3 Things to Know Before Replacing an iPhone's Screen

So, you cracked your iPhone's nice, shiny screen and you're looking to replace it yourself, right? More power to you. There's no reason to pay a hundred bucks for a repair when you can handle the job yourself, and if you're pretty handy, replacing an iPhone's screen is actually pretty easy.

However, there are a few important things to know before you try to replace your iPhone's broken screen.

Getting The Replacement Glass. You can either buy a pre-cut piece of replacement glass or cut some 1/32 inch plastic yourself to match the old screen. Only consider handling the cutting if you're fairly good with a dremel. You'll have to cut out a spot for the Home button, of course, and perfectly size the glass to the iPhone, including the rounded corners, which can be very tough if you've never done anything like this before.

The good news is that 1/32 inch glass is pretty cheap, so if you're adventurous you can give it a few tries. Be patient. Remember the old carpenter's rule: measure twice, cut once. You should frequently lay the new screen over the old one and use a marker to plan out each cut.

You're Going To Need Some Tools. In addition to the dremel, you'll need some scissors, markers, and something to cut out all of the broken glass in your busted iPhone (or iPod Touch as the case may be).

Be careful when cutting out the extra glass. You don't want to press a razor into the screen below the glass or you could end up busting something important. Carefully remove the pieces of glass one at a time. You may want to wear gloves to avoid getting cut or getting some nasty glass splinters in your skin.

Oh, and by the way, you can buy replacement iPhone screens online. This can be more expensive than DIY, but it's a better option for many iPhone users who scratched their chins when we mentioned "dremels" up there.

You're Going To Have To Get Rid Of Some Glue. The busted iPhone's glass was held in with glue--weird, right?

To get rid of it, use some Goo Gone or a similar substance. Make sure that your chemicals can be safely applied to sensitive screens, or you could discolor your new screen.

Once the old screen has been removed, you can easily get the new screen into place. Be careful and take your time with every step. When you're finished, all of your touch screen functions should still work fine, and you'll have a great new screen to show off.

By the way, the entire concept of replacing an iPhone's broken screen with self-cut glass came from a post on the Something Awful forums from several years back. Unfortunately, Something Awful is a subscription forum, so we can't link directly to the original post, but credit goes to user Epic Proportions for his major role in figuring the trick out.

Have any other tips for replacing a busted iPhone screen? Post in the comments section below.