Fixing the broken glass on my iPhone
Yeah, I know this is off topic… This is not about trailer hitches, towing, or bike racks, but it is a resource sorely needed and what better place to put it than here.
My iPhone dropped out of my pocket onto some rocks the other day. It only fell about 2 feet, but it smashed the screen to smithereens. The screen still worked and I put packing tape over it to protect my face while I considered my options for fixing it. There were some vague tutorials out there on this subject, and I was a little apprehensive, but decided to give it a go. Apple wants almost $300 to fix the screen, which seems steep for a $400 phone. I ordered a replacement glass face off of eBay for about $25 and it arrived in about 10 days.
This morning I did a run to the local hardware store and Radio Shack to pick up the required tools. I bought an X-Acto knife with a flat, stub-nosed blade for prying the glass off the LCD, some Goo-Gone for helping to loosen the glue holding the glass to the LCD, some cotton swabs for applying the Goo-Gone, some Windex for cleaning the LCD, and some Elmer’s rubber cement for glueing the glass on.
In the image above you can see how I’m using the blade to gently lift the glass shards while using the q-tip to apply Goo-Gone to loosen the adhesive. It takes a long time… Set aside 2-3 hours if you want to do it right. I recommend applying the Goo-Gone liberally before lifting the glass so that any air pockets created will be filled with the solvent. Be very slow and deliberate and let the glass lift itself as much as possible. If your screen is not shattered as badly as mine, it will be more difficult or nearly impossible, as the larger chunks are very hard to remove. I thought about trying a hair dryer to soften the glue, but didn’t have one handy.
Once the glass has been largely removed, I used the same blade to scrape off the adhesive. I think I went a little overboard with the Goo-Gone. More on that later… You can also see some O-ring sticking out of the sides of the phone. That o-ring was damaged pretty badly getting this apart since it was glued into the adhesive in places. I’m not sure how important it is, but I’m not going to worry about it.
Above you can see the pile of debris I’ve created and the tools I was using. The replacement glass is shown, too. The LCD is now ready to be cleaned with Windex.
I applied a little rubber cement to each of the four corners under the black portion of the glass and stuck the face on. I decided not to try putting glue between the LCD and the glass, as it would be almost impossible to do without bubbles. I cannot tell the difference between a phone with glue and a phone without glue, so other than sealing it up, there is no visible need for it.
Pressing the button and watching the phone come on was a great relief. However, when I tried the touch panel, it didn’t work at first. OMG, I destroyed my phone!!! Fortunately after waiting a few more minutes it was working just fine. It must have been the windex evaporating off. The touchscreen now works just like new. However, there is some strange shadowing on the screen that is new. I think I must have applied a little too much goo-gone and had it go behind the LCD. It doesn’t affect the performance, but you can definitely see a slight shadow. That said, it is 50X better now than it was before and I saved $250, so I can live with the shadow. Maybe it will go away, too over time.
This was a difficult and time consuming process, but I’m happy with the result. If I had destroyed the phone in the process, I was planning to buy an LCD/Glass unit for $165 as my backup plan. Fortunately plan A did the trick.
**** UPDATE 06/23 ****
The shadowing that appeared on the screen seems to be slowly healing itself. I think the adhesive remover is slowly evaporating out from between the backlight and the LCD. The pattern has changed substantially and is getting lighter and lighter. Hopefully it will disappear all together. I’m thinking about leaving it in the sun for a while to see if it speeds the evaporation.
Also, the lack of the o-ring is noticeable. Some lint has already made it behind the screen. At some point, I’ll remove the glass again and do a better job of sealing it. I think a large gauge syringe could be used to squirt a small bead of rubber cement all the way around the screen to take the place of the original o-ring without getting it under the visible part of the screen.
**** UPDATE 07/12 ****
The dark spots on the screen continue to disappear, albeit slowly. I still have not sealed the glass up, thinking that the goo gone needs a way for the vapors to escape. Compare the picture below to the original image. You’ll see it is much, much better. Maybe a few more weeks and it will be clear… Be careful not to use too much solvent so this doesn’t happen to you.
**** UPDATE 09/25 ****
Well, the display stopped healing itself about where the last image shows. Overall I’d say the project was a success. Some weird things that resulted from this project… The screen worked great with two exceptions. First, the display calibration seems to wander more than before. When you play a game, or use an application for an extended period of time (~>5 min), the screen sometimes stops recognizing your finger. To fix, you simply lock the phone and unlock it again. This seems to reset the calibration. The second thing is that the auto-dim feature when you hold the phone to your face is sporadic. That means you sometimes will mute the phone with your face.
The first problem is probably due to the lack of adhesive between the LCD and the glass. It means there is more variation in the capacitance between the touch panel and the user’s finger. Finding a way to glue it would probably solve this problem.
I’m stumped about the second problem. I’ve since verified that my light sensor works, so it must be related to the new glass somehow.
Tinkering is a hobby of mine, so I decided to buy and install a new LCD/touchpanel/glass assembly to see what that process is like as well. Found one on ebay for ~$175 delivered. Being an electrical engineer by training and having pretty good motor skills, I have to say it was much more difficult than I expected… At one point, I thought the phone was dead for good.
My notes from the job:
1) Getting the antenna cover off was a big challenge. Both “disassembly tools” that came with the LCD broke before I got the antenna cover off. I ended up using a chisel to pry the cover off and that seems to have worked pretty well.
2) Getting the aluminum backing off made the antenna cover look easy! With both disassembly tools already broken, I used a small jeweler’s screw driver to pry and pry until I finally got it to come loose. In the process I scraped and bent the case pretty badly. I was able to bend it back into shape, but it’s definitely a little dog-eared. All the videos on youtube made it look easy and it was anything but easy for me. Maybe my phone was unique…
3) Getting the rest of the phone apart is not very difficult, but putting it back together is. There is a ribbon cable with no connector that slides into a connector on the motherboard. It is very difficult to reseat properly. Don’t forget to reconnect it when you reassemble. There are a total of 5 connectors that need to be seated with great precision in a very tight space. It took me about five attempts before all the connectors were finally seated properly.
The phone works like new now, but it was a big job. Having done both repairs, it’s a tough call which way I’d go in the future. Both have pros and cons. The prospect of paying $175 for a new screen and still risking that the phone won’t work when you’re done is a tough one…
June 21st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Thanks for this. I have recently purchased an Iphone off of ebay with a broken glass panel; I haven’t received it in the mail yet, and I was worried as to how difficult it would be for me to repair. I wonder if there is a better adhesive to use so that it doesn’t cause the shadowing, hmm
June 21st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Oh, and that o-ring is most likely there to prevent dust and dirt from arriving inside the phone. You might notice it build up between the glass and the LCD after a while.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Thanks for publishing this. I read the instructions on Somethingawful, but didn’t notice what kind of adhesive he used. Now those instructions aren’t available anymore. I’m surprised that a little rubber cement is all it took. I’m going to try your suggestion for running a bead around the edge to replace the o-ring.
By the way, even just laying the new glass on works - the phone works fine.
June 25th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Cool, I love my iPhone and though I don’t need the fix now, it’s good to know! Thanks
June 25th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I am so glad I found this tutorial because on Monday my iPhone’s glass screen met its demise. The damage isn’t nearly as bad as yours though. I bought a replacement glass screen immediately off of eBay so now I have been studying up on how to repair the stupid thing.
So what I would like to know is what is all this talk about an o-ring? What does it look like and how can I replace it if I damage it during the repair?
June 25th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Kindra - The o-ring is a very small rubber gasket that goes all the way around the silver faceplate on the phone. It is very difficult not to damage the o-ring when you pull the glass off. I ended up just cutting out the damaged portions of the o-ring.
I’ve been waiting for my phone to dry out, as I got some of the adhesive remover between the backlight and the LCD. It keeps getting better every day. Once it is fully dried out, I plan to use a syringe to lay a small bead of rubber cement all the way around the silver faceplate where the o-ring used to be. Then, when I set the screen in place, it will seal up the LCD from the elements and protect it from lint. The only trick is to avoid getting too much cement in there, as it could squish under the visible portion of the glass which wouldn’t look good. It wouldn’t be hard to remove and redo it, though.
Also, you might have better luck saving the o-ring than I did.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I fixed my broken glass similarly, but used Ifixit.com website to take off the bevel (outside silver frame) from the phone to get at the broken glass from the side. I used an exacto knife with the angled blade and put goof off on the blade to loosen the glue. Too much of it and it seeps under the LCD screen. It all went perfectly until I twisted the knife towards the end of the process in a rush and made a small crack on the LCD screen (over $250 to replace). I left the small crack and glued my new glass cover with liquid nails from home depot. It was too thick and I had to take off the new screen (liquid nails has about an hour til it is too hard to remove) I had to apply very little dots and then scrape them smooth to get the glass close enough. Anyway, if you are doing this replacement, be careful to not break the LCD and be patient - it takes some time to do. Good luck all! Great article and pictures BTW! Teresa
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:15 am
Hi Ken, Thanks for the o-ring info. Over the past week I have been doing a lot of research and I am hoping that I can help folks out here by what I have learned.
If you break the glass on your iPhone, but you are lucky (as you and I were) to have a 100% functional phone, you can make a complete repair of your phone for less than $100 (in my case, $88) by purchasing the glass cover and the lcd digitzer separately through eBay. This will spare you the time and grief of trying to whiddle your way through removing the broken glass off the screen without risking the screen’s functionality. If you are not a risk taker, this is the way to go!
Once you have received the glass and the lcd/digitizer, you will need to first disassemble your iPhone using the video instructions found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F38GcWUoTPM
I found this video to be the most comprehensive one with regard to replacing the screen. Follow each step carefully and all should be well.
Once you have reached the end of the steps shown in the video, set aside your poor iPhone and begin carefully inspecting how the lcd and glass screen are attached. I suggest making a diagram on a piece of paper and make notes as to what goes where, how the lcd is positioned on the screen, etc. Then turn to your new glass cover and lcd. Take *a little* rubber cement (make sure you get some that says it will bond to glass–crazy glue and stuff like that is not strong enough) and place three tiny equidistant dots on the top, bottom, and sides to *to the edge of the backside of the glass*. Now, carefully affix the lcd digitizer so that the cable plug ins are exactly how your broken glass/lcd assembly looks *face down*.
Its important not to over do it with the cement. All you need is enough to affix the glass to the lcd digitizer. Don’t ask me why the original is glued entirely on there. As long as the lcd and the glass are making contact, that’s all you need.
Now, its time to reassemble the phone. Plug your cables back in using the video as your guide, thinking in reverse (I have a hard time doing that, so I made a diagram of the innards and how everything connected together as I was taking it apart so I could work backwards). Those antennas that you had to pry off will easily be glued back into place with a bit of that rubber cement. If there is one thing I am grateful that the manufacturers did do was attach the battery to the motherboard, so at least you can’t mess that up! After everything is put back together again, hold your breath, say a prayer, take a drink, whatever…and turn it on. *Hopefully* everything will work ok. If it doesn’t, hope is not lost yet. There are several folks online that will repair your iPhone for the cost of a new 3G…notably http://www.pdasmart.com.
After all was said and done, I bought myself a new invisible full body shield to protect from knicks and scratches through http://www.zagg.com, and to prevent this from ever happening again, I bought an InnoPocket full body aluminum metal case that will withstand a drop from my kitchen table. Total price of repair, plus accessories: $138. Not having to buy into a iPhone 3G with a new contract, hidden fees, and waiting in line for a day…priceless.
Hope that helps anyone out there looking to avoid spending too much on repairs or total replacement. Good luck!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hi everybody,
I have a question for Kindra: you said you bought a lcd digitizer and glass from ebay for about 80$. The thing is that i can find these packages but it says it only contains the lcd and glass. So, what is the difference between what you bought and the complete screens that sell for 180+ $.
I also have another question and its concerning the lcd itself. I have a shadow in my lcd and i want to change it for a new lcd that i can get from ebay for 40-50$. My question is how do separate the lcd from the glass. There is a diagram here http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/iphone2.htm . My glass and toutchscreen are working perfectly but i cant seem to find anyone that has performed this fix.
Thank your for your input!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
To Phil:
I am 95% certain that there is no difference between buying the parts seperately versus buying them as a single pre-assembled unit. Now, if you buy the whole lcd/digitizer and glass screen as one preassembled unit, you get to bypass the work of gluing the glass and lcd unit together.
The main difference will be that in the preassembled lcd/glass unit, the glass is glued onto the lcd entirely, the same as the original. If you buy the pieces separately, then unless you know how to correctly apply a silicone-based room temperature curing adhesive paste that dries crystal clear…your option is to simply glue the edges together.
To separate the lcd from the glass, see the main article above. To my knowledge, the unit has to be replaced in its entirety, or you can scrape the lcd off the glass as Ken did in his blog article using goo-gone liberally (found at your local hardware store). Then you will have to reaffix the lcd to the glass.
Also, everyone need to keep in mind that there are really only two parts here in question: The glass (which is simply a 1/32 inch thin piece of glass), and the lcd and digitzer, which is the lcd and “touch screen”…and its stuck together as one unit. The glass itself has no “touch screen” capabilities…all of the touchscreen functionality is in the lcd/digitizer unit. So when you need to replace your glass and lcd, you have essentially three options:
Buy the glass and lcd/digitizer seperately and assemble it to make one complete unit.
Buy the glass and lcd/digitzer preassembled together (this makes replacement easier, but $100 or more expensive).
Or, if your lcd/digitizer doesn’t function or looks bad…buy a new lcd/digitzer unit, scrape the old one off the glass *carefully* and then glue the new lcd/digitzer to the cleaned glass face plate.
Hope that helps!
July 11th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Did the shade on your screen go away finally? It looks very similar to what I saw when LCD is water damaged. It is probably caused by moisture in the back of LCD, and sometime it will be permanent. I wish it is not the case in this repair.
July 12th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I just updated the post to show how much the shading has improved. It’s not quite gone, yet, but it seems to be slowly healing itself. I can’t wait for it to finish healing so I can glue and seal the screen. Having the dust under there makes viewing in the sun more difficult.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Hey everyone. I’m thinking if something else works to separate the glass from the LCD. What if I use a Hairdryer to heat the glass and try to slide a steel string between them. Would that work and is the heat going to damage the LCD?
August 14th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Hi!
Did you just put you glass over the LCD after pulling off all the glass? , Or did you need to take it all apart, and the put the glass on?
My iphone have a crack on the screen, but the glass is still in place.
Linuxbox
August 14th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Hi. The way I did it, you don’t have to take the phone apart. You simply remove the glass from the front of the phone and glue a new glass panel over the top of the LCD.
BTW, I did some heat testing while I was trying to get the solvent to evaporate. I turned on my oven to the lowest setting (150F), turned it off and let it cool a little bit, then I put the phone in there. I didn’t realize how hot it was, but when I pulled the phone out several minutes later, it was too hot to hold… No damage done, though.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Did the oven trick help?, how did you get the solvent to evaporate?
August 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
No, the oven trick did not seem to make too much difference. I think temperature is a factor, but the vapor needs to escape. I would probably try it again with the glass face off to see if that helped the vapor escape. The best luck I had was to leave the phone in the sun on my desk for an hour or so a day. It slowly got better over time.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Ok, So you didnt have a sucsessfull removal of the glue-shit that keeps the glass and the LCD together?
I have the glass, but I cant find any easy way to do this. People are having real trouble of changig the glass without breaking the LCD-Touch panel.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I removed all the glue that holds the glass and LCD together. I did it without damaging the LCD. However, the solvent that I used to help remove the glue got behind the LCD and that is what caused the shadowing in the pictures above. The heat was just to try to accelerate the evaporation of the solvent. The shadow is much, much better now, but it is still visible in a couple areas of the screen - as shown in the pictures in the post.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:39 am
were can I buy the New Glass? you can email me at oroman@pbsj.com if some one can let me know thanks
August 25th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Nice!
I basically did the same thing to fix my friend’s Iphone. Except I disassemble everything (very time consuming).
I used a heat gun to soften the adhesive so I can lift bigger pieces of glass. You can heat until the lcd turn black. It will return to normal condition as it cool. I used also varsol to dissolve the remaining adhesive.
For replacing the adhesive I used 3M 467MP adhesive film. I will try to find 3M 2000MP #8142 optically clear adhesive film.
And I had also the same can of shadow in the back lighting.
Maybe I will post a video on youtube (maybe)
http://www.youtube.com/user/1943vermork
August 27th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Hey Guy,
Thx for your tut…Was afraid about destroying the thing between glass and lcd display, which recognises the touch…but it all worked fine!
For all ppl who dont know which thing to use for the adhesiveglue…I did it with acteone…Use some cottom to get it underneath the glass…it works perfectly…DONT FORGET: TAKE YOU TIME!:)
Acetone didnt do anything to my display no shadows and more…
Greeting lobo
August 27th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
well, i got a free iPhone!!!!! my cusion had let a friend borrow it and her friend dropped it in the driveway. the next day it got ran over. lol. it still works though! just cracked, pretty bad and the back is scratched. she already canceled the service so i have to unlock it. but anyway some googling i found this site for replacement iphone parts. http://www.kokopellimusic.us
August 30th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Nice guide. My screen had to big pieces. Broke the digitizer
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:05 am
wow, this is the first time i am coming across a replacement technique just for glass screen, i have seen many for the whole lcd /digitizer/ glass in one unit but first one for just the glass. if i am able to do this for my phone will save roughly $ 140 based on the ebay price of the digitizer right now.
will try it out.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
My screen cracked after a short fall of of a table. SO much for durability. I was able to fix it with a razor blade and liquid resin, followed by a mylar sheet with adhesive as an additional protection.
Working great.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Do you think it would be better to glue the whole screen on? I’m not sure if i should use the iphone screen adhesive or not. Is the touch sensitivity any degraded?
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Wait! Why is this on a trailer hitching blog? LOL
September 4th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I think it would be better to glue the whole screen on, but doing so without getting bubbles under the screen is a challenge. The touch screen is sensitive without it, but the calibration does tend to wander a little bit. If I do a lot of typing or browsing, the screen sometimes stops working. I then have to lock and unlock the phone which seems to run a calibration routine that gets it working again. Not a big deal, though.
Well, unfortunately my only blog is a blog about trailer hitches. Not too relevant to trailer hitches, but oh well.
September 4th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Well its your blog and you can do whatever you want with it lol. Have you tried the sheet of adhesive off ebay? Thanks for the answer by the way.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
This is lie…i tried remove glass from LCD and LCD has broke. its almost imposible remove glass from LCD…its glued…my iphone death and im pissed…dont do it at home…trust me
September 8th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Just finished doing this project. I ordered the new glass from ebay, the listing said it was glass, but what I got was plastic! Still went through with it. First I tried to take off the front bezel following ifixit tutorial. Wound up breaking the plastic opening tool trying to pry off the back panel (dented the panel as well) Was about to give up but figured I’m in it this far already so I went ahead and tried Ken’s technique. My glass was only shattered by the home button with some spider webs an inch or two out, so I smashed the hell out of the rest of the screen with the back of a glass cutter, and boy did it take some force to get the rest to shatter! Four hours later using ‘goof off’ and a flat blade exacto knife I managed to get all the glass removed with minor damage to the o-ring and no damage to the LCD. Used a few drops of rubber cement at the top and bottom and hoped for the best. The right side of the glass is slightly elevated and not sitting firmly against the bezel, it looks like it could use some cement, but I don’t want to risk it spilling over into the viewing area. Because of this its difficult to access the apps on the right side, it takes alot of pressure and sometimes too much pressure makes it launch an app from the dock instead?? I can live with that since the phone was free from a friend who didn’t want to bother with the repair..Thanks for the info Ken, I don’t think I would have attempted this if I had not come across this blog!
September 8th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
“This is lie…” - Sorry to hear that it didn’t work out for you. I can assure you it isn’t a lie. I suppose it is like surgery. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. If you’re not prepared for the possibility of further damaging your already damaged phone, then I don’t recommend trying this. Also, if you short on patience, then I would also steer clear of this project. It takes time and patience to do it right. The worst case is that you have to buy a complete digitizer/LCD/glass replacement for ~$170 or pay somebody ~$250 to replace it for you. Best case, you save $145 by just replacing the glass yourself.
Mike - No, I haven’t tried the adhesive off ebay. I tried something similar on my old blackberry and it was a real pain to work with. If someone else has used it, please comment on the blog!
September 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Yea, this isn’t “a lie”. Many other people have done and succeded and may others failed like you andy. So FAIL! I got the same problem with the plastic lens. It said Iphone Glass Lens (Made of Plastic) lol. I talked to the seller and they were going to give me a glass one but I talked to them too late. They already shipped it but they said if i wanted a glass one I could talk to them. I think I might just keep the plastic and put a invisibleShield on it.
KenW-I’ll just use the rubber cememnt around the side then. Thanks
September 9th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Wow. It worked! I have to admit that it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but definately feels nice to have a like new iPhone again for less than $25. Mine had large long cracks instead of the smaller web cracks. I had to use a glass cutter to break into smaller chunks. Definately not something for the faint of heart. I used a flat exacto blade and no goo gone. If you can get small enough pieces they come out fairly easily. After the glass was removed, I used acetone to clean the LCD surface and glass cover. No streaks. No problems. Thanks for posting your success! I would have spent $180 for a new LCD and digitizer if not for this.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:35 am
In a followup, the touch screen works great, unless I press down with some force for some reason on the screen. This seems to throw the calibration of the touch screen off, and the screen becomes unresponsive or does some weird things with an occasional return to normal operation. Locking and unlocking the iPhone fixes the problem immediately. Not too big of a deal. I think it maybe due to some invisible air pockets between the lcd and glass. So, I’m going to try to re-install the glass with a dab of acetone or alcohol in the middle of the digitizer and force all of the air out between the lcd and glass, tonight.
September 10th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I tried the procedure. I was a little to rush, now there are some scratches in the LCD an some display errors.
My Problem is that the touchscreen is only working on the upper side. I can shut the phone down. but the butten to unlock it is unuseable.
Are there any hints for the touch. Is there anything what have to be between the glass and the dispaly ?
September 10th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Make sure you clean as much of the goo off the face of the phone before you put the glass down. If the glass is raised by any debris left from removing the adhesive, it can be unresponsive. The glass should be as close to the LCD as possible. Once you get it flush it should work. At least that is my experience.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I have dropped my iphone on carpet and now the screen is light gray with a darker grey line on the side. Do i have to buy a new LCD and digitalizer? i had my phone for 2 weeks only and now i can’t even use it, the phone rings but the screen is blank
Can someone help.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
If the glass is still intact (not shattered), then I would highly recommend bringing it back to the closest Apple Store. A phone should not break when you drop it on carpet and when there has not been enough force to dent the case or break the glass. I would be surprised if they don’t replace it for free.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Hey,
you are the best followed your procedure and fixed my phone for around 26 bucks.
18 bucks for the glass
and
8 bucks for adhesive remover + rubber cement
excellent, watch videos through the following link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l7ooWQqCig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7scvLT_a-M
thanks a lot
http://www.techinsider.info
September 16th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
want to add another comment here,
i did not open the phone or silver bevel (outside silver frame) i just used the blade shown in the above video to scrape off the glass. also i damaged some of the oring as it is very difficult to not to damage while removing the glass, but the stupid thing i did was to remove the remaining undamaged oring myself. ( soo stupid).
also i used goo gone instead of windex to clean the screen, but goo gone was not very useful to remove the glass as it wont go inside the gap well.
thanks again
http://www.techinsider.info
September 16th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
also takes a lot of time to do, started at 12:30 and ended by 2:30 so if you are rushing through it or have reached the end of the process much before this you are definitely exposing the lcd to a crack, new lcd digitizer is $ 180 on ebay.
patience is the last word with this process
September 17th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Thank you Ken, i will try the apple store and see what they tell me.. i hope they don’t ask me for a invoice because i purchased this phone on ebay.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:48 am
I got a free i phone with official apple glass replacement, and a note that said, perhaps you can fix this. My idea though is , what is the best solvent for the glass, and can you just soak the 1/32nd’s of glass top in 1/33’s of solvent to break the glue under it. Will the solvent seep in to the glue area and break the glue free? Which solvents wont damage the digitizer. My idea is to leave it sit overnight in solvent and the next morning pry the glass free.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:26 am
yesterday i dropped my iphone and cracked the lcd screen..i’m studying in Malaysia but here is no Apple store…how to buy from ebay?someone tell me plz
September 21st, 2008 at 8:31 am
thanks for this.Just dropped my iphone out of my side pocket on a fairground ride in Donegal from about 40 or 50 feet.Screen is completely shattered but still works.Will (try) post a pic later.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Hi,
I was wondering where you bought the GLASS version (not the plastic) of the glass screen for the iphone? My screen broke but it works fine. Thanks for the help.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:49 am
I bought the glass version on ebay, but I don’t remember the seller. What I do is find a seller that does a good job specifying the product, making sure it is what you’re looking for. Then, click on their feedback and look for other people who have bought the same product. If the feedback is positive from others who have purchased the item, then you’re good to go. Also, if a seller has less than 98% feedback, I’d keep looking… My seller was located in China, but the glass arrived in about 10 days.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Thanks for the help.
Shawn
September 27th, 2008 at 5:16 am
guys,
just an update to my above comments on fixing my iphone glass
the removal of oring has started to have adverse effects on the phone now as lot of dust has seeped through the extra gap between glass and the phone itself which im not able to clean so try not to destroy the o ring, will have to open clean and close the gaps some time i guess rest everything is working fine…
http://www.techinsider.info
September 30th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Zylene worked very well for me. the bigger pieces of glass I was able to break up by putting the razor inbetween the two pieces and turning. I still have the ghosting effect on the backlight/LCD but it’s still alot better than having broken glass! I’m pleased to report a complete success
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
[...] upon further looking I chanced upon this…….. Getting Hitched Blog Archive Fixing the broken glass on my iPhone maybe u can……just replace the protective [...]
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I did the glass swap about a week ago and am now starting to notice some of the glitches. The screen will become unresponsive pretty often, and like someone said before, locking and unlocking it fixes it. Also, smaller buttons now require more accuracy and sensitivity to activate. Small bits of dust are now entering the gap between the screen.
I found this: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16101
Would this be a better fix? I know the glass and digitizer are fused together, but is the LCD behind the digitizer fused as to it as well? Doesn’t seem like to bad of deal, assuming the swap can be done fairly easily. Do you think the swap can be done from the front of the phone, similar to the glass swap? Also, what can be done about the seal around the glass?
October 4th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Just finished a screen replacement on a 2g iphone, screen fitted form the outside of the phone (did not dismantle the phone) glass and a iphone tool kit from DX. Now one thing every body has not used is a HOT WATER BOTTLE, filled with boiling hot water and a towel over the top to work on this keeps the phone nice and hot, and makes the glue that holds the glass nice and soft and make the removal of the glass a lot easer, now for some tips,
My glass was very badly smashed, the smaller fragments could be removed very easy, larger pieces are very hard to remove, so pieces larger than 4mm start getting hard to remove, and as some one else said get a glass cutter and score the glass so it will crack up as you remove it, Don’t try to brake the glass just score it, it should brake as you pry it out. I did NOT do this as I had no glass cutter but would recommend you to do this as larger pieces above 6mm were very hard to remove, It took me 2.5 hours to get all the glass off.
Now for the glue left on the touch screen, in the repair kit that I got from DX there is a guitar plectrum, make sure you phone is nice and hot (Boiling water is only 100c Max)
now just start pushing the glue about on the glass and it start to Ball Up and can be remover very easy as it looses tack, using this method I got 99.9% of the glue off just using the plectrum and my fingers,took about 25 min’s, the rest of the glue and glue marks
was removed using a cotton but with the smallest amount of glue remover, keep away from the edge’s of the screen and only do the edge’s last, with cotton but nearly dry of glue remover, then I polished the screen with some CD cleaner ( isopropyl ).
Known problems with reassembly, the air gap between the new outer glass and the touch screen should be ZERO ( No gap at all, or should have clear contact glue in between) or the touch screen will go out of calibration and you will have to keep sending the phone into stand by and back out to get the screen to recalibrate itself all the time.
For now I have put the screen in with very thin sticky back tape (the type that is just glue when applied) and only four small bits on the corners under the black parts, so if I ever need to remove the screen at a later date it will be easy to remove, you could even use this type of tape to seal all the way round as it east to cut and apply ( get from any craft shop ).
Well phone works 100% for now, so just take your time and read all the tips that you can find to help you, and the HOT WATER BOTTLE is my tip along with the GLUE REMOVING plectrum.
Dave
October 8th, 2008 at 6:45 am
hi, i have removed my screen with great ease actually on a 3g phone, LCD is in perfect condition, the only thing im worried about it the orange bit behind the screen….is this the digitizer? On the 3g it has glass below this orange bit attaching it to another part of the phone, and that glass is shattered and i cant get it out. Will this mean that I will have to get the orange bit replaced? Help would be much appreciated
October 10th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I’ve been searching for hours and just want to say that this is the most helpful blog/forum I’ve read. Thanks to everyone for contributing.
The day it came out, I upgraded to the 3G phone from my 1st gen one. My little brother is still on my parents’ plan, just graduated from college, and doesn’t have the credit or money to enter a new plan for the subsidized 3G. So, I sold him my 1st gen phone dirt cheap. I got a phone call last week from him to let me know he dropped it and cracked the screen. Great. Well, big brother is researching ways he can play hero.
I’m going to attempt to disassemble the phone and replace the glass. Hopefully, this will negate the o-ring issue; although, it may create several others. All the materials are (hopefully) on their way from ebay sellers. I’ve purchased replacement glass, case tools, and an adhesive strip. I still need to pick up a glass cutter, hobby knife, and acetone.
I plan to use Dave017’s tips for hot water and glue-removing plectrum (this really threw me off - I’ve never heard a guitar pick called a plectrum). I also plan on using the full sheet of adhesive between the glass and the LCD. I recognize that this could (and probably will - and I’ll regret it) result in some bubbles, but I hope that using the spray that came with my InvisibleShield will reduce the odds. I think the full adhesive sheet may prevent some of the issues I’ve read regarding calibration.
I’ll do my best to share photos and the results with everyone afterward. Wish me luck!
Billy
October 12th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Hi,
Thanks for this great blog. I used it to replace the glass on my iphone. I am now experiencing some of the calibration problems mentioned here. It is actually quite annoying. Sometimes it freezes up right as I am getting a call and I can not answer….
I just used 4 dabs of rubber cement in the corners to secure the glass but I am thinking of trying to take it off and glue down the whole screen. I am a bit concerned that I will break the glass again trying to remove it.
I will let you know how it goes but if anyone has another fix that has worked for the calibration please post it!
Thanks,
Bo
October 12th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Bo,
I don’t think you will have any problems removing your screen again, I was able to do it without any problems.
I don’t think I had many calibration issues, but I did have a non-responsive row on the touchscreen, roughly right in the middle of the lens. I removed the glass it to see if maybe it would help, but it did not. I think restoring the phone could help. Also, I have heard that there is a way to increase the sensitivity of the touchscreen using some jailbroken software.
October 18th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Well…I gave it a shot today and it started off smoothly. Taking the phone apart was a pain (especially the aluminum back). The smaller fragments of glass came off easily without any solvent or heat. I attempted to score the larger pieces with a glass cutter and it didn’t work at all. In the process of trying to break the larger pieces of glass, I ended up cracking the LCD (even after using some acetone and applying direct heat to the glass). The corners were especially susceptible to cracking. I spent about two hours and removed about 40% of the glass from the LCD. This is a painfully slow process and only one slip up out of the literally thousands of knife movements you may make can ruin the LCD.
This was a tricky one, but I’m glad I tried it. Time to scope out ebay for a new LCD/glass rig.
Thanks again.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
took away all of debris on LCD (with 12cm knife, no aceton, nothing :-), but it is not anymore reacting, device even cannot start, is it ok? will it start after I put glass on it? (havent bought it yet)
October 26th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Well, this method works, just make sure you do something different for big pieces (maybe use the heat gun, as noted in the comments above). I got all of my little pieces of glass up slowly, but just fine, for the first hour. Then I tried to get some big pieces up with too much pressure (without heat) and broke the LCD/digitizer below. whoops! I should have waited and done it correctly.
Good luck everyone! Be patient and do it right!
October 29th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hey Everyone. First, thank you, Ken, for blogging about this.
My iPhone 2G was dropped onto its top right corner and it now has a cracks in the glass running up,down and diagonal. The LCD image looks fine and the cracks in the glass are only hairline. However, the touchscreen doesn’t work. I can only slide the “slide to unlock” slider about half an inch… i think only the bottom left corner of the touchscreen is responsive. Will replacing the glass fix this situation? Thanks in advance!
October 30th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
hi,
I just broke my iPhone.. about 30 minutes ago. and am relieved that you can replace the glass and not have to use plastic. The phone still works perfectly, everything runs great, just the screen has alot of damage to the bottom left and a large crack running diagonally from the bottom left up and curving back to the top left. Should i still bother with replacing the screen?
October 30th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Dean - Sorry to hear that. My guess is that you’re out of luck. If the screen isn’t responding, I don’t think that scraping the glass off and replacing it is going to fix your problem. You’re probably going to need a complete LCD assembly.
Mariel - It sounds like it is worth a try. If the screen is not completely shattered, you may have a hard time removing some of the larger pieces. I’ve heard several people say that they break the glass more using a glass cutter before removing it.
As I mentioned before, I replaced my glass and then bought an entire LCD assembly to compare the processes. I still have the old LCD assembly (still works) and replacement glass sitting on my desk. I’ve been planning to sell it on eBay, but if someone wants it, I’d sell it for $100 delivered. The glass and the LCD are not bonded together. If you’re interested, just email us at sales(at symbol)hitchsource.com
October 30th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Ok, I figure I’ll try it anyway, since either way if this doesnt work, i’ll end up paying $250 to fix it or upgrade to the 3G. I’ll take pictures and keep you updated on how it goes! Thanks so much!
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Been looking at some of the posts that have been left by people looking for a answer to there smashed screens, I have repaired two so far with 100% success, Don’t think that you can replace the screen easy and in a short time, this is not some thing that you can do in a hurry,it takes time to do and a lot of patience to be successful, If your touch screen is not working replacing the glass alone will not help, if your touch screen is not working fully as it should, same again waist of time replacing the outer glass, you need touch screen and outer glass. read my other post for how I succeeded and advice I gave as to how I repaired the two I have done so far, both the one’s i have done have had very badly smashed screens, and both had there touch fully working despite the damaged to the outer glass, when the outer glass has been removed from the touch screen, if you look very closely at the touch screen glass you will see a very fine grid pattern on top of the glass made up of hundreds of lines, that are virtually transparent, scratch one of these and the touch screen will loose line’s of sensitivity, with the outer glass removed the touch screen should work fully, if not putting a outer glass’s will not improve the matter. I do not repair phones for a living and only repaired the two iphone’s as no one else could at a fare price, if it takes you a week to remove the outer glass no problem, four week,again no problem, damage the touch screen and your bust. to fit the outer screen tokes 5 minuets, to remove the damaged outer screen takes hour’s and hour’s, on the second iphone I applied more heat to large pieces of glass with a soldering iron, just enough to get the glass lifting then kept it under constant pressure so the glue slowly de-bonded and released the glass, None of the iphone I repaired were dismantled in any way apart from removing the outer glass to replace it.
So remember,take your time, lots of time, and it will cost £12 ($18) to repair, do more damage and it will cost a lot more and you will have to strip the phone and it may still not work when all said and done. one other thing buy a silicon case for it, may not look all that good but looks better than a bust screen.
Dave017
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
[...] kan… Getting Hitched Blog Archive Fixing the broken glass on my iPhone Maar als ik jou was zou ik toch even [...]
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Ok. I had a broken iPhone 3G. I think the assembly is quite different between the description of the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G. My experience is with the 3G.
What I found was:
——————————–
Glass on top level (in my case shattered)
——– GLUE ————-
Touch panel
———-NO GLUE ——-
LCD screen
——————————–
This differs from above descriptions of the original iPhone, where the LCD screen was glued to the touch panel / digitiser, if I read correctly.
First, I tried the method descripted here: replacing the top layer of ordinary glass that was shattered. £13 for the glass panel. Unfortunately, the glass pieces were too large, and the leverage required to lift through the glue put too much pressure on the layer below, and the touch panel below shattered.
The iPhone LCD screen was fine, but there was now no touch functionality.
So, I ordered the top two layers from eBay (£25). That’s the glass and the touch panel. These arrived in one piece, glued together. I followed a YouTube video to see how that iPhone 3G pulls apart. Had to fiddle a bit, but it eventually opens.
The 3G pulls apart into two pieces, with the LCD/TouchPanel/Glass in one half, and the motherboard/battery/etc in the other half. So, it’s then just a matter of unplugging the connectors between the two halves.
The LCD panel comes away easily, with the removal of 6 of the tiniest miniscule screws (I actually lost one on the floor, in the process). It’s not glued to the glass layers above.
I had to lever the broken glass & touch panel out of the casing. Once done, I then used some glue to attach the new glass & touch panel unit to the casing, connected all that to the LCD again with the miniscule screws, fiddled a bit to get the connectors back in place on the motherboard, and that was about it.
Held my breath a bit when turning the phone on, had to open it up again a couple of times to fiddle with those connectors, but eventually got it all right.
Phone seems to work well! Will see over the next few weeks if there’s any long term degradation.
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
hey guys I heard a couple of people say that they broke the screen into smaller pieces for easier removal. What kind of pressure is needed to smash the glass? I am scared I will ruin my digitizer
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Dave017, so you didnt apply any goo gone to your iphone? you just applied heat? what did you guys use to remove the glass pieces? I really dont want to scratch the digitzer haha
November 7th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Hey guys i removed the glass with out any goo gone. My glass was already broken into many pieces, i recommend using a glass cutter to break it into many pieces if yours is in bigger pieces. Once it is in many pieces use a sharp knife and pry the glass off starting from the top or bottom black part. This is important because removing these pieces will not put pressure on the digitizer. Once some of the glass is removed use the knife to get slightly under the glass over the main part of the screen. CAUTION take your time with this it took me over 3 hours to remove all of the glass and my hands were sore as hell afterwards. When you remove the glass try to remove the smallest pieces first pulling it back slowly, i left the LCD on during the process so u can c how much pressure u r putting on the digitizer by how much discoloration shows up if it starts to turn black relax the pressure. Take your time very slowly, i know its very frustrating but u r saving $250 for 3 hours of your time. Once the glass is removed I used rubber cement in the four corners of the phone. The calibration is not as bad as others have posted its not a big deal at all and only messes up about once every couple days and all u do to fix lock and unlock by pressing the power button. Good luck and yes it is possible I was scared too believe me. I hope this will help you as your iphone under goes surgery. My phone looks brand new and so can yours.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:32 am
one more thing is to turn off auto lock and leave your iphone on with the screen on for a couple of hours this will provide enough heat to ease the glass off the glue, once again i used no goo gone just a sharp gerber knife and some patience. I recommend running the flashlight program from the app store, its free, it can change colors on the screen every couple seconds so u dont burn an image on your screen.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I have an iPhone 2G, and I was wondering: can I replace just a part of the screen? the top right part of the screen is cracked enough to carefully take the glass off, but the other portions of the glass are not cracked, and are too big to take off. how can I go about getting a custom fit and putting it in for JUST the part that’s cracked? and yes, my screen still is fully functional, just cracked in ONE section. also, I was researching acetone, where can I go about getting this adhesive? (ex: website?)
November 10th, 2008 at 4:19 am
hei, device is again working, with the costs of 14$ for new glass and 1-2$ for 4x 1×1cm pieces of adhesive film + ca 6hours of time
thank you very much!
November 13th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Wow, I tried this with several screens, since I was looking for a solution for the smartphone repair company I work for http://www.portatronics.com, but I was never close to this result. The issue is that the glue is extremely strong. It can be softended by using heat, but the heat will affect the liquid crystal in the screen and the remaining glue has a very negative effect on the visual appearance of the screen after the glass replacement. The glue remover is the solution.
November 17th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Hey Guys, just wanted to post an update. I finally got the courage to do this and it wasn’t that bad, just VERY VERY time consuming. I did not use any goo gone or any glue removing materials.
I started from the speaker hole and started prying glass up with an xacto knife. Dave017’s idea of using a hot bottle is an amazing one. What I did was fill a bowl of water and put it in the microwave to get it hot and just put it on my phone. It made the glue so much softer and definitely helped removing the bigger pieces. So after I did all that, I didn’t have a guitar pick on me, but the edge of a credit card helped me get off all the glue that was still on my lcd screen.
The old glue made some marks on the digitizer, that I couldn’t seem to get of with windex or anything. What I am talking about is shown in the third picture of this article. Under light u will just see marks that the glue made.
The screen works fine, but I have problems press too hard on the screen, it seems to put the digitizer out of whack and I have to relock the phone to reset the digitizer. So I can’t get too into the games I am playing or else I will have to start over haha. I am assuming I could possibly have a gap between the lcd and the glass, but the glass is flush with the chrome bezel, so I am assuming it has to do with the glue that was in between the digitizer and glass originally that is creating my gap now because I only put glue on the corners. It doesn’t feasible to make the glass touch the digitizer, because there is probably a space where the old glue used to be
Anyone else have an idea of what I could do to fix the touchscreen problem or reduce the supposed gap that I have that is in between the glass and the LCD?
November 19th, 2008 at 8:25 am
to Steve, November 17th, 2008 at 12:27 am
had exactly the same problem with pressing on screen, very easy solution: have bought screen protector and cut it exactly for screen on top and bottom, then put it on the digitizer (between digitizer and glass) and put glass on top, no problem with pressing on screen anymore
November 21st, 2008 at 1:32 am
I would like to thank KenW and all of you guys for giving me the solution to my problem.
I went to Fryes and bougth a sharp hobby knife, a bottle of thinner solvent cleaner from MG Chemicals, a small glass breaker brand “General”.
I took me 2 hours because I was very afraid to do something wrong.
You have to pass the glass breaker all over the screen without pushing too hard, no need, just mark the screen. Then you start from one of the black ends. I made my way slowly pushing the blade under the glass, removing pieces little by little. Never pry ! I remembered that advice. There’s no risk to scratch the LCD with the knife while pushing the glass from below. The Thinner comes with a brush so I passed the thinner over the broken glass, you see how it disappears throught the scratches and dissolves the glue. Super effective. You really need to get that stuff to ease the job.
I managed to preserve most of the o-ring seperating it from the glass pieces. Once all the glass removed, I used the thinner on a cloth to clean all the glue again and again. On the black ends also, bottom and top.
I left the iPhone like that overnight so that the thinner could dry and evaporate. Maybe not necesary but as I said, I went extra cautious considering KenW problems.
In the morning I placed four drops of Krazy glue at the 4 corners of the black ends. Sitted the new glass…
Power on…
Works perfectly !!! THANKS AGAIN
Nick
November 30th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Hey guys, I’ve finished the screen replacement process, everything went well and we’ve been extra careful. Used tweezers (!) to remove the parts, and of course a glass breaker to break it into small pieces. There was no need to use goo-gone but i cleaned and wiped the glue remnants using medical alcohol 95%.
Now there’s only one problem left: My screen isn’t responding to touch everywhere on it. There’s quite a big spot on the lower left and the upper left that aren’t responding to touch (I cannot unlock screen and access the menus) but the rest of it works perfectly (I do succeed in turning it off and on again to access menus) and is well calibrated. I’m trying to figure out what to do, thanks for helping if you can!
December 1st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I was thinking what about a
1) heat gun on low heat
2) leave phone on so that you can if getting to hot
3)use a suction cup to pull off glass instead of prying
4)glue on suction cup if needed
or
1)get a piece of flat metal with a handle like a pipe in the center weld on maybe about the size of the screen
2)glue it to the glass
3)add heat to the metal handle and rock side to side untill the glass come off
I never tried this as I dont have this problem with my phone so I bought a broken iphone off ebay and waiting for it to come in. I will update if it worked for me. Where is that digitizer? is it in the lcd screen or on top?
December 1st, 2008 at 4:37 pm
F2 - You can certainly try that, but that glass is stuck on there pretty well. The amount of force you would need to put on the phone would be extreme. I’d be surprised if you didn’t break the phone in the process. Even pulling a little chunk off at a time takes a lot of force. The digitizer is between the LCD and the glass.
AH - My guess is that your digitizer is damaged. The digitizer has a series of metal lines on it and you probably broke a couple of them. My guess is that you’ll need to get a new screen/digitizer module.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Well Kenw thanks for helping. Got any link to buy a new one at a good price?
Is it easy to install?
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 am
AH I saw some on ebay for $159 from USA with free shipping and $137.46 from hongkong with $29 shipping. Do not get the one that says iphone lcd it is without glass and no digitizer. On utube there is a vid to take the phone apart looks hard but doable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rketY38L46M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1z0pw2VK7M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho0ZqoyOtW0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtmUnZB8-lY
Maybe if you reglue it you might get lucky like air pocket or some thing.
Can the phone work with no glass? like to test it. I was also at frys looking at some glue I dont know if it dries clear so I sprayed the shelf next week I will check it. They have a website for specs http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/422a.htlm it is silicon conformal coating any thoughts on that?
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:16 am
On ebay I just saw the front glass glue for 9.99. It looks like 2 way tape I bought it and will try if I dont brake the lcd. The seller name is drsalty04.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:38 am
@F2– bro. let me know if you get that working. I just cracked my iphone screen ( 1st gen ) . Even i was planning to get that 9.99 $ front lcd panel. let me know which method you did it with. good luck with your phone..
December 10th, 2008 at 3:44 am
I cracked mine too lol. I was so close I tried to brake glass a little more then broke the lcd. The suction cup dont work. I was using a heat gun that was good but goof off was better I was on it for 4 hrs and had just few piceces left I broke it with the glass cutter. I will order new lcd maybe on friday. I will buy another cracked glass iphone and try again. The glass glue that I ordered off ebay was 2 way clear tape looks good and the glass looks good too. I saw more lcd sreens on ebay for $148. The antena cover seems to be on real good I might bust it and get a new one. Well good luck I will be back when I have update.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Ok i dont understand this water bottle tip, how is it supposed to work??
December 11th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Is this the 3g??? Does it work on the 2g??
December 12th, 2008 at 1:53 am
The water bottle is used to keep the phone warm to make the glue soft on the 2g. The 3g is diff the parts is not glued. hope that helps.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Hy, I am Szebi from Hungary, and would like to hear your opinion about glueing the whole glass of the iPhone. I succesfully removed the broken glass, and I also have the same experience about the touch panel. I always should look the phone and than slide to unlock and after it the touch screen works again. I did not gule the glass on the phone, there was only a test day. I bought glue on ebay:http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iPhone-Front-Glass-Adhesive-Glue_W0QQitemZ190273276181QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPDA_Accessories?hash=item190273276181&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50
but what do you recommend me? Should I glue the whole glass. How could I glue it without bubbles? Have you got any ideas?
I am waiting for your answere!
Regards, Szebi
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
The glue I saw on ebay is 2 way clear tape. It looks like it will work well.It fits the glass part perfect but does not go on the black parts.It comes with instructions you need to stick it to the glss first and work out the air bubbles then put it on the phone. I bought it but did not use it yet because I broke the lcd. I have another phone on the way to try again on. The phone that I broke the lcd on is almost fixed I replaced lcd but broke the home button when take out home button I broke the ringer speaker. I got new home button on the way and I will repaire the speaker connection. The hardest part is getting the case open. The next time I should not break as much stuff as I now know what to avoid
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Hey you guys, I just dropped my iphone and sounds like I’m in the same boat as many of you. I’m gonna try to replace the glass part. Has anyone used anything other than cement glue? What other glues can you use. Can you use super glue?
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you created this article, I’ve been lookin for over two weeks on stuff about this and for info from people that have actually done this, I’m going to give it a try tomorrow after buying a glass breaker, I’ll update shortly after and hopefully report success.
December 24th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I went into a apple store and they replaced the iphone for free after I broke the glass. Feel very lucky after reading some of these stories.
December 25th, 2008 at 3:15 am
I broke 2 lcds trying to take off the glass lol I will look for another iphone on ebay and try again. I now have 3 iphones lol. Well good luck. It is hard to break the glass with glass breaker. Break it good befor removing glass I was breaking as I went along thats how I broke the first lcd. the last one I broke trying to heat and pry on a piece that was to big. Small pieces come off good I found a heating pad a big help.
December 27th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
alright well, that didn’t work, haha, so I took heed and bought a glass breaker, that didn’t help, atleast I don’t think it did, the bottle of water helped as well, I eventually started using a lighter, haha, I would heat up small sections for 5-7 seconds and it would loosen up the glue to where I could pry it up with my finger nails, the problem I ran into was that the LCD turned out to be cracked already once I got the glass up, so the original damage was worse than I thought previously, this honestly wouldn’t bother me because the picture is still fine and the crack in the LCD is minimal and doesn’t really impair the visibility much, the problem I ran into is the digitizer stopped working altogether, and it stopped before I had even gotten past the top black part of the glass, I have no idea why? I must’ve cut something in the very beginning, there is a small black cloth-like piece of material under the ear hole and I cut it off in the process of getting the glass off, as far as I know that is what stopped the touch from responding, so watch out for that, this otherwise would’ve been a success, but now I have two iphones that don’t respond to touch, I will most likely just sell both and buy a new one, it was fun/frustrating to try this out though, good luck to all and remember patience my son, much patience
December 27th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Has anybody used the 2 sided tape as adhesive with any luck? It seems that would be a better option so the calibration wouldn’t get messed up and it would eliminate dust getting between the lcd and glass.
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Seems like this Apple iPhone Front Glass Adhesive Glue had already sold out on ebay. :(….What should I do then……My friend got this glue and got a brand new iphone after use it….
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:12 pm
good new, I found a article said someone used 3M™ VHB™ Tapes to use as glue. And it works perfectly. Did anyone know where can I buy this kind of tapes>?
thanks.