How to Open Your Apple Watch Ultra

Written By: Dominik Schnabelrauch

Comments: 2

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

Time Required

20 - 30 minutes

Introduction

Use this guide to open your Apple Watch Ultra for repairs.

There is a significant chance that you may break the OLED display panel during this procedure. Be sure to apply plenty of heat and be extremely careful during the prying stage.

You’ll need replacement adhesive to reattach the screen when reassembling the device. Your device will function normally, but will most likely lose its IP6X (Ingress Protection) rating.

Tools

Step 1

Before starting repairs, take your watch off the charger and power it down.
If your touchscreen is broken and you can't power off the watch, use this alternate method to power it down.

Step 2

Because the gap between the screen/sensor assembly and watch body is so thin, a thin metal tool is needed to separate the two. Read the following warnings carefully before proceeding.
Protect your fingers by keeping them completely clear of the front end of your tool. If in doubt, protect your free hand with a heavy glove, such as a leather shop glove or gardening glove.
Be careful not to apply too much pressure, as this might cause the iFlex to slip and cut you, or damage the watch.
Wear eye protection. The glass may break, sending pieces flying.
Attach or remove the watch band as needed to provide more control as you make repairs.

Step 3

Prepare an iOpener and apply it to the screen for at least two minutes to loosen the adhesive underneath.
A hair dryer, heat gun, or hot plate may also be used, but be careful not to overheat the watch—the display and internal battery are both susceptible to heat damage.
You may need to reheat the iOpener and repeat this procedure several times until the display adhesive softens.

Step 4

Place the point of an iFlex along the edge opposite the Digital Crown and position it in the seam between the screen and the outer case.
Press the iFlex firmly straight down into the gap.
The gap between the screen and the watch case is very tight. Don't try to push in your iFlex with sheer force, or you risk damaging the screen. Rather take your time and heat the screen multiple times with the iOpener.

Step 5

Once inserted, lever the iFlex to pry the screen up slightly.
The adhesive requires time and constant force to loosen—it probably won't loosen from the initial pry. Reheat the screen and keep applying constant force until the adhesive loosens.
You can heat the screen with a hair dryer or hot plate, but be careful not to overheat the screen. The surface should be slightly too hot to the touch.

Step 6

Insert an opening pick in the gap you created.
Remove the iFlex.

Step 7

Insert only the tip of the opening pick (<2 mm) to prevent damaging the antenna pin.
Slide the opening pick around the corner and along the top edge of the watch to slice the display adhesive.

Step 8

Insert only the tip of the opening pick (<2 mm) to prevent damaging the antenna pin.
Slide the opening pick around the next corner towards the Digital Crown to slice the corner adhesive.
Stop just before the Digital Crown and continue with the next step.

Step 9

Start again from the top left corner of the watch and slide the opening pick along the edge with the speaker and action button to slice the adhesive.

Step 10

Slide the opening pick along the bottom edge of the watch to slice the display adhesive.

Step 11

Slide the opening pick around the bottom right corner to cut the remaining adhesive.
Try not to slice near the Digital Crown and side button to prevent damaging the display cable. If you must slice near the Digital Crown, don't insert the opening pick deeper than 2 mm.

Step 12

Insert the opening pick between the screen and frame at the opposite edge of the Digital Crown.
Lever the opening pick to lift the screen until you can get a good grip.
Don't try to remove the screen all the way yet. It is still connected to the watch body.

Step 13

Be careful not to strain the display cable when you swing open the screen.
Lift the screen up and carefully pull it towards the Digital Crown.
Swing the screen open to an upward position.

Opening the watch like this is just bad and ridiculous advice!

Would not recommend to open it with a steel wedge in a 90 degrees angle.

Or are you guys going to sell screens hoping on some broken screens?

Only way, at home, is with a small enough suction cup. This is just stupidity.

If you manage not breaking the screen you are going to damage the watch anyway with this method.

Hire some engineers iFixit!

Ferdi Mendes - 27/09/22

Hi Ferdi,

On the guide team, we've completed two successful screen separations (out of two) with this procedure with the screen intact and watch undamaged, so we can confirm that this is a valid method. Is it the most foolproof method? Probably not! We'll revise this guide when we find better tools and procedures. I'll also add a precautionary warning in the introduction for all of these guides.

The process is actually not as difficult as some of the other smartwatches. Patience is key. You must allow the adhesive to thoroughly heat up and apply constant pressure in order to loosen the adhesive.

The screen assembly is actually very strong! The sapphire glass is very durable. In the teardown video, we damaged the screen's OLED panel because we didn't give the adhesive enough time to loosen (the top glass was undamaged!) The rigid adhesive likely pulled against the OLED panel underneath the top glass and cracked it. This would happen whether you used a blade or a suction cup.

Arthur Shi -

Conclusion

To reassemble your Apple Watch Ultra, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Apply a little bit of high isopropyl alcohol (>90%) to a Q-tip or use a cleaning pad to gently remove the leftover adhesive on the edges of the watch case and the screen before installing new adhesive.

Opening didn’t go as planned? Check out our Answers community for troubleshooting help.

Author

Dominik Schnabelrauch

Member since: 23/11/16

167396 Reputation

How to Open Your Apple Watch Ultra

Introduction

Tools

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