Your iPhone has been dropped and the screen is broken. What you do in the first hour often decides whether this stays a screen repair or turns into something more. Here is the order to work in.
Back up now, while you still can
This is the most important step and the only one that cannot wait. If you can still see something and the touch responds at all, start a backup via iCloud or your computer straight away. A normal screen replacement does not touch your storage and everything is still there afterwards, but a phone that has just taken a knock is precisely the phone you want a copy of. If the touch has already stopped working, connect it to a computer: you can often still make a backup that way even though you cannot tap anything.
What not to do
- Carry on with loose shards. They cut your fingers and your ear, and splinters come loose in your bag.
- Keep swiping over it. Dirt and moisture creep through the crack to the layer underneath. That is how broken glass becomes an image full of lines, or a touch layer that taps by itself, within a few weeks — and then more is broken than just the glass.
- Tape it up and leave it. Tape holds the shards together, but it does not keep moisture out.
- Press hard on the screen to get rid of the lines. That makes the damage worse.
- A kit from abroad and a YouTube video. It can be done, but the Face ID sensor and the flex cables sit in places where one wrong move costs more than you saved.
What you see, and what it means
- Just a crack, image and touch still working. Cosmetically the least serious, but it will not stay that way: have it done before dirt gets in.
- Green or pink lines, or part of the image gone. The panel or the flex cable has been hit. This does not improve and usually gets worse quickly.
- Black screen, but it rings when you call it. The phone is working, you just cannot see it. Good news: this is a predictable repair.
- Image works, touch does not respond or taps by itself. The touch layer or its connection has been damaged. Sometimes that is in the screen and sometimes in the connection to the board, and we measure that out before ordering a part.
Will Face ID keep working?
Yes. Face ID lives in a sensor module rather than in the screen itself, so we transfer it to the new screen during a replacement. That is standard with us, and it is exactly the part that goes wrong in a cheap repair: if that module is not transferred, or is damaged, Face ID cannot be restored by fitting a new screen. If Face ID itself was broken by the drop, that is a separate repair with its own price.
Which screen do you choose?
Where many repairers offer one screen, with us you can choose. A compatible screen is the most affordable option and is perfectly good for everyday use. Refurbished is an original panel that has been rebuilt. Premium OLED comes close to the original on colour and black levels. And the original Apple panel is exactly what left the factory in it. Which of these is available for your model, with its price, is on your model's page and on iPhone screen repair.
One thing belongs with that: Apple pairs parts to the device. Fit a screen that is not paired to your iPhone's serial number and iOS adds a notice about it in settings. The phone works completely and Face ID keeps working, but that notice comes with it. With a genuine Apple screen, True Tone stays available too. We would rather tell you that than have you discover it yourself.
How long does it take?
On an iPhone a screen is usually about a half-hour job and we do it while you wait, provided we have the part for your model in stock. Book a time online if you want to be sure it is ready. Walking in also works: you will find us at Rijnstraat 76-H in Amsterdam Zuid, walking distance from RAI station.
In short
Back up while you can, stop swiping, do not treat tape as a solution, and come in before moisture reaches the layers underneath. Look at the prices per iPhone model or drop in for a free diagnosis. If you are unsure which quality to choose, we will lay the options side by side and you decide.
