Very Simple Screen Repair

Mijn probleem

Some school kids got a hold of my daughter's iPhone 5c and threw it across the room. The principal ensured us he would deal with the matter and then completely forgot about it. So I had to jump in.

Mijn oplossing

I had just finished replacing just the display without home button and front camera for a friend's iPhone 5s. In that repair the camera and home button were the trickiest to deal with, so this time I spent the extra money and got the full assembly.

Dissassembly went well. With the screen cracked around the home button the suction cup didn't work, but I found I could lift the display enough with my fingernail to get the spudger in place.

I had separate containers for different screws so they wouldn't get mixed up. That worked well until my daughter resorted the screws. So during re-assembly I had to visually determine the difference between a 1.7mm screw and a 1.3mm screw.

On this phone the digitizer and display cables were not attached which made aligning the bottom most connector of the two difficult. The camera and sensor cable was slightly bent out of alignment so it took some time to get that in place as well. The first time through I had the display cable properly attached but the digitizer was not so I had to pull everything apart again.

Mijn advies

1. Buy the assembly with home button and front camera, it saved me about 30 - 45 minutes.

2. For a cracked screen you can use your fingernail under the lip of the screen to create enough room for the spudger. Just do it near the home button.

3. Power on and test everything before putting the phone back together. You can use the digitizer and home button while the screen is out of the phone.

4. Keep excited teen girls away from the assembly area, you're bound to lose screws.

I'm an electrical engineer, so I'm used to dealing with small electronics. However I'm getting up in age so my eyesight and dexterity isn't what it used to be. For a lot of my work I use a loupe or a microscope. This was large enough that I didn't need either. A mild power pair of drugstore reading glasses might have made putting the screws back just a bit easier.