iFixit

What is iFixit?

iFixit is a private, founder-owned company in San Luis Obispo, California, founded in 2003. It runs the largest free repair documentation wiki, sells repair tools and parts, publishes device teardowns, operates the Dozuki B2B software platform, and advocates for right-to-repair legislation.

Is iFixit publicly traded?

No. iFixit is privately held by its co-founders Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules. It has never listed shares or taken institutional venture capital, funding itself through its retail store and Dozuki software.

When was iFixit founded?

iFixit was founded in 2003 by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules. They started by repairing a broken iBook without manufacturer instructions, then selling harvested parts and writing their own repair guides.

Who owns iFixit?

Co-founders Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules own iFixit. Wiens serves as CEO. The company has no parent corporation, no outside controlling investor, and has never been acquired.

What is iFixit's market position?

iFixit is the leading independent repair documentation company and a significant repair tools retailer. Its teardowns and repairability scores are industry-standard references cited by media and regulators, and it is the most prominent corporate voice in the right-to-repair movement.

Where is iFixit based?

iFixit is headquartered at 1330 Monterey Street in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. Its European operations run through iFixit Europe GmbH in Stuttgart, Germany, which handles EU distribution and localized repair content.

iFixit started in 2003 in a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo dorm room. Freshmen Kyle Wiens and Luke Soules broke an iBook G3 and found Apple provided no repair instructions, so they fixed it themselves. They began buying broken laptops, harvesting parts for resale, and writing their own repair manuals. The first posted guide attracted 10,000 page views in its first weekend, revealing demand manufacturers were ignoring.

The company grew through the mid-2000s on its twin engine: free repair documentation driving traffic, and parts and tools sales converting that traffic into revenue. It moved from the dorm room to a garage, then a house, then a two-story office in downtown San Luis Obispo.

The late 2000s brought the teardown franchise. iFixit began dismantling major new devices on release day and publishing detailed photo breakdowns with repairability assessments. These teardowns turned a niche repair shop into a media property that manufacturers could not ignore, and gave the public information about device internals that companies preferred to keep quiet.

In 2012 the company launched Dozuki, commercializing its documentation platform as B2B software for manufacturers needing interactive work instructions. The same decade saw iFixit expand from documenting repairs into advocating for them, lobbying for right-to-repair laws, publishing repairability scores that pressured manufacturers, and formalizing repair program partnerships with companies including Google, Lenovo, and Logitech for official parts and guides.

iFixit Europe GmbH established the Stuttgart, Germany operation for EU distribution and localized content. Through the 2020s the company has continued expanding its parts catalog, deepening manufacturer repair partnerships, and pressing right-to-repair policy as legislation advanced across US states and the European Union.

Sustainability is the company's founding purpose. iFixit exists to reduce electronic waste by keeping devices in service, and it frames its entire operation around the environmental cost of manufacturing and discarding electronics.

The company holds no B Corp or formal environmental certifications, and does not publish a carbon accounting. Its impact is structural and behavioral: documented repair extends device life, and repairability scoring pushes manufacturers toward less disposable design. The repair wiki and parts business are the mechanism, not a program running alongside a conventional business.

On ethics, iFixit's advocacy work is unusually central to its identity. It lobbies for right-to-repair legislation, has challenged manufacturers over parts pairing and serialization, and treats access to repair information as a consumer right. Its independence from outside investors is part of that posture.

iFixit has no record of regulatory violations or product controversies. The scrutiny attached to the company flows in the opposite direction: it is a corporate critic rather than a target.

Its public role does generate friction. Manufacturers including Apple have historically resisted the right-to-repair positions iFixit champions, and the company's teardowns occasionally reveal design choices manufacturers did not intend to publicize. These are advocacy disputes rather than controversies about iFixit itself.

The company's operation of a business built partly on instructing users to open devices that carry manufacturer warranty and safety warnings is an inherent tension, though iFixit has consistently argued that consumers have the right to repair their own property and that safety concerns are addressed through proper documentation.