Broken iPhone back-glass? Here's what to do!

Electronics
#1

You have two options.

  1. Get a new phone. Preferably Samsung.

or

  1. Become engulfed in a storm of glass dust as you fruitlessly chisel away at the glass which, by some stupid design, is adhered to the entire rear. Stray glass particles haunt you and your surroundings for weeks until you die from breathing in glass.

Apples.
Not even once.

2 Likes
#2

I used clear packing tape until I could get to Apple. I have done that several times. I let them change it because I have heard horror stories about other displays from Amazon and Ebay.

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#3

i’m a repair tech at uBreakiFix. Apple doesn’t actually fix the back glass, they just swap the phone. We’ve decided to replace the back glass twice so far, the second time for twice as much as the first time, and after the second time we’re either going to stop doing it or charge even more (or maybe, instead replace the entire rear housing and refuse to only replace the backglass) which will be less painful for us and more cost effective for the consumer.

Apple is the only back-glass that sucks. Samsung BG are adhered around the perimeter, and while we have a fancy vice-hotplate-vacuum-lift jig (AOD) that does most of the work for us, even if we didn’t have it it still might only take 15 to 20 minutes. Google even has an easily removed back-glass.

But Apple adheres their BG on the 8s and Xs across the entire surface area. Removing it has always taken us 6-8 hours of chiseling, and it makes a mess.

As for the displays, don’t worry about that as much. You can get them pretty cheap on ebay. If you already have some pentalobular screwdriver bits, 000 philips/JIS, and 000 tri-tip bits if you have an iphone 7 or up, and a heatgun, replacing the screen yourself should take 30 minutes to an hour. Just be careful with the home button if you have a 7 or up, it can’t be replaced and will brick your phone if damaged.

2 Likes
#4

Didn’t realize the 8’s had a glass back. More reason for me to stick with my 7. I thought you were talking about the display and LCD.

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#5

I was surprised too, thought only the Xs had them. I guess it’s to not interfere with the wireless charging.

#6

Why does a phone need glass on the back? :wink:

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#7

There’s your problem, Apple products were meant to be replaced not repaired.

(Pressing [F] to pay respects)

2 Likes
#8

It’s true.

Not to mention, part quality…

Samsung has apple beat there too.

#9

I replaced the batteries in my own and my wife’s iPhone 6 pluses. I also replaced my rear camera. Easy peasy.