iPhone Display Adhesive Replacement

My wife handed me some of her Nail Prep & Polish Wipe = Isopropyl Alcohol :-D

careful with the isopropyl alcohol, some went under the screen and now the LCD looks weird

For this finishing step I tried iFixit’s Adhesive Cleanup Kit. The first pad of the kit, the Adhesive Tape Remover Pad, is soaked with a slippery solution that did an incredible job of cleaning residuals of glue and dirt. May I have to redo this repair, I would put less effort at the previous steps, relying on this pad instead, hopefully saving a lot of time.

This slippery solution doesn’t seem to evaporate. Obviously it needed to be cleaned if the new adhesive was intended to stick. That’s the role of the second pad, saturated with 70% IPA. Caution with the fluff that detaches from this pad, however.

Make sure you peel the underside down, the adhesive kit for the iPhone 8 looks different.

Also, study the instructions and photos here carefully before proceeding.

Great hint, thank you

i destroyed the seal immediately cause of my thumbs not being in the right spot as i tried to peel the protector back a bit… more of a personal error, everything else in my build was easy peasy… i wish it was a bit clearer on the seal where to start from, the picture shown and the protective backing on my seal was slightly different so i wasnt sure if i was starting from the correct side to start peeling away and think that may have led to my error as well…. hopefully i can remember mine isnt waterproof anymore and ill try to replace it again next time something goes wrong on this phone

Before exposing the adhesive, test fit the packet to see which way it orients. There was several cutouts on mine for the various components which protrude above the perimeter. The adhesive looked pretty symmetrical, but the backing only went one way.

This was definitely the most harrowing part of the battery replacement process.

This step needs to be done before you mount the battery, if this is the reason why you open your iPhone. The battery connector points up and makes the blue film to curve up and not align properly with the edges of the phone. I know, small details, but this is making the job even harder than already is. Maybe a cut out in the blue film, for that area, would have been useful.

Booth strips i had with batteries was just top edge too short :(

Peeled off the first sheet, aligned, and then placed. I used one of the existing holes to make a cutout for the battery connector (since I had already inserted the battery when the other guide indicated the adhesive should be placed). Used two sets of tweezers gripping inside the holes to carefully align and place.

It was OK to re-connect the battery temporarily rather than slicing holes in the plastic. Just be sure to disconnect it again before reconnecting the display.

Also, I lined up what I thought was the bottom correctly, only to have the top fall short. Looking back, I should have put the plastic sheet entirely within the phone, and not have it overlapping the edge. With an extra pair of hands, we were able to fix the top edge somewhat, but I had placed the plastic about 1mm too low.

Instead of peeling off the backing progressively, I found it safer to cut the bottom part of it with scissors, so that about 1 cm height of adhesive was exposed. This way, the sheet laid FLAT over the iPhone frame and could be centered accurately. Once precisely centered, I held the sheet in place with one hand, and with the other hand took the spudger and pressed down the bottom part of the sheet, to actually stick the adhesive to the frame. Then peeled off the rest of the backing as the pictures show.

Great tip from Aubin. Cut 1-2 cm of the first or big tape (foil), on the Bottom of the phone. Then without pressing: first go to the Top of the phone and align and hold. Then check the Bottom for correct alignment, and start pressing the Bottom of the adhesive, and then peeling the big foil towards the Top, and then pressing the rest of the adhesive.

Aubin has the best tip for this. trying to peel back the large backing piece bends and curls the whole thing such that it’s impossible to align properly. Once you get it aligned, press down on the bottom exposed piece and then you can remove the backing, and it falls neatly into place.

I removed the obvious bits of old seal with the spudger then just used a microfibre cloth and lighter fluid to remove the rest. I have used lighter fluid for any adhesive residue type job for 30+ years and never had a problem. It doesn’t attack any kind of plastic EVER plus, it hangs around for longer than IPA which is also a bonus. With regard to the battery connector, not sure if the problem is common in models other than the 7? The connector on mine was well under the level of where the backing sheet would span the width of the phone as I applied the seal?

Also, when applying the seal, make sure you pull the backing away straight, not at an angle like you see in the pics below. I tried that way and it started to ‘steer’ the seal sideways and over the edge of the relief. Pull the backing away keeping it parallel with the phone and the seal should follow it. After a few attempts at positioning the very bottom edge of the seal to start with I managed to apply the whole thing perfectly first attempt. Careful with that initial positioning though as the seal is so sticky it almost feels magnetic!

I’ve done multiple iphone repairs and I ALWAYS find this the hardest part of the whole process. In fact, I awlays buy an extra adhsive pice for each repair because I mess this up and have to redo it about half the time.

The adhesive comes sandwiched between two sheets of blue release liner, one slightly larger than the other. When you peel them apart, the adhesive is meant to stick to the small sheet, which you then apply to your iPhone. In my case, when I peeled the two sheets apart, the adhesive stuck to the large sheet, making it impossible to apply. I don't think it was anything I did wrong - probably just a fault in the manufacturing process. I will try reassembling it without the adhesive, or possibly using a liquid adhesive like B-7000.

I completely missed how this was done first time. The big blue backing sheet is pulled out from underneath. I was in too much of a hurry to study the instructions carefully. I paid the price. Somehow it worked how in the end, but would have been so much easier with a clear idea.

Same here. I ended up placing a wide strip cut from the front adhesive liner across the top end where the display cables attach, as well as placing the rear adhesive liner crossways over the phones mid section to help keep from touching and/or damaging the adhesive during reassembly.

La même chose pour moi, le kit pour changement de batterie 6S n’avait pas la fine pellicule à enlever juste avant l’assemblage final.

Ainsi comme montrer dans la vidéo, il est important de tester son écran avant l’assemblage final : il n’était donc pas très simple sans cette pellicule de ne pas toucher l’adhésif en reliant les nappes et en faisant le test.

Mais tant mieux tout s’est bien déroulé ! Merci pour vos tutos !!

Just replaced , put on charge, only an apple symbol is showing on screen?

Pennies are light enough that my hair dryer just blew them off. I just heated the phone and then put the coins and books on as quickly as I could. Still worked just as well.

I just used the box the iPhone came in which has a perfect cradle for the phone. Glad I saved it!

Thank you so much for the advice on this and the suggestion of heating coins and using books. I did as suggested and three weeks later my phone was knocked into a bath of water. It had a mophie case around it which helped bit I immediately fished out the phone, turned it off and dried it. Tapped out water in ports, removed the SIM card and then placed in front of a fan to dry put for 24 hours. I wanted to wait longer but I needed my phone for a long trip so prayed and turned it on. It was fine. Nothing wrong with it abs I can only thank you foe your suggestions to improve the seal that made the difference.

Instead of using a heat gun/hair dryer (I do not have one) — I used the coins trick, and put a kettle on top that I filled with hot water. I used water at around 80ºC. The weight of the kettle also provides additional pressure, making sure you get a good seal. To cool it down, simply add some additional cold water to the kettle.

Seems like a better idea to move reinstallation of the pentalobe screws to Step 21 or immediately after it.

Two problems:

1) The adhesive for the bottom of the phone has a tiny extra lip. My first attempt was to line up the corners rather than the middle. This resulted in the adhesive being be a bit short at the top.

2) During the final assembly, I could not get the phone to close. Double bad. I tried to peel up the screen to realign and tore one of the screen’s ribbon cables! I just received my second screen and adhesive today.

I believe these two areas could be easily added to the above instructions. Everything else went fine.

Thank you very much ifixit for this guide!. I replaced the adhesive on an used iphone 8 i bought, followed every step very carefully and now the screen seals perfectly with the frame.

Can you use iPhone 12 without the adhesive?

Jáchym, yes you can use iPhone 12 without the adhesive. The adhesive is protection against water entering the phone, and does not have any impact on function of the phone.