Hey, it’s tutorial time again! We’ll be covering a fairly straight forward repair on the iPhone 5 LCD & Digitizer. Again, this repair can become difficult if not done with care and attention. It’s always best to seek a professional, I’ll try to include some trouble shooting scenarios just incase.
Everything needed to carry out this repair is also sold within our shop. I will link all items to the shop’s product page, and if you find this repair to be to troublesome, we do offer the repair service here.
‘How do I repair my iPhone 5 screen?’, Lets get started!
Tools & equipment required;
- iPhone 5 LCD & Digitizer
- Plastic spudger
- iSesamo spudger
- Pentalobe screwdrivers
- Suction cup
- Tweezers
a) The initial function test.
There are a few components which we will be carrying from one screen to the other. It’s important to make sure these components are in good working order before we proceed, if possible.
We will check;
The front camera.
The earpiece speaker.
The proximity sensor.
The home button.
Once these checks are complete, feel free to shut the phone down and proceed with the repair.
b) Opening the device.
The images will be using a colour code to distinguish the difference in screw types, and the 
types of screwdriver needed. Pentalobe screws will be Red. Philips screws will be Blue, and non-magnetic screws will be Yellow.
Lets begin by opening the two TS1 sized pentalobe screws on either side of the lighting dock connector. Now will be a good time to have something in place to keep your screws organized. Using the wrong screws in the wrong sections can cause damage to your device and even prevent certain features from working. Personally, I’d use a cutting board or any-other type of grid available to you.
c) To suck, or not to suck?
Depending on how damaged your screen is there are two different methods for removing the glass from the midframe/housing. Typically, if you have a few hairline cracks, or replacing a faulty LCD, you should be using a suction cup.
Place your thumb above the earpiece mesh to insure none of the flex cables are damaged once the device is opened. Attach the suction cup just above the home button and begin to pull the metal ring until the screen is lifted. You may need to use the plastic pry tool to lift firm edges.
If the glass is smashed to the point where chunks fall out, or a spiderweb like crack covers the largest portion of the glass, then you’ll need to pry away the screen. This is one of the many uses of the iSesamo tool.
Again, insure you have a thumb covering the earpiece mesh. Carefully, insert the cutting edge of the iSesamo between the midframe/housing and the screens bezel. Now slowly begin to pry away the screen, corner to corner, bottom to top, until you’re able to lift the unit as one. Eye protection is sometimes a good idea here!
d) Optional. 
It’s always a good idea to remove the battery before disconnecting anything from the Logic board. This will prevent any damage to the circuitry.
Another advantage of disconnecting the battery here is to prevent the ‘White’, or ,’Black screen of death’. Although not a major issue it can sometime’s confuse a new technician. The cause is from having the the phone turned on while the LCD has been connected/disconnected. In other words, you hit the sleep button while carrying out the repair. If you do encounter the ‘White’, or, ‘Black screen of 
death’ it’s fixed by doing a hard reset (Holding the sleep and home button for 10 seconds, or until the Apple logo appears).
Remove the three Philips #00 sized screws and place to one side. With a set of plastic tweezers, preferably non-metal as we’re working close to the battery terminal and we don’t want to make our tweezers live, remove the two metal battery covers. Place it with your three Philips screws to save confusion later.
With our plastic pry tool we now want to disconnect the battery connector from the 
terminal. Make sure you pry the connector and not the terminal, if the terminal disconnects with the connector then you’ll have yourself a soldering job. Finally lets remove the battery out from the casing. There is some adhesive underneath the battery, so it may be best to warm the back of the casing with a heat gun set to 130°C for a few seconds. Alternatively pry up the body of the battery with your pry tool, beginning from the left side and work your way around. The cracking sound is just the adhesive breaking.
Since I’ll be using only plastic pry tools to work on the Logic board I will continue this repair with the battery connected.
e) Disconnecting the screen.
With your Philips screwdriver, remove the three Philips #00 sized
screws. You’ll need to use a set of tweezers for the marked Yellow screw as this is non-magnetic. This screw will become your nemesis on the re-build.
With our tweezers lets unhook the metal cover guard for the LCD, Digitizer and front camera flex cables. It’s hooked on the left so we 
want to remove it from the right and inwards. Place the metal cover with your two magnetic and one non-magnetic Philips screws.
With your plastic pry tool, flick up each connector. Take care not to bend any of the flex cables or connectors. Once this is done, the screen will be fully detached from the rest of the unit. Place to one side in preparation for the next stage.
f) Removing the LCD and Digitizer’s inner parts.
Remove the two Philips screws holding the metal cover for the earpiece module, front camera, proximity flex and noise cancellation module. While we’re here, lets remove the topmost Philips screw holding in the rear LCD bracket.
With our tweezers, lets place the cover and earpiece module to one side along with the screws we’ve just removed.
Using your plastic pry tool, remove the noise cancellation module from it’s rubber housing and remove the front camera from it’s lens cover. To remove the proximity sensor we need it to break away from it’s adhesive which is located underneath the earpiece connection. With your iSesamo tools cutting edge, peel up the connection taking precautions not to damage the cable. Finally, remove the proximity sensor from it’s housing. Although not in any of the images below, we also want to remove the camera lens and proximity sensor housing in this same fashion.
Remove the finale five Philips screws from the LCD’s rear bracket. Place your pry tool gently underneath the bracket on the top right of the screen. Slowly remove the bracket towards you and place it with screws you’ve just removed.
g) Home button removal.
Lets get this home button off so we can 
discard of our old screen! Remove the two Philips screws located on either side of the Home button. Use your iSesamo’s cutting edge to remove the contact for the Home button flex. Pry up the flex cable and the holding bracket and place to one-side along with your two Philips screws.
From the front side of the screen, with you index finger, carefully push out the home button insuring you don’t damage the rubber housing.
That’s everything we need from the old screen ready to be re-fitted to our new one. It’s completely upto you what you decide to do with your old screen from here on out. If you are an experienced technician and wish to refurbish this screen, then please take a look at this short tutorial I made here on iPhone glass repair.
h) Out with the old, in with the new! 
Here it is, your fresh and shiny, good to go, working LCD and Digitizer. At this point it is advised to give it a quick test before moving into the re-build. Plug it in and check the functionality of both the LCD & Digitizer. You may need to temporarily re-attach the battery, depending on which steps you took. The last thing you’re going to want to do is spend the next 30 minutes putting everything back together to find your LCD or Digitizer are faulty.
i) The reversal.
Follow each step in revers order. It’s that simple. Here are the 
additional two changes that you’ll need to make;
Before re-attaching the LCD’s rear metal bracket you’ll need to remove rear dust cover from your new LCD.
Remember to insert both the front camera lens and the proximity housing before re-attaching the proximity sensor and front camera flex.
j) Result.
You should now be the proud owner of a very fresh looking iPhone 5. I hope you found this
information helpful. If you have any problems with any iOS device then please don’t hesitate to contact us, we’ll help you as much as possible. You may even visit our forums for technical help, or drop us an e-mail, admin@a4service.co.uk. Thanks for reading and take care!
‘Repair my iPhone 5 screen’ written by Adam Smith, Owner/technician A4Service, All rights reserved.
