A new iPhone feature is coming with Apple's iOS 15.2 software update that lets you make sure your phone is using the right parts after a repair.
iOS 15.2 adds a Parts & Services section to the About screen in the Settings app. Located just under the general information about your phone, Parts & Services will list your phone's service history as well as parts that have been replaced on your phone. You can find the section by launching Settings, tapping General and selecting About.
I'm running the latest iOS 15.2 public beta on my iPhone 11 Pro Max — a device that's never needed a repair, which could explain why the Parts & Services section doesn't appear in my version of the software. In its place, there's a menu item alerting me to the status of my AppleCare coverage.
When the Parts & Services section does appear on the About page, what you see will depend on what model phone you're running, according to a support document posted by Apple. For the iPhone XR and later (including 2020's iPhone SE), you'll see if the battery has been replaced. iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 owners will also get to see if their display has been replaced, while iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 includes camera replacement status.
In addition to the status of repairs, the menu will list whether your repair included what's called a "Genuine Apple Part." Tapping that information brings up more data, including the date of the repair.
An Unknown Part message will appear next to the Camera, Battery or Display listings if the repair is incomplete or not functioning properly. It can also appear when the replacement part has already been used in another iPhone or hasn't been certified by Apple.
The addition of the Parts & Services information to iOS 15.2 comes as Apple tries to be more transparent around repair work done on its phones — a crucial step since so many of us are holding onto our phones for longer periods of time. Last month, Apple unveiled a self-service repair program that lets iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 users order parts from Apple to fix phones on their own. That same month, Apple also issued a software fix that stopped disabling Face ID on phones with screen repairs outside of an authorized Apple repair shop.
iOS 15.2 remains in beta, though a release candidate of the software was issued to developers earlier this week. That's usually a sign that the software update is going to appear for the general public very shortly.
In addition to the Parts & Services addition, iOS 15.2 launches some features that had been promised when iOS 15 was first previewed this summer. That includes the new App Privacy Report feature, which lets you know which apps have accessed your camera, your location and/or contacts and a legacy contacts feature where your iCloud data can pass on to selected persons after you die. The voice plan for Apple Music announced in October seems likely to launch with iOS 15.2, too. Users can now also reset their iPhone or iPad via the lock screen after too many failed login attempts. And for those that are curious, this iOS 16 fan render video posits some unique features Apple could implement in the next version of its operating system.
