iPhone XR Earpiece and Front Sensor Assembly Replacement

One of my gaskets was as shown in your second photo, the other had been worked into the threads (as if smeared) probably from the factory and was completely unusable.

In place of replacements (unsure of where to purchase) I just used a clear silicone caulking on both screws upon reassembly to offer at least some water seal. I wish these gaskets were included with the gasket waterproofing sealant kit!

Can it be dead?

An alternative to the Iopener or heat gun is to heat water to EXACTLY 80 degrees F (cooking thermometer is great for this) and pour into a reinforced ziplock type bag. Leave the bag on the screen, but be sure that none of the hot water rests on the zipper portion, as the water is hot enough to soften that seal and leak out on to your device! This meat had is my personal favorite as the heat is distributed very equally and precisely as compared to a heat gun, but is more accessible than the Iopener.

I think it's important to note that depending on how a screen was damaged, make sure to insert the pic under the black bezel directly under the actual screen. This bezel is a frame around the digitizer. I unknowingly inserted the pic between the bezel and the screen, and separated them both. I did this all the way around the phone. So I basically had to struggle to keep together two different sections of the display assembly because of this mishap, until I removed all the ribbon connectors. It made things much more difficult.

An edit to my above comment: by digitzer, I mean the LCD shield. My apologies.

My replacement screen for the XR has a black rim but it looks pink. Is that normal?

You can use some Isopropyl alcohol in a syringe with a thin needle to soften even more the adhesive around the screen. But be careful so as not to overdo it. Just a few drops. It will become more easier to remove the screen.

sure looks like the "hinge" is on the right hand side to me.. not left...!

If you leave the suction cup attached to the screen during the “hinging” process, it makes for a very handy holder for the screen until it’s completely detached.

Definitely make sure all three lobes of your tool are aligned before use (it’s a little harder to tell with this style of bit) and apply even and adequate pressure to ensure it grabs as you spin the driver to prevent disfiguring the lobes/slot of the screw head.

Unfortunately my Y000 tool was perhaps not the best fit (tolerance a bit off) in these screws and I ended up stripping out the heads of all three of these. I started to panic but after I sanded the tip of my Y000 bit down a little with super fine grit (1000CW-C) sand paper to flatten the domed tip (visible with macro lens) and give it a bit more bite I was able to remove and reinstall without issue—in fact I had to remove and install them twice since I forgot my adhesive tape during reassembly, so the screws survived and the sanded bit worked.

+1 to above comment. I bought a cheap kit from Amazon and the Y000 screw driver is not good for this job. I’m concerned that I may have disfigured the heads and i type this comment in the midst of my fix :D Be gentle and assess if you can remove at least one screw with your driver before rummaging through all three and other similar screws holding display connector as well.

Update to above comment. I got hold of a Y0.8 screw driver bit (lucky to find an ORIA screw driver kit in my office) and it works like wonders :) Now back to work…

What if the screw is damaged and you can’t get one out?

The new display cable isn’t snapping in but I was just able to snap in the old one. Did I break the new one somehow?

Same it is really frustrating, just keeps slipping up and its bound to get damaged

Phillips screw 1.3 mm on last step is not working. The small clipped bracket has been damaged. This screw perhaps should be the first, before 1.2 Y000. - To be confirmed by others.

During testing, make sure your proximity sensor is not on upside down, as it’s easy to connect upside down. Your phone will boot loop if it’s on incorrectly.

unclear if this is where screen removal ends

When reassembling or placing the whole sensor module on a replacement screen, make sure to gently rock the speaker back into place. There is a rubber gasket lip around the speaker that must be seated all of the way against the screen and speaker grill to function properly. You should feel a gentle click when is goes in. If is not seated correctly it still easily can be screwed in making it difficult to tell if the speaker is in correctly.

Review steps 24-29 prior to doing this. Step 27 shows removing ambient sensor. It is attached….barely…to the rest of this assembly. I thought I was being overly cautions, and it still broke. Don’t be afraid to use heat. Do not force. Any resistance, do not force it.. Heat it up and then try. Other than that, sound and camera works fine, and it appears that FaceID works. Not my phone, so I can’t test that part without unlocking customer’s phone. No error messages appeared, so Im assuming all is good. With the touch home button on older models, if touch wouldn’t work, you’d receive a message as soon as you booted the phone up. OK.. That’s enough. Just be careful over the next 5 steps..

what happens if the metal plate from the sensor separates from the flood illuminator module?

At this point I thought looking at the image that I was lifting the speaker away and tore off the thin cable completely unaware. Please read and view the next two instruction stages before doing this one and then come back and ensure you keep the speaker very close to the screen as you do it.

I tore the ribbon cable that connects to the light sensor, what do I do? will the phone work even if the sensor doesn’t?

When you are putting this clip on, you can practice without putting the light sensor on it. It takes some practice. I also may not stay on tightly but it's not a big deal.

On picture two, the thin transparent thread between the sensor and the display is not the “very thin flex cable” they are talking about but just some glue remains. In my case this thread of glue was sticking onto the sensor in the exact same way which made me suspicious at first.

The top part of the ambient light sensor easily breaks off from the bottom part. In that case do not despair. Pry the stuck part from the old display and transfer it to the new display. Put the assembly back together without glue. It should hold together just fine. Usually the auto brightness feature will still work.

I broke the flex cable from the light sensor that connects to the rest. Anything I can do?

To replace just the earspeaker, you will have to re-use the the flex assembly which is soldered to the earspeaker…….

the 2 solder connection are hidden under a tiny piece of thin black tape, on the underside of the speaker.

forgot to mention to take the clear plastic mold off from the old screen!!

Before attaching the sensor module to your replacement screen, ensure there is nothing blocking the earpiece screen on the new screen part. Mine had a mfg defect or something where there was a black foam like film on the outside of the speaker grill that I couldn’t remove with tape or sticky putty. I had to blow through the back of the grill with a computer duster compressed air can. Otherwise the call volume via the earpiece is extremely low, even when turned to max volume.