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A few tips and easy fixes for Apple devices

By Renaat S*| May 19th, 2015| |
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Through 4-5 years of mainly iDevice repairs, I've gathered some usefull experiences. I'll list the most important up for you.


"Searching..." after iPhone repair (sim not recognized)

When you do an iPhone repair where the battery needs disconnecting, the RAM memory also gets cleared because of the lack of power.

This causes the date and time to be set to default after repair, as well as some other background system settings like the simcard recognition. If you just put in the simcard after repair, I will never get recognized. You need to do these steps first:

- eject simcard

- connect to wifi or iTunes (this is where you need the access code of the iPhone)

- wait untill date and time turns right (if this doesn't happen after a minute, go to settings-general-date&time- switch automatic off and on again)

- (sometimes you'll get a popup message from an email server, just press agree/continue)

- enable flight mode and turn it back off after 5 seconds

- "searching..." will turn into "no service" after a moment, this is when you are finally allowed to insert the simcard. It will ask for the simcard pincode after a few seconds.


Getting out iPhone 5/5C/5S/6 screens from their housing

Forget that stupid suction cup. Just buy the iSesamo of something alike. This thin flexible metal tool allows you to gently pry out the screen from it's 4 metal clips. Start with both sides at the bottom, then just below the (-) button and finally a bit above the simcard slot. You won't damage the screen, even if the adhesive between glass and thin plastic frame was already a bit loose (like most cases, apple should really use better glue!) I've had my iSesamo for over 4 years now, it's still my favorite tool.



iPhone charging port unstable/broken

- Lots of people come to me with their phone not charging as it should. In 70% of the cases, there is just a big lump of dust gathered up at the bottom of the port. Sometimes a bit of rice, tabacco of food is no exception ;) This causes the cable not being able to reach the 8 copper pins in the port. If you're not sure about the dust, just check how deep you can insert an original lightning cable. The white plastic should touch the bottom of your phone. If you can still put your fingernail between the plastic and the bottom of your phone, the charging port has too much dust in it. 


Just clean it out with a sim ejector tool or small tweezers. Be sure not to damage the 8 pins inside, they are at the bottom side of the port when your phone is laying on the table, screen side up. Sometimes the dust is really strong, because the phone owner has pushed it firmly at the bottom whilst trying to charge his phone by force.

If one of the pins isn't looking "gold" but rather dark green, the port needs to be replaced anyway. Also check the cable in this situation.


iPhone and iPad corner damage

About half of the iPhones 5/5s + iPads I get with broken screen, also have corner damage. Most of the times, it's the corner of the power button/camera, I don't know why but it's like that, and that's the way it is (huh!). If you just leave the corner as it is and jam a new screen in the iPhone, your repair job won't last very long. Also, your glass will tend to come up in this corner, loose from the underlying plastic frame.

I highly recommend using the GTool iCorner for this job. It's some sort of clamp with different inserts for each iPad or iPhone model. Just put it over the bent corner and it will bring the shape back to it's original rounding. There are also copies of this tool, as long as the aluminum is just as good, they should work fine. If you don't want to make this investment, cut away the excess inside aluminum with a good cutter knife.



iPad 2 black or strange colours LCD

About once a month, I get a customer with an iPad 2 that has some LCD problems. Most of them don't have a broken glass in this case!

99% garantueed fix: Take off the digitizer (use enough heat to loosen the adhesive, you can use it again if you're carefull) and take out the LCD screen. There is a special cable running from the LCD panel to the main board. Unclip both ends and clean the copper/gold contact points with light sandpaper and afterwards with a toothbrush and some alcohol (isopropanol, from the drugstore).

Reassemble and see how the LCD works as it should without the use of parts (pure profit from labour).


iPhone 4 proximity sensor

A few weeks after the iPhone 4 release back in 2010, it took a while for me to notice that some of the iPhone 4's I fixed didn't have a working proximity sensor after repair. Luckily, I found this trick via google and I've been using it succesfully ever since.

You just need:

- clear thin plastic tape (and some old nonstick paper like from 3M adhesive kits or stickers)

- black permanent marker

Just cut out a piece of tape of 15x10mm (i stick it to the nonstick paper, just for cutting it) and place it on top of the sensor. Then use the marker to make the tape all black, exept for a tiny bit above the light sensor. Make sure the marker is good and put a single good layer of ink of the tape. Now, reassemble your phone and see how the sensor is working :) Just so you'd know, the proximity sensor is the orange piece (not visible in picture), the light sensor is the tiny solar panel thingy.


iPhone 4S no sound through loudspeaker

A combination of dust and moisture might make a false contact in the iPhone 4S charging port. This contact makes your iPhone "think" it's in a docking station, so it's sending the sound to it's charging port instead of the built-in loudspeaker. 

Symptoms: No volume bar in music apps, no volume blocks when pushing the volume buttons when on homescreen. 

Remedy: Just replace the charging port and you're done! Sometimes you can fix it by cleaning the port, but most of the times it needs replacing.


iPhone "23.000.000 minutes blocked"

When starting a repair that needs battery disconnected, make sure you follow these steps, otherwise you'll end up with an iPhone that's blocked from 1 january 1970 (default time) to current day...

- start iPhone and enter access code. This is very important, because you're letting your iPhone know that you're the owner/authorized person. 

- switch iPhone off and start repair.

If you don't enter the code before turning the phone completely off, it goes in some kind of safe mode which, in combination with the default time setting after your repair, ends up in a loop that's only fixable through a full reset with loss of data. Very uncomfortable if you're in front of clients. 

If for some reason like a broken digitizer, you're not able to enter the code, just switch of the screen and change screen quickly. If the phone is dead because of faulty battery or so, forget all above and start fixing it.


iPhone 5S/5C/6/6+ battery removing

If you have already changed an iPhone battery of the above models, you'll now how hard it is to get the battery loose from that motherf****** white adhesive. This trick is actually the official apple way of removing the battery without damaging it.



So, these are some of the tips and tricks you might find useful :)





  • Good job, Renaat, thanks for sharing your wonderful experience! Do you have any tips for repairing Wifi problems? Thanks again for your help.

    By Ramirez D*| May 20th, 2015

    2 Comment(s):

    Wifi on what device? iPhone 4: make sure the chrome little bracket is seated correctly around that thin long screw in the cover plate holding the cables onto the main board. Basically the gold dot at the top of the main board needs to be connected to the frame/screw. You can also use aluminum foil if the chrome backet is missing. 4S: Grey wifi is very common, easy fix is to take out the main board and heat up the wifi chip, it's the matte black square chip, top right. This is a fix but the problem can come back after a few months. Changing the chip is better but very difficult and you need a heating station for it. 5: I havent seen any wifi problems orther than orther repairman not connecting the cable right. It's tricky since it is underneath the main board. I position it right on the little black foam on the housing and then I press the mainboard on top. You can feel it click in your thumb. 5S: Same thing, only problems after not connecting it right after repair

    By Renaat S*| May 20th, 2015

    You're genius, that's very detailed, thank you man.

    By Ramirez D*| May 22nd, 2015

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