Last Updated on August 19, 2016 by Larious

I often wonder how these phone technicians fix and replaced broken phone screens and am always curious how they get to do it, since they do not show us how they do it, i decided to make my own research online to figure the process of removing the screen touch glass and get it replaced.

Sometimes when our smartphones falls and gets broken, its not really the complete screen that needs replacement, most times it just the front touch pad screen glass that got broken and replacing that is affordable but some dubious phone technicians might tell you to change the complete screen which is usually expensive, instead they just buy the front touch pad screen glass and tell you they changed the complete screen.

Below is a practical approached used in changing any Android device front cracked screen, Here they make use of the Samsung Galaxy S4 as a demonstration, but its almost the same procedure in other Android devices.

Once you discovered you can still type on your Android device screen and can still use the device properly, even after the device has fallen down and got broken, you only need to change the front touch screen pad and not the complete screen.

How Android Broken Screen Glass Are Replaced

Tools Needed:

• Spudger
• Metal Spudger
• Plastic Opening Tools
• Guitar Picks set of 6

Relevant Parts

• Samsung Galaxy S4 Glass

•  Remove the back plate, you can simply do this with your fingernail or a spudger.

•  Simply remove the battery using your fingernail or spudger. No cables are attached so it is basic.
•  If you have a SIM card in the phone, push it inwards then release to eject it.

•  Heat up the glass for 3-5 minutes. I chose to do it for 4 minutes.
•  You only need to use your heat gun on the lowest setting. I wouldn’t recommend using a hair drier as it doesn’t get very hot.
•  You must be careful when using the heat gun on this device. If the device is heated up too much then it may melt the digitizer and cause discoloration. If you start to see any discoloration then shut off the gun immediately.
•  This procedure softens the adhesive that holds the glass to the screen assembly.

•  After you’ve used the heat gun, you want to start by separating the edges of the glass from the rest of the phone, starting from the top.
•  I used a metal spudger initially, if you’re going to use a metal spudger as well you want to be careful to not damage anything.

•  Work your way around the edges with plastic picks.
•  Take your time otherwise the glass will shatter
• If your screen is overly cracked (looks like spiderwebs) you will want to put several layers of packing tape over your screen to try to keep it in one piece and do everything in your power (go slowly and don’t be shy with the heat) to prevent it from shattering more.
•  Caution: If your glass happens to shatter you might want to consider wearing safety glasses.
•  Plastic razor blades you find in a hardware store are great for intricate cleanup like this. Alternatively try guitar plectrums (picks) from a music shop. These won’t scratch the digitizer.

•  Re-heat the glass frequently. If you find that the glass isn’t coming off easily you will want to apply more heat and then continue.

•  I never got any photos, but when taking the glass off be very careful near the two touch keys at the bottom of the phone as it can be easy to damage them. They are stuck to the glass and need to be taken off before lifting off the glass.
•  With the glass removed, you’ll end up like your phone looking like this, with the adhesive residue leftover on the digitizer.

• Clean up the digitizer with lint free wipes or a clean microfiber towel. I used some lens cleaner on a microfiber cloth to clean mine up.
•  I probably did a terrible job of removing the glass and the digitizer appears scratched. If yours does look like this as well it’s no problem, when the screen is turned on it’s not noticeable.
•  If you want to really get the screen almost perfectly clean or if the glue residue won’t come off, use some acetone-free nail polish remover. It takes only a few seconds to get all the dirt off and it will evaporate: it will look nearly flawless when you are done.

•  Place the new adhesive around the edges of the phone. If the screen you purchased didn’t come with any you can use 3M 2mm strips.
•  Peel off the blue bit on the top of the adhesive.

•  Prepare your new glass. If yours is covered both sides like mine then only remove the under side for now.
•  Do not touch the underside or get any other dust or marks on it, if you do clean it off first.

• Put the new glass on the phone.
• LOCAL glue should be used when assembling the screen. There are some good videos on youtube showing how to apply the glue.
•  Peel off the top plastic cover on the glass.

•  Place the battery (and SIM card) back in.

•  Put the back plate back on and turn your phone on

The replacement process above was from ifixit website, Now you can see exactly what that phone technician did to fix your broken screen.

Hope this tutorial has been helpful, Please do not do the above process on your own so you don’t get your device screen condemned. But if you have all the tools needed and a little of watching Youtube videos and this tutorial, your good to go. All the best.