Consumer Reports

Repairing a Cracked Phone Screen

Sooner or later it happens to the best of us: Your smartphone screen cracks.

A professional replacement can be expensive, so Consumer Reports wanted to try some cheaper DIY repair kits to see how easy it is to go from shattered to smooth.

Cracked phone screens are annoying, and sooner or later many of them need to be fixed.  If your phone isn’t under warranty, older, or both, paying to fix it might not seem worth it.

“It would have cost me $129 to get the screen of an iPhone 6 repaired at the Apple store,” said Consumer Reports Tech Editor Bree Fowler.

Fowler writes about smartphones. She wanted to try a few DIY screen repair kits to see how they work.

Bree rounded up some cracked iPhone 6’s and fixed them for about $50, but she said it was really hard.

What does it really take to fix your own screen? A lot of patience, and some skill.

In addition to removing the screen, you need to disconnect the home button, camera, sensors and microphone.  Not to mention, melt adhesive with a hair dryer without damaging the phone.

Bree successfully did all of that, but when it comes to those really tiny screws?

“They were stripped. I mean anyone who’s built anything or taken anything apart knows how aggravating stripped screws can be, but imagine having to deal with those screws and having them be nearly microscopic size,” she said.

However, she ended up with a dark, shadowy image in the upper left corner of the screen. The phone works but it’s not the same.

“To me, the hours that I put into this, the aggravation and the stress, it just wasn’t worth it,” Fowler said.

Consumer Reports’ take: fix at your own risk! If you want to save money on an older phone and you’re up for a challenge, these kits can give you everything you need.

The kits Consumer Reports used are available here.

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