The iPhone Guru - All things iPhone, made clear

A recent message from a friend that he’d broken his brand new iPhone’s screen after only a few days spurred me to think about the replacement options. I’ve had the broken screen experience on the iPhone myself, so I know how traumatic it can be.I’ve written before about what to do when you’ve broken your iPhone, but I wanted to concentrate today on just the do-it-yourself method with a guide.

DISCLAIMER: The iPhone Guru is not responsible for any damage, permanent non-operation or loss of function that may occur to your iPhone if you attempt this guide. This is purely for informational purposes and any sort of application of this guide is to be undertaken at your own risk. Please do not attempt this guide unless you have some experience in electronics repair. That being said, if you follow instructions well, this operation isn’t that difficult.

This guide is a version of an original guide posted by Macrumors user Shenaniganz08 on the forums. I’ve added some links and proofread and organized the guide a bit, but all of the original work is his.

Not a comprehensive guide ( sure you can find a video or guide online) but I posted a few tips that I read from different users online, especially the ones that make things easier/lower risk of damaging your iPhone.

The replacement parts for the Phone are dirt cheap ( $39 for an LCD/Glass kit)

Tools

• Heat gun or blow dryer
• Latex Gloves
• Compressed Air
• Suction cup slightly smaller than the screen
• Prying tools
• Xacto blade or razor blade
• Small Phillips screwdriver
• Replacement parts : Glass and or LCD

Step 1 : Opening iPhone

1. Take out two bottom screws (blue arrows)
2. Use suction cup ( place it around the home button) and flip the glass up
3. You will see connectors and numbers. Use the prying tool and lift the number one and number two connector. For the number three connector lift the flap and pull the screen away. ( Red arrows)

Step 2: Remove LCD tray from Frame/Touchscreen

1. Remove the tape on the side of the LCD ( black)
2. Remove the remaining screws ( blue)
3. Use a prying tool on the side of the LCD tray to lift the LCD slightly
4. Once the LCD has been lifted slightly use the small hole on the bottom to slide the LCD down. You can do this with the tip of an Xacto or a paper clip This is the safest method of removing the LCD.

Step 3: Removing OLD LCD

1. You will have to unstick your old LCD from the aluminum tray. This process will ruin your old LCD, because the rear reflective material of the LCD will stay stuck to the LCD tray.
2. Remove old LCD reflective mirror-like material and clean off the old adhesive.
3. Test fit the new LCD. It should line up with the two small plastic nibs and two holes on the LCD tray.
4. Remove the protective plastic from the rear of the new LCD and stick it onto the LCD tray. You only have ONE chance at this, so be careful!
5. Next, use the old LCD as your template and make small folds in the LCD cable connector to make sure that the two cables are folded in an identical manner. They must be the same in order to fit back into the case properly.

Step 4: Replacing front glass

1. Heat up the Glass and Plastic frame. I can’t really say how long because it will vary depending on what you use, but a good sign is if you start to smell a little bit of plastic, that’s a good sign.
2. Using either your fingers or a prying tool, remove the glass/touchscreen from the frame. This will probably crack the LCD, and actually that makes it a bit easier.
3. Clean off all the old residue, and if you bent your frame in the previous step, bend it back in to shape.
4. Apply the new adhesive strips. Make sure that you when you buy the touchscreen/glass it comes with two new strips
5. Before you apply the touchscreen/glass put on some latex gloves and peel the inside screen protector away a bit, and tape down the cables

6. Remove the adhesive from the two strips and place the new glass on your plastic frame (take your time )

Step 5: Put New LCD back in

Remove the inside screen protector of the Glass/touchscreen and put it glass side up to avoid dust. Then remove the LCD screen protector and keep it in your hand, avoid getting any dust on it. Before you snap the new LCD into the frame, make sure there is no dust/lint on either part. Use the compressed air to clean the inside out before you put everything together, DON’T use the microfiber since they do leave lint

Step 6: Put everything back together

Just the reverse, pretty easy. Before you put the screws on the LCD tray, make sure you didn’t get any dust, if you did unsnap the lcd, used the compressed air to get it clean and put it back together. The only tricky connector is the #3 one, but its not too hard. Then you when you put the glass back into your iPhone, slide the top part first by the headset and then the bottom part and you are done !