The gloves have been off in the fight for your right to repair

it has been A big year for the right to repair, as the advocacy movement pushes for people to be able to repair their electronics and equipment without manufacturer approval. The issue has received widespread support from technology experts, farmers, military leaders and politicians on both sides of the aisle. They’re popular with almost everyone—except companies that stand to benefit if the parts, instructions, and tools needed to repair their products remain under lock and key.

Three US states passed right-to-repair laws this year, including heavily Republican states like Texas where the measure received unanimous votes in both the House and Senate. Advocates for reform plan to continue this push into 2026 and beyond, while lobbying lawmakers in an attempt to give gear experts more choices when it comes to the tools they use every day. It marked a major shift in the Right to Repair movement, which has been pushing for decades to allow users to repair their devices — from iPhones to laptops — without going back to the manufacturer or voiding the warranty by taking them to an unauthorized repair shop.

“The fundamental problem with restricting the right to repair is that when you buy equipment, you have a competitive market,” says Nathan Proctor, senior director of the Right to Repair Campaign at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “Once you have the equipment, if the manufacturer can make repair a proprietary process, there will be no competition at all.”

Although the right to repair enjoys broad support around the world – Canada and the European Union, among others, have passed laws and rulings on behalf of consumers – the United States often finds itself the focal point of this movement. For years, advocates have been pushing for federal laws that would allow people to change their phone battery or tinker with their tractor without running afoul of what the manufacturers allow. Despite bipartisan support, nothing happened, which is why state-level laws this year were so important.

For many advocates, the right to repair is an environmental issue. People are less likely to throw equipment into landfills if they can repair it. While some companies have improved on their environmental footprint, for example, by switching to cardboard or recyclable materials for packaging, efforts to make the products themselves recyclable have been slower. This is starting to change. Even a company like Apple, which has long been resistant to letting people modify their iPhones, has reluctantly begun offering self-repair options to its customers. So too did Google, which redesigned its Pixel Watch to make it more repairable after pressure from repair advocates.

Despite these victories… Companies continue to find ways to get around regulations, obfuscate repair manuals, and make some repair tools only available to customers in certain states. The next big step after the 2025 legislative victories will be making sure companies follow the new laws, says Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, which offers how-to guides and sells device repair kits. “We’re seeing different levels of malicious compliance from different companies,” Wiens says.