iPhone 4 Glass Replacement

[boxxa]

Has anyone successfully replaced just the front glass on their iPhone? I really don't want to buy another digitizer and LCD and rather reuse the original one if possible but all I read is that its glued in.

Has anyone removed all the electronic from it and attached them back to another after market one?

[trigun989]

well if yours is busted. no harm in trying.... though it is glued together and the screen is made of cheap plastic. think u need to use a heat gun or something. idk you can take it apart but a very high risk of screen cracking.

[Cowboy]

Has anyone successfully replaced just the front glass on their iPhone? I really don't want to buy another digitizer and LCD and rather reuse the original one if possible but all I read is that its glued in.

Has anyone removed all the electronic from it and attached them back to another after market one?

Honestly your chances of being successful is 1 in a million you will probably just crack the LCD by trying it and have to get a new one anyways.

[iRepairIndy]

Yea... you pretty much have to order the whole assembly.

Just Apples way of keeping dust out. I like to think it's Apples way to make it harder to repair.. and more costly.

[radar4ever]

Though not a total success (as you'll read at the end of my comments), I was able to remove my old the LCD assembly from the shattered glass and frame. As I read half a dozen attempts to use heat and soften the glue, I recalled how unsticky bubble gum gets when you chill it, and decided to "freeze" my removed glass and LCD assembly to pry them apart.

SUCCESS!!! (sort of) After just three minutes in the freezer, I took a guitar pick and pushed it under the top corners of the LCD (by the connector plug) and the whole silver packet and cable jumped right off into my hand. What looked like "clear black glue" was still stuck to the shattered glass, but I thought I had everything I needed to put my phone back together for a hot-check. After a careful re-assembly and start-up, all I get is a "white-screen", but the phone appears to function otherwise. Apparently that black glue was the screen and the silver packet just the backlight assembly. There does not appear to be any way to get that thin sheet of liquid crystal off of the glass without its destruction and some bleeding...

So, now after cheaply ordering and attempting to repair just the broken glass on my i-Phone-4, I now know there is only one correct repair part for this... The whole digitizer and LCD assembly...

[unklbyl]

It can be done, but i used a hair dryer after watching a bunch of youtube tutorials. It it NOT easy, and as cowboy said, your chances are not good in succeeding, but you may just surprise yourself!
S L O W is the key here.

[Phoneluv4]

Not entirely surprising, considering that an LCD display is liquid and putting it in a freezer will freeze the liquid crystals which will probably be irreversibly damaged after thawing out.