Difficulty
Difficult
Steps
47
Time Required
1–4 hours
- iOpener Heating 3 steps
- iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi Opening Procedure 30 steps
- Home Button Assembly 11 steps
- Display Assembly 3 steps
Featured Guide
This guide has been found to be exceptionally cool by the iFixit staff.
Introduction
Follow this guide to replace a broken front panel assembly on an iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi. The front panel or display assembly consists of the glass digitizer on top and the fused LCD underneath. In the iPad Air 2, these two parts are not separable and must be replaced as one piece.
Note that the fingerprint scanner in the home button is paired to the iPad's logic board. In order to maintain Touch ID functionality, you must transfer your original home button to the new display assembly.
This process can fix issues like a cracked glass digitizer, a non-responsive touchscreen, or a broken LCD screen.
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Place the iOpener in the center of the microwave.
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Heat the iOpener for thirty seconds.
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Throughout the repair procedure, as the iOpener cools, reheat it in the microwave for an additional thirty seconds at a time.
May I know the temperate limit about heating iOpener? (maximum 150 degrees Celsius?) thx so much.
DO NOT USE IN NON ROTATING MICROWAVE! It will pop a hole. I had it in for 45 seconds the first time. It wasn't very hot inside and I saw it started to leak on the paper towel I put under it. Just a fair bit of advice. I think I will just stick with the heat gun. Loud but useful.
can i use just ordinary microwave???
If I don't have a microwave then I try to use hot air gun so how many munuts i want to heat ?
I heated mine up for 30 seconds, tested, then again for 30 seconds. It felt adequately hot. Leaving it on the left side, per the instruction, for a minute did not loosen the adhesive. I ended up pulling the suction cup hard enough to shadder the old screen. Moral of the story, I don't think it gets hot enough safely to have an affect.
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Remove the iOpener from the microwave, holding it by one of the two flat ends to avoid the hot center.
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If your display glass is cracked, keep further breakage contained and prevent bodily harm during your repair by taping the glass.
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Lay overlapping strips of clear packing tape over the iPad's display until the whole face is covered.
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Do your best to follow the rest of the guide as described. However, once the glass is broken, it will likely continue to crack as you work, and you may need to use a metal prying tool to scoop the glass out.
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Handling it by the tabs on either end, place a heated iOpener over the top edge of the iPad.
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Let the iOpener sit on the iPad for two minutes to soften the adhesive securing the front panel to the rest of the iPad.
Yeah, this part took longer than written. Over 30 minutes and had to reheat the iOpenner since it got cool enough to only feel warm.
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As you follow the directions, take special care to avoid prying in the following areas:
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Home Button
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Front Facing Camera
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Main Camera
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Place a suction cup over the iPad's front-facing camera and press down to create a seal.
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Firmly pull up on the suction cup to to create a small gap between the front panel and the rear case.
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Once you've opened a sufficient gap, insert an opening pick into the gap to prevent the adhesive from resealing.
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Slide the pick along the edge of the display, towards the headphone jack.
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If there is still a considerable amount of resistance when sliding the opening pick, repeat the iOpener heating procedure and apply additional heat.
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Insert a second opening pick by the front-facing camera.
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Slide the second pick along the top edge of the iPad, towards the Sleep/Wake Button.
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Insert a third pick by the front-facing camera.
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Bring the right opening pick down and around the top right corner of the iPad.
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Bring the left opening pick around the top left corner of the tablet.
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Reheat the iOpener and lay it over the right edge of the display to loosen the adhesive underneath.
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Slide the right opening pick roughly halfway down the display.
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Reheat the iOpener and apply heat to the left side of the iPad.
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Slide the left-hand opening pick about halfway down the edge of the display.
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Slide the opposite opening pick down to the bottom right corner of the iPad.
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Slide the left-hand opening pick down the edge of the display until you reach the corner.
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Use the iOpener to apply heat to the bottom edge of the iPad.
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Bring the right-hand opening pick around the bottom corner of the iPad.
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Repeat for the left-hand pick.
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Remove the right-hand opening pick at the bottom of the iPad.
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Slide the left-hand opening pick along the bottom edge of the display, then remove it from the bottom right corner of the iPad.
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Twist the remaining pick by the front-facing camera to separate the top edge of the display assembly from the rear case.
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Continue lifting the display assembly from the front-facing camera side.
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Pull the display slightly away from the bottom edge to completely separate it from the rear case.
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Keep lifting until the display assembly is roughly perpendicular to the body of the iPad.
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Remove the single 1.8 mm Phillips screw securing the battery terminals to their contacts on the logic board.
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Remove the three 1.3mm Phillips screws from the display cable bracket.
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Remove the bracket.
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Disconnect the display data connector from its socket on the logic board.
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Disconnect the two remaining digitizer cables underneath the display data cable.
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Remove the front panel assembly from the rear case.
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Use a plastic opening tool to pry the bracket off the back of the Home Button.
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Remove the Home Button bracket and peel up the tape connected to it.
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Peel up the tape covering the Home Button ZIF connector.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to flip up the retaining flap on the Home Button cable socket.
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Disconnect the Home Button ribbon cable.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to peel up the Home Button ribbon cable and Touch ID control chip.
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Peel up the remaining corner of the Home Button ribbon cable.
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Reheat your iOpener and lay it over the bottom edge of the display to loosen the adhesive on the Home Button gasket.
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Use the pointed end of a spudger to gently pry the Home Button assembly up from the display.
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Continue working the tip of the spudger around the edge of the gasket until the gasket is fully separated from the front panel.
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Remove the home button assembly.
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Examine your replacement part, and your original display carefully to be sure they match.
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Your replacement screen may be missing the sleep/wake sensor that is necessary for Smart Cover use. If you want to maintain functionality you will need to transfer the component.
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Desolder the four solder pads from the lower left of the display to remove the sensor assembly cable.
I guess I may have not soldered the sleep/wake sensor right and it was not working after I put the new screen back on. I wish there could be a way to test if the soldering was good or not before I connect the screen back. Also, I have found that even the sleep/wake button near the upper right corner even cannot put the ipad into sleep or wake it up by pressing it once. I guess this could related with the sensor, and the lock/unlock option under the "display & brightness" setting has also been gone due to this issue. So I would say this sensor is not only for the smart case, but also for the sleep/wake button to work as well (the other functions of this button such as poweroff, taking screenshots are still working fine). Solder it carefully if you still want the button to work.
Hello,
short urgent question:
Is this step (desolder the sensor felx) necessary for the function of the display or only for the Home button (touch ID) function?
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Display assembly remains.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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10 Comments
What about the part soldered to the display to the left of the home button? It's showcased in step 43 but hidden with black tape then missing in step 44? What is the significants of this component or flex cable...
Be careful if you replace the home button bracket, many of the replacements do not have the small silver disc that sits in the recess on the inside of the bracket. If you do not transfer this from the old one, the home button will not work as there will be nothing for the home button to press against
can you describe how to transfer the sensor flex cable assembly (four small solder points left to home button on step 45)?
No use to buy your spare part without this step!
This is one of the harder steps to accomplish I felt. You need to de-solder the four points by heating them up at the same time if possible. They actually have small holes in the center of them for the solder to go through to the bottom pads. Once it is removed you need to clean them off and remove as much old solder as possible without damaging the ribbon they are on. Once you have the new screen in place you need to put the part in its appropriate place and then solder the points. Using an ample amount of flux is helpful but you have to clean up afterwards with IP alcohol. If you have a small microscope or good camera you can zoom in and see if the connections are solid and then you are done.
Having the same problem as Kaspar. Cannot re-install sleep/wake sensor.
I´ve replace LCD Display for newer one because crash it before, but the actual problem is that I don´t have any image. If I press the power button, just display gray color. What can I do?
You will have to check the connection of the ribbon cables, but generally this means you have a bad replacement screen (LCD in particular). I would recommend getting a new screen (digitizer and lcd) assembly.
For the sleep wake sensor, I just took my hakko iron, no flux or anything special and de soldered the sensor from the original screen. After this I aligned it on the new one with my tweezers and heated it up with my iron around 650 F. Once my tip was tinned, I got the solder flowing and it was all connected. Either I'm good at soldering (I think so?) or I got lucky. Would have been easier with flux but it is not impossible. The repair was 100% successful, and the sensor works perfect in the case... Hope others have the same luck I did! Took me about 3 ish hours to completely get the screen off, parts transferred, and the adhesive mess cleaned before resealing the new one down.
which temperature must be used for heating? Thx
fbarletta - Reply
I found you need to be very patient when using the iOpener. It's worth taking your time, giving the heat time to work on the glue. When I finally got the battery out, there were some strips of glue left behind that I just cleaned off with some isopropanol before installing the new battery.
By the way, I had to run the iOpener for longer in my microwave for it to get hot enough. When it was too hot to touch, I figured it was hot enough for the batteries.
hello -
I didn't find this to be as hard as I had built it up in my mind to be; HOWEVER, saying that I need to say years ago I was the local Nokia service center in my town. But many years ago right after they got rid of analog times. Yeah. A classic installer/repairer mistake when starting something they haven't fixed or installed before is picking up the instructions, flipping through them; maybe even reading a section that is new-then tossing the instructions over the shoulder. "I got this." This usually comes right before something major gets broke. And I can tell you when you try to do it yourself and then mess it up horribly then take it to the repair shop. Well we called that "I can do it myself" syndrome and charged extra to put back together what they brought in in the box. Now knowing all this - I can't stress this enough because I am stupid, stupid, stupid. COVER YOUR SCREEN IN CLEAR BOXING TAPE AND READ ALL THE INSTRUCTION BELOW THROUGH TO THE END BEFORE EVEN ATTEMPTING THIS FIX. Take my advise.
windizy - Reply
I didn't have an iOpener, so I used a wheat type heat bag. If you do this though, make sure you put a layer of plastic between your Mac and the bag, or you'll get condensation in places you don't want it.
Martin Gray - Reply
I started out using the iOpener but switched to my wife's hairdryer. A heat gun or hair dryer proved to be much more convenient and is a time saviour. You can heat more and the glue becomes more fluid make the next steps with the opening picks much easier
Jan Van Puymbroeck - Reply
Use a hair dryer! Watch this vid: https://youtu.be/16GkvjVyOJA It is much easier to do if you heat it from the other side.
Fletcher Carpenter - Reply
I wonder how many people actually wrapped in their iPhone into iOpener and put this "sandwich" into microwave??
putinaspiliponis - Reply
I know this is obvious, but backup your iPad with iTunes before you start. I'd also turn off your passcode if you have one.
Laurie Higgins - Reply