Before you open it
In the app this list is a gate: the first step does not play until every line is ticked.
- Power the phone off, then drain the battery below 25 percent before you start. A punctured full cell catches fire; a low one smokes.
- Work on a clear, hard, well-lit surface. Every screw goes into its own cell of the screw map: two lengths look the same and a long one in the wrong hole drills through the board.
- Cracked glass: tape over the cracks and wear safety glasses before you heat or pull.
- Never pry under the middle of the battery, never bend it. If it is swollen, stop here and take it to a shop.
- Touch bare metal before you reach inside. Lift every connector straight up with the spudger; never pull a cable.
Tools
- Pentalobe P2 driver, steps 3 and 16
- Phillips #000 driver, steps 7, 9, 14 and 15
- Heat pad or hair dryer, step 4
- Suction cup, step 5
- Opening picks, step 5
- Spudger, steps 8, 9 and 12
- Tweezers, steps 7 and 11
Parts (6)
| Part | Count | Size | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame and back glass | 1 | 147 × 72 × 4.5 mm | Everything else sits inside it. The charging port and the two screws are on the bottom edge. |
| Display and glass | 1 | 145 × 70 × 2.5 mm | Its flex cables run to the top right corner. Open it like a book to the right so they never stretch. |
| Battery, old | 1 | 96 × 39 × 3 mm | Lithium cell. Never bend, pierce or pry under the middle. |
| Battery, new | 1 | 96 × 39 × 3 mm | The replacement, with its adhesive strips already on its back. |
| Battery connector bracket | 1 | 13 × 9 × 1.2 mm | Two 1.2 mm screws. It holds the battery connector down. |
| Display connector bracket | 1 | 16 × 11 × 1.2 mm | Two 1.2 mm screws and one 1.6 mm screw at the front. The long one goes in the front hole only. |
Hardware (9 pieces)
| Hardware | Count | Size | Used in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pentalobe P2 screw | ×2 | Ø 1.1 × 3.6 mm | steps 3 and 16 |
| Phillips 1.2 mm screw | ×4 | Ø 1.3 × 1.2 mm | steps 7, 9, 14 and 15 |
| Phillips 1.6 mm screw | ×1 | Ø 1.3 × 1.6 mm | steps 9 and 14 |
| Adhesive pull strip | ×2 | 6 × 85 mm | step 11 |
Sizes are the blueprint's, as drawn in the 3D: diameter × length for fasteners, in millimetres. Every screw goes into its own cell of the screw map, a tray beside the device that fills in step order, so each one goes back into the hole it came from.
The 16 steps
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Step 1: Before you open it
Read the safety list, lay out the tools and the new battery, and put the screw map where your driver hand lands. Power off, and check the battery is under 25 percent.
Watch out: A swollen battery, a bulging back or a lifted glass edge means stop. That phone goes to a shop, not on this bench.
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Step 2: Drain the battery below 25 percent
If the phone still works, run it down: screen bright, a video playing, until the battery shows under 25 percent. Then power it off fully, not sleep.
Watch out: A full lithium cell that gets nicked by a pick burns hot and fast. A quarter-full one smokes. This is the step most people skip.
Tip: Charge the new battery to about 50 percent before you fit it, if it has a lead; otherwise it ships at storage charge, which is fine.
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Step 3: Take out the two pentalobe screws
At the bottom edge, either side of the charging port, back out the two pentalobe screws and drop them in the first two cells of the screw map.
Watch out: Pentalobe, not Phillips. A Phillips bit strips the head in one turn and the phone stays shut for good.
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Step 4: Warm the bottom edge of the glass
Rest the heat pad on the bottom third of the display for about two minutes, or run a hair dryer over it in slow passes. The glass should be hot to the touch, not too hot to hold.
Watch out: Heat softens the glue; it does not melt it. Too much heat cooks the screen underneath. If you cannot keep a finger on it for three seconds, let it cool a little.
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Step 5: Lift the glass with the cup, slide a pick along the edge
Press the suction cup onto the bottom of the glass, pull up gently until a hair of a gap opens, and slide a pick into it. Work the pick along the left edge, then across the bottom and up the right, no deeper than a few millimetres.
Watch out: Picks go in shallow. Deeper than 3 mm along the right edge cuts the display cables; deeper anywhere else can nick the battery.
Tip: If the glue fights you, warm it again. Heat is cheaper than a new screen.
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Step 6: Open the display like a book
With the glue cut, swing the display up from the left edge and lay it face down to the right of the phone, hinged on the right side. The cables at the top right corner stay connected.
Watch out: Open to the right only. Opening to the left pulls the display cables out of their sockets and can tear them.
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Step 7: Take off the battery connector bracket
Back out the two 1.2 mm Phillips screws holding the small bracket over the battery connector, drop them into the screw map, and lift the bracket off with the tweezers.
Watch out: Both screws here are 1.2 mm. Keep them in their own cells: the next bracket mixes in a 1.6 mm that looks the same.
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Step 8: Disconnect the battery, before anything else
Slide the flat end of the spudger under the battery connector and lift it straight up off its socket. Fold it back a little so it cannot spring on again.
Watch out: Battery first, always. With the battery still connected, touching the display connector can short the board.
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Step 9: Take off the display bracket and unplug the display
Back out the three screws on the display connector bracket: two 1.2 mm at the back, one 1.6 mm at the front. Lift the bracket away, then lift the two display connectors straight up with the spudger.
Watch out: The 1.6 mm screw goes in the front hole only. Put it in a cell of its own and say it out loud. A long screw in a short hole is the most common way a phone dies on this bench.
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Step 10: Lift the display away
With both connectors free, lift the display off and set it face down on a soft cloth, well away from the tools.
Watch out: Face down on cloth, not on the bench. The glass scratches on a grain of grit.
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Step 11: Pull the adhesive strips
Find the two black pull tabs at the bottom of the battery. Grip one with the tweezers and pull it slowly, low and flat, toward the bottom of the phone; it stretches several times its length. Then the other.
Watch out: Pull low and slow. A strip that snaps leaves glue under the battery, and the battery must then be lifted with heat and a plastic card, never with a metal tool.
Tip: If a strip breaks, warm the back of the phone for two minutes and slide a plastic card under the battery from the strip side.
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Step 12: Lift out the old battery
Slide the spudger under the short bottom edge of the battery and lever it up a little, then lift it out with your fingers. Set it on the bench away from anything metal.
Watch out: Lever at the bottom edge only, never under the middle, and never with metal. If it bends, stop, put it down on concrete outside, and let it cool.
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Step 13: Seat the new battery
Peel the backing off the new battery's strips, line its connector up with the socket, and lower it into the bay. Press it flat for ten seconds.
Watch out: Connector end first, and check it reaches the socket before you press. A battery stuck down a millimetre short cannot be moved without new strips.
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Step 14: Plug the display back in and fit its bracket
Hold the display face down to the right again, press each display connector onto its socket until it clicks, then fit the bracket: the 1.6 mm screw in the front hole, the two 1.2 mm at the back.
Watch out: Press connectors straight down with a fingertip until they click, never at an angle. The 1.6 mm screw goes in the front hole only.
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Step 15: Reconnect the battery and fit its bracket
Press the battery connector onto its socket until it clicks, then fit the small bracket with its two 1.2 mm screws from the screw map.
Watch out: The battery connects last, after the display. Reversing that order is how boards get shorted on the way back together.
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Step 16: Close the glass and put the two screws back
Swing the display closed from the right, top edge first so the cables fold the way they came, and press the glass down all around. Drive the two pentalobe screws back in at the bottom edge, then hold the power button.
Watch out: If the glass sits proud anywhere, something is under it: a strip tail, a pick, a screw. Open and look; do not press harder.
Tip: The old adhesive usually holds for the glass. Fresh adhesive frames cost little and keep water out; fit one if the phone lives near a sink.
After the repair
Finish it in the app and it parks itself in My Garage with this care guide:
- Check the battery health and the port: every 180 days, about 5 minutes. Heat is the enemy: not on the dashboard, not under the pillow, not charging in the sun.
How the reminders work is in the garage post.