My Problem

My daughter dropped her (our old) iPhone 3GS and shattered the front glass. Her phone needed frequent charging so while I was repairing it, I decided to go ahead and get a new battery also. Took the opportunity to go ahead and order a new 4S rear panel for my wife's phone that was also cracked from a different drop.

My Fix

The 4S rear panel is a snap! Anyone that can use a screwdriver can easily replace one in about 5 minutes.

Removal of the battery from the back of the 3GS case is a bit tricky, but it's not my first rodeo, so that went fine without incident. Replacement of the front panel took some time and patience, but it looks and works great. Thanks iFixit!

My Advice

Go slowly when removing the battery. Highly recommend using a hairdryer to loosen the adhesive to minimize the chance of bending the old battery.

Replacing just the front panel on the 3GS is not for the faint of heart. Separating the glass from the frame was tricky and it was challenging to keep from bending the frame. Watch out for glass shards! Also, be diligent to remove all the glue residue to ensure a tight fit. Carefully align the two pieces before pressing them together as the adhesive strips do their job well. Slow and steady is the way to win this race.

My Problem

screen broken and rear case with too much miles.

The on/off button doesn't work and there was no volume up/down button

Oh! And the battery was almost dead :)

My Fix

excellent!

Thanks to the guide, i had no trouble to make it work.

My Advice

stick to the guide ;)

My Problem

The front panel was cracked so bad, I didn't think I could fix it.

My Fix

I followed the slide show to the tee. I had a little trouble getting the glass off, I bought the tool set and it helped alot.

My Advice

No advise, everything the slides showed worked.

My Problem

classic problem, shattered front piece of glass on 3gs. the replacement is cheap and the fix is pretty easy on this model. note that on newer models (iphone 4, 4s) this may not be the case since the glass is fused to the display.

My Fix

this is the second time I've replaced the glass on my 3gs in about a year, so I didn't have to look at the repair manual. pretty easy.

My Advice

watch the video and follow the guide. get a few shot glasses for the screws to keep them separated and in a safe place while you work. be careful when pulling the front and back apart and avoid damaging the ribbon cables. flat end of metal spudger is the way to go on a lot of the steps - use it to pry between front bezel when taking front and back apart and also to pop out the ribbon cable connectors. be gentle with the ribbon cables.

My Problem

The plumber was just at my house about to install a new shower head in our bathroom. Naturally a part was cracked, so I had to go and replace it. The box wasn't correctly closed unbeknownst to me. So, as always, I'm in a hurry to get out the door and make it back so I can pick up my daughter from school. I have one hour. So me, with my newly injured right elbow, decide to carry a pocketbook, cell phone, sunglasses, keys and a bulky box, all in my left hand and arm. The boxflips open, Im trying to grab everything from falling, the cell phone goes face down on the tile floor and the box bounces off of it. All I think is OMG, my new phone....sure enough, I pick it up turn it over....shattered. No...I love my phone! And my husbands gonna bug, we just got the phone. Luckily it still worked. So, I asked my son what to do because his friend has cracked more than one screen. He said go to ifixit to get a new one. I ordered my new screen after about a month of keeping it in a sandwich bag (so ghetto) so as not cut my face or fingers while talking or playing words with friends....lol

I was not willing to pay $90 to have it fixed or $150 to replace it. For $42, I did it myself :)

My Fix

Pretty smoothly. I followed a you tube how to.

I was worried it wasn't going to work because after I installed the screen, I got nothing except for the quick light up, but no apps. I troubleshot on google and discovered I had to hold down the home button and the button at the top. Once I did that, I was back in business. :)

My Advice

Yes, hold down the 2 buttons when you're done. And watch those screws, they're sooo tiny. :)

My Problem

The original problem was a shattered front panel.

My Fix

The repair worked, but along the way one very small metal prong broke off and thus the "home button" doesn't work now. Argh... more work to do.

My Advice

Be very careful, the iPhone 3GS is not very durable.

My Problem

The glass of the 3GS touchscreen digitizer was broken

My Fix

I'm very familiar of repairing iPhone Original / 3G / 3GS and recently 4 so it don't take so long to replace the digitizer

My Advice

The tricky parts are :

- Removing the broken glass from the frame, don't heat so much because it twist the plastic frame, especially near the home button.

- When you're stick the new glass, align it very well to fit with the frame and home button hole

My Problem

My 3GS would shut down when the battery showed 80%. This happened pretty suddenly. At first it would shutdown at 20%, then 60%, and within a week or two 80%. Also, we had dropped the phone and cracked the glass.

My Fix

The battery replacement gets pretty easy with practice. We had replaced 2 other batteries, so this was a breeze. The glass replacement was a little more difficult. Getting the glass seperated from the plastic frame was pretty difficult. In the end it was successful.

My Advice

If you're just going to buy the glass, make sure to buy the adhesive too. If I had it to do over again, I'd buy the whole glass/ LCD assembly and skip the hair dryer.

My Problem

My wife dropped her iPhone and shattered her front panel.

My Fix

The repair went very well and exactly how the guides walked me through the repair. Very well documented.

My Advice

If you are only going to repair the front panel I would recommend on getting the adhesive strips. They should be included or recommended. I had to use the existing strips but they do not come off very well. I would be happy to pay the $3.00 extra to have them included regardless. You should replace the Adhesive anyway.

My Problem

Although I love my iPhone 3GS, I find the front panel glass to be very fragile. That, combined with my chronic clumsiness are a bad combination. (I once had a high school football coach tell me that I had hands like feet).

My Fix

The repair went flawlessly.

My Advice

I would recommend spending a few extra dollars to buy the entire front panel assembly instead of just the glass. Using a hair dryer or heat gun to melt glue can seem like an eternity when removing the broken glass. If you're at all impatient here, you can ruin the repair job.