It can happen in a heartbeat. One minute you have a perfectly smooth and healthy iPhone 6 screen and then one drop later, you’re left with tragically cracked one. Luckily, iPhone 6 screens are actually pretty easy to replace if you’ve got the right know-how and materials.
Of course, you may want to replace your screen for a number of other reasons. Maybe your touchscreen just doesn’t work and your iPhone has gone rogue, opening apps without permission. Regardless, with some guided instructions, you’ll be having a new iPhone 6 screen in no time.
Common Issues with iPhone 6 Screen
Before you go headfirst and try to dismantle your screen, you may be able to solve the problem in other ways that don’t require complete disassembly. However, if you’re certain that the problem is with your screen, then go right on ahead to the screen replacement portion of this article.
Before you do anything at all, just clean your screen first. A lot of touchscreen issues on our phones can be resolved if we just put the effort in to clean our screens.
It can be as simple as getting a cloth and some screen cleaner and you may be surprised to find that your touchscreen is working perfectly.
Your phone issues are most likely not caused by a dirty screen, but it’s always good to check. Plus, if you are planning on taking the phone apart, having a clean screen is not a bad idea.
Whether you’re experiencing software glitches, trigger touchscreen issues, random flickering, or home button malfunction problems, they can all be classified under two main types: software and hardware.
Software issues tend to be easily solved and don’t require the whole disassembly process. If you can help it, you’d probably want to avoid the disassembly process altogether.
Software problems may just be the result of misconfigured settings or certain apps just going rogue. In this case, the problem can be solved just by making a few settings changed or deleting some pesky apps.
So before you go head first into phone surgery, consider trying the following.
Configure Your Display Settings
Sometimes it’s just as easy as turning brightness a little lower. Having your phone crank out a ton of lumens all the time can be taxing in a battery sense so it can mess with how you interact with your phone. Just turn auto-brightness and set your brightness low.
Restart Your Phone
Turning it on and off again is basically cliché in the technology world but more times than not, it does turn out to be the solution. Chances are, those small bugs can easily be eradicated with a simple reboot.
Check Your Phone’s Memory Status
An overabundant usage of memory storage can often lead to freezing and an unresponsive touchscreen. Check your iPhone’s internal memory storage to see if it’s good enough to carry out any more processes.
If not, it’s time to chuck some things into the trash can.
Factory Reset: A Last Resort
Factory Resetting your phone means that trying everything else just did not work at all. This should only come as a last resort as after you initiate the factory reset, all your data is going to disappear, restoring the phone to its initial default settings. If there were any software issues before, they should be cleared up at this point.
If not, then it’s definitely a hardware problem. That means it’s finally time to get your hands dirty with some DIY screen replacement.
iPhone 6 Screen Replacement
Before you start, make sure you have the right tools and materials. This includes:
An iPhone-specific toolkit (some tools below might be included so just get this item first)
Replacement iPhone 6 LCD screen (be sure that it doesn’t come with a home button)
- Suction Cup
- Plastic Pick
- Small Crosshead Screwdriver
- 5-Star Pentalobe Screwdriver
- Black Plastic Spudger
- ESD – Safe Tweezers
- Protective Eyewear (Just in case, safety always comes first)
In total, this might cost you just under $125 for all the items in total.
Now, it’s time to do some actual disassembly/assembly. Before you start, be sure to first discharge the battery below 25%. Of course, make sure it’s completely turned off when you’re taking your iPhone 6 apart.
Step 1: Unscrewing the Pentalobe Screws and Taping Over the Display
The first step is simple. Just remove the two 3.6 mm-long Pentalobe screws next to the Lightning connector.
Next, add overlapping strips of clear packing tape over the iPhone’s display until the entire face is covered. Do this especially if your display case is cracked as to prevent any further cracking during your repairs.
The added structural integrity makes lifting the display off much easier.
Step 2: Manually Lifting the Display
Now, grab your suction cup. Place the suction cup right above the home button and press down tightly enough to ensure it is sealed. While holding the iPhone down with one hand, pull up the display with the other. Be sure to take your time and apply a constant force.
Now using a plastic opening tool, pry the rear case down and away from the display assembly all while still applying the same constant and gentle force with the suction cup.
Be wary of the several clips holding the front panel near the rear of the case and use a combination of the plastic tool and the suction cup to pry it open.
Step 3: Opening the iPhone
Pull the plastic nub to release the vacuum seal on the suction cup and start to steadily remove the display assembly.
Try swinging the home button end of the front panel away from the rear case here and using the very top of the phone as a hinge in order to open up the phone. (When you’re reassembling, make sure the clips near the hinge portion are clipped back into their slots).
Now, opening the display open, try keeping it propped up against something (like a wall or a book, just so the phone is opened while you’re working on the phone).
Step 4: Disconnecting and Removing the Battery
Remove both the 2.2 mm Phillip screw and the 3.2 mm Philip Screw from the battery connector bracket and gently remove the metal battery connector bracket from the iPhone.
Once you’ve done this, disconnect the battery connector by first grabbing the plastic opening tool before gently prying the battery connector out of its socket located right on the logic board.
Be extra careful that the socket specifically be removed and not the logic board itself as it could break the connection.
Step 5: Removing the Front Assembly Cable Bracket
Remove the three 1.2 mm screws, the 1.7 mm screw, and the 3.1 mm screw.
Be sure to a good record of where these screws are supposed to go afterwards! Screwing in the wrong screws could result in damaging the logic board.
Then, extract the front panel assembly cable bracket right from the logic board.
Step 6: Disconnecting All the Inner Parts
Now grabbing a spudger, disconnect the front-facing camera and sensor cable connector. Using the same spudger, disconnect the home button cable connector as well, being sure not to damage the logic board itself. Then, use the spudger once more to disconnect the display data cable connector.
Next, use the flat end of a spudger to disconnect the digitizer cable connector (be sure that when reconnecting the digitizer cable, don’t press directly on the center but rather on one end of the connector, then press the opposite end.
Step 7: Removing the Home Button
Next, remove the front panel assembly from the rear end of the case and proceed to unscrew the two 1.9 mm Phillips screws securing down the home button bracket before gently removing.
Next, using the point of a spudger, disconnect the home button cable connector by pushing it up away from the home button before gently pushing the top left corner away from the very front of the panel.
Peel the home button all the rest of the way off the display using the spudger and then carefully fix the spudger under the home button cable from the adhesive. With all the adhesive removed, you can now remove the home button cable.
Any glass shards lying in the home button should be carefully removed with caution.
Peel the home button all the rest of the way off of the display using the spudger and then carefully fix the spudger under the home button cable from the adhesive.
Step 8: Reassembly
This should be relatively simple as all you really need to do is follow the previous instructions in reverse order. If you can, replace all the screws you just used, although reusing the same screws should be fine as well.
Be sure you apply proper adhesive and use a heat gun to apply the adhesive for 3-5 minutes whenever appropriate (this will be when you’re reapplying your LCD case and putting the home button back on it).
Potential Issues after Screen Replacement
To avoid any possibility of issues after fixing, always be sure that you did the job right the first time. That means making sure all the connections were firmly placed and screwed properly.
Don’t cut corners when it comes to these things. If your phone is lagging or the touchscreen still isn’t working, it’s very possible it’s your pesky software acting up once again.
If your phone isn’t turning on properly when being charged, check to see if you need a new cable or if any lint and other debris is blocking up your cable port.
Backup your phone data and then restore your device again and be sure to set the iPhone up as a new device. Swipe to check for functionality and see if the issue are still occurs. If it does, then again back to the drawing board, but if it doesn’t you can freely restore the data on your phone (unless you chose the factory rest of course).
In this case, the drawing board means you might have to go back to assembling and disassembling the iPhone once again if any touch screen issues persist even after restoring the software issues.
Conclusion
Getting your iPhone 6 screen fixed is should now be a doozy. If you have any issues with touch sensitivity, just make sure it’s a software problem and not a hardware problem. Or you’ll have to do redo the whole process over again and tighten up any loose screws.
It’s imperative that you keep track of all the screws that you’ve unscrewed as putting back the wrong ones can spell disaster and wreak havoc for your phone.
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