Louis Rossmann

Submission 3,658

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About

Louis Anthony Rossmann is an American independent repair technician, YouTuber and right-to-repair activist. He is the owner of the Rossmann Repair Group, a company specializing in the repair of Apple MacBooks. Over the years, he has become a prominent figure on YouTube and largely the online face of the right-to-repair movement, making him the subject of much discussion and memes online.

History

Louis first created his YouTube channel^[2] on October 11th, 2011. He posted his first video^[1] a year later on October 10th, 2012, featuring an explainer on the difference between the parts he uses in repair and the parts others use, earning 13,000 views in roughly 10 years (shown below).

Most of the videos from this point on would center around repair advice, footage and general vlogs. Every now and then, he would post videos discussing the practices of companies like Apple, such as on July 12th, 2013, when he uploaded a video^[7] titled "Apple doesn't give a f#&k about you" and earned 131,000 views in nine years (shown below).

Louis's first viral video would come a year later on December 1st, 2014, when he uploaded "Why I don't use Apple products,"^[8] where he goes after the anti-consumer features of Apple devices (shown below). The video has received over 2.3 million views in over 7 years.

One of his earliest notable pro-right-to-repair videos was uploaded on March 19th, 2015, where he promotes a bill protecting consumers' right to repair. To date, this video^[9] has over 35,000 views (shown below).

On October 8th, 2018, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation published an investigative piece on Apple's exorbitant repair costs, where they went undercover to try to get a malfunctioning Macbook Pro fixed. At an Apple store, they were charged $1200 for a logic board replacement, the employees citing damage from liquid contact. However, they then went to Louis's repair shop, Louis found no such liquid damage, and it was likely set off by simple air humidity. Louis cited that a pin that connected the computer's backlight was not seated properly, and upon re-seating it, managed to get the computer working again, free of charge.^[3]

Online Presence

Louis is often seen as the online face of the right-to-repair movement. He has gone viral multiple times on YouTube and Reddit and has his own Wikipedia page talking about his legal struggle to get right to repair legitimized.^[6] He has collaborated with the well-known tech YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips in an iMac Pro repair challenge video (see below), as well as worked with Steve Wozniak.^[4]

In addition, he has testified in right-to-repair hearings in numerous states (shown below).

Charity Work

In March 2021, Rossmann started a $6 million GoFundMe campaign to start a direct ballot initiative to protect consumer rights to repair in Massachusetts, which notably got the direct support of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.^[6] To date, the campaign has raised $775,478.^[5]