Yous've croaky your cell phone screen. Whether it slipped out of your hand while you were on a telephone call or you left it on top of your auto when yous collection abroad, the glass is smashed.

Fortunately, the brandish all the same works, and perhaps the touchscreen controls likewise. And so, what do you do now? Hither are some things to do right subsequently slap-up your phone's screen.

1. Does Phone Insurance Cover a Cracked Phone Screen?

The offset thing to do is check if your phone insurance covers cracked phone screens, and under what conditions.

If and so, arranging a fix should exist straightforward. In most cases, if your phone screen is broken, the principal problem is going to be living without information technology for a few days. That'south as bad every bit it gets (although yous might have to pay an excess charge).

The issues with cracked smartphone screens start when it transpires you cannot get a replacement screen on the insurance. When this happens, yous'll demand to take matters into your own hands.

2. Stop Using the Phone With a Cracked Screen, Apply an One-time Telephone Instead

You accept a broken telephone screen but still need a telephone. So, what can you do? Well, a good choice is to just utilise an old phone instead.

Whether you can't make calls due to the smashed phone screen, or it has been sent away for repairs, you'll need a replacement. The best place to find 1 is usually stashed away in the dorsum of a drawer.

Even if y'all don't have an old phone you tin can switch to temporarily, a friend or relative might. Enquire, and yous'll have a handy replacement until you've decided what to do with your phone and its broken screen.

3. Put a Screen Protector on a Cracked Screen

Cracked phone screen
Epitome from Pixabay

Wondering if y'all can put a screen protector on a croaky screen? You can, but you should only practise this in certain circumstances.

For displays where chips and shards of glass are loose or missing, adding a screen protector is pointless. It won't be able to attach properly as the drinking glass is in motion. The result: you lot wasted money on a screen protector.

But where the crack is minimal, putting a screen protector over a cracked screen might help keep the glass from cracking further. It might prevent further spidering.

four. How to Prepare a Cracked Telephone Screen

By now, you might accept realized (or decided) that you don't really demand a new phone. But how would you get near replacing the screen if you cracked your mobile telephone brandish?

Thanks to the internet, the chances are y'all'll find a DIY fix for everything online. iFixIt is a great place to start, as information technology provides both instructions on how to fix a cleaved screen, along with links to the parts. Our ain guide to repairing a cracked smartphone screen is besides worth reading.

YouTube is some other swell resource for repair tutorials. Replacement screens can be bought online, via sites like eBay and AliExpress. Benefits of a DIY set include the keeping down the cost of repair, besides as a feeling of achievement.

It'south worth keeping in mind that without the right grooming and skills, you might mess it upwardly.

5. Pay for a Broken Cell Phone Screen Repair

Doubt over DIY ("can I actually put a screen protector on a cracked screen?") might pb you to an culling solution: paying someone else to do information technology.

But how much is it to supplant a phone screen?

While you could ship your phone to the official manufacturer, you lot're going to pay through the nose for that option. Await at Apple'southward repair fees – it's not inexpensive to get a repair if the croaky screen is out-of-warranty.

There's probably a local telephone repair shop that you lot can try, and a Google search volition bear witness you where to find ane, as well as customer reviews. Although you lot'll probably be paying by the hr, a skilled technician can supervene upon a screen pretty quickly.

Check the prices and compare the repair store'southward competitors before you try them out. Our guide to places that fix cleaved iPhone screens can help here.

6. Sell Your Telephone to Fund a Replacement

Broken iPhone screen
Image from Pixabay

Thinking most raising funds for a replacement? Several sites volition buy your croaky phone, and even pay for a broken one. These sites include:

  • SellCell
  • Gazelle
  • Gizmogul

Y'all can even sell your broken stuff on eBay? You lot probably won't get a lot of money for information technology, only what you lot do make you can put towards a new telephone.

Many sites will also requite yous credit for buying a used phone when you trade yours in. You'll probably get a better deal if you accept credit instead of cash, then keep that in mind.

With cash raised, check the web'due south most popular online stores for a replacement, such as eBay and Amazon. You may fifty-fifty observe the same telephone in used, only otherwise skilful status. Just pay attending to the item description. You don't desire to end upward buying a damaged phone!

What should you check? Well, the details should tell you:

  • If the phone is working
  • Does it have a functioning screen?
  • If it has whatever scratches

At the right price, buying a like-for-like, second-mitt replacement can be a meliorate option than buying a new phone.

seven. Telephone Screen Broken? Just Buy a New Device!

And, of course, the about obvious option: ownership a new telephone. Sometimes you lot but need to acknowledge defeat and supercede your damaged device.

Sure, it might be painful to spend that much money. But information technology might be cheaper than buying a replacement and upgrading a few months afterward anyway. Instead of upgrading soon, it might exist best to just practise it now.

If you exercise make up one's mind to buy a new phone, don't automatically purchase i from your carrier. Buy an unlocked version instead; it'll salvage you a lot of money, even though information technology seems more expensive.

If yous're looking for a new phone, take a wait at our all-time budget smartphones list.

8. But Put Upwards With Your Broken Telephone Screen

Brusque of coin? Not dandy on DIY solutions or paying for repairs?

If your phone is still working, and the screen doesn't appear to exist in danger of completely falling apart, why not merely keep using it? Sure, information technology'll exist annoying to wait at for a bit, but yous'll get used to it.

Saving the money it would price for a new telephone is always nice. If you lot're on a contract that's presently expiring, this is your best option. You can e'er put a slice of sticky tape across the crack in the screen. Keep your telephone otherwise protected with a protective case, and it should meet y'all through to the next upgrade.

Don't Let a Broken Phone Screen Ruin Your Day

While broken smartphone displays are frustrating, ugly, and kill your telephone's resell value, don't let it cast a shadow. A broken smartphone screen is merely a challenge to be overcome.

Now you know what to practise with a croaky telephone screen:

  1. Claim on your phone insurance
  2. Find or infringe an onetime telephone
  3. Yous can put a screen protector on a cracked screen
  4. Repair the cracked screen yourself
  5. Pay for the screen to be repaired
  6. Merchandise in or sell the telephone and buy a replacement
  7. Contact your carrier for an upgrade
  8. Carry on using your telephone

Eventually your phone is going to be replaced, so if the other options don't work out, take a fall-back plan. You might contact the carrier for an upgrade, or simply bear on using the phone with the damaged screen.

When the time comes to move on from the phone, don't simply throw it in a drawer.

x Creative Means to Employ Your Old Smartphone

Read Next

Nearly The Author

Christian Cawley (1578 Manufactures Published)

Deputy Editor for Security, Linux, DIY, Programming, and Tech Explained, and Really Useful Podcast producer, with all-encompassing experience in desktop and software support. A correspondent to Linux Format magazine, Christian is a Raspberry Pi tinkerer, Lego lover and retro gaming fan.

More From Christian Cawley