subscription tier is free for a limited time ... iFixit is of course well-known for its teardowns of new devices, as well as providing both tools and instructions for carrying out a very wide range of DIY repairs. The company says that it supports more than 72,000 products ranging from iPhones to motorcycles, and that it has helped its customers make more than 100 million successful repairs. FixBot is intended to help you carry out repairs in record time. Figure out what's wrong, and how to fix it, in record time. Hands-free guidance, visual analysis, and instant access to the world's repair knowledge. Speak or write the problem, and FixBot will take it from there. Get instant guidance with visual schematics, professional guides, and expert troubleshooting tips. Our experts have spent 20+ years building the internet's largest collection of repair solutions. FixBot harnesses AI to help you navigate those resources fast, with the same level of quality you've come to expect from iFixit. You'll need the paid tier to access step-by-step voice guides alongside both visual and voice diagnostics. Pricing hasn't yet been announced, but you can use it for free at present. With this, you are able to explain the problem you are experiencing, take photos, and then ask FixBot to diagnose the cause and talk you through how to fix it.

iFixit Launches Free iOS Repair App With AI-Powered FixBot

iFixit today announced the launch of a new iFixit app that's available to download from Apple's App Store (and the Play Store on Android devices). It includes all of the iFixit repair guides in a format that's ideal for mobile devices, along with a workbench that keeps track of repairs, a battery lifespan predictor, and an AI repair buddy called FixBot. The iFixit repair app is able to monitor an iPhone's battery in real time, providing graphs of how a battery deteriorates over time. The graphs provide users with advanced notice of when a battery might need to be replaced. FixBot is able to provide AI assistance to solve issues with smartphones, laptops, tablets, and more. Users can describe a problem with text or voice, and FixBot will provide help with diagnosis and repair. FixBot can respond to questions verbally for hands-free use, and there's also an option to share images with the AI. The app includes all of iFixit's repair guides, but it is aware of what smartphone the user has and will default to showing repair information for that device for quick information on fixes. There are options for purchasing repair parts directly from iFixit, with the app able to check for device compatibility before a purchase is made. iFixit did have an app that was available up until 2015, but Apple pulled it from the App Store after iFixit tore down an Apple TV developer kit. Apple said that iFixit violated the Apple terms of service with the teardown, and banned the iFixit developer account. Ten years later, iFixit was allowed to return to the App Store. The iFixit app can be downloaded from the App Store for free, and more information on the app is available on iFixit's website. Access to FixBot is free for now, and later, there will be both a free version and a $4.99 per month Enthusiast plan with document uploads.

iFixit Launches A Dedicated Smartphone Repair App, Replete With An AI-Powered Assistant

iFixit has just released a dedicated iOS and Android app, replete with an AI-powered assistant, making the self-repair of a smartphone a relative breeze. iFixit has now launched a dedicated app on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. The app includes: Critically, iFixit's new app can monitor an Apple iPhone's battery capacity in real time. It then condenses this information in a graph chart, showing the battery's deterioration and the ideal time for replacing it. As for the FixBot, iFixit says that it has been trained on millions of successful iFixit community repairs. The AI chatbot can help diagnose a problem and suggest possible remedies once prompted via a text or voice command. You can also share images with the chatbot for a speedy diagnosis of the problem. Finally, the app also includes the option to order repair supplies and spare parts, with the app capable of checking for device compatibility before a purchase is made. Do note that iFixit did offer a dedicated app on the Apple App Store until 2015, when Apple summarily pulled it for violating its terms. Apple had also banned iFixit's developer account at the time. Now, however, with Apple facing a myriad of antitrust concerns and probes around the world, it has allowed iFixit's app to return to the App Store. Meanwhile, as we noted previously, iFixit has pegged a 5/10 provisional repairability score to the new Apple M5 iPad Pro, noting: Similarly, the Apple M5 MacBook Pro has secured a preliminary iFixit repairability score of 4 out of 10. For comparison, the M4 MacBook Air had secured a score of 5 out of 10.