Removing iPad 3 4G Front Panel

Echo jesseokerlund's comments that you will have glass flying. I made the mistake of doing the repair at my kitchen table and had a lot of cleanup to do. The job would be much easier if there was no broken glass, and the hardest part is where the glass is broken right next to the bezel. I used the metal spudger to work those pieces free, but it takes some time.

+ 1 on the safety glass, I almost got hurt while doing this.

I followed all the safety precautions mentioned: tape, safety glasses… The best advice I saw on this is to put the iPad in the sun for a few minutes. I placed mine on the windshield of my car in direct sunlight for about 5 minutes. I also used the iOpener to keep heat on the edges I wasn’t working on. I was able to easily remove the glass without any shards flying in about 30-40 minutes total. Great advice and safest way I’ve seen to remove broken glass.

Badly broken screen, taped and warmed about 15 minutes on heating pad set on high. Perfect, gentle, overall warming! Mark the front with Sharpie, ie WiFi, cable, etc. Used thin metal iSes... type tool and guitar pics. BUY NEW Plastic bezel!!! So super cheap. Rewarm on heating pad as necessary. Compressed air helpful to blow away tiny glass bits. Wear glasses! Take breaks! This is easy if you warm carefully and are patient!

I am in the process of replacing a shattered screen on an iPad 3 wifi, and I literally was removing glass piece by piece! I do recommend having a roll of wide clear sealing tape at hand. Then, when you see loose glass shards, pull off about 4 to 5 inches, and stick the tape to pick up the loose glass, and once in a while, fold the tape onto itself (sticky to sticky side), and set it aside. This helps keep it from getting everywhere. Also, spread news paper under your work. Some people don't really think of these things, but the fact is, hardened glass will find its way into your skin very easily. Extremely sharp!

Have not attempted this repair on my wife's iPad 2, but is there a reason that you put the iOpener on top of the device rather than putting the device on top of the iOpener? After all, heat rises.

There is a way of making the Wifi/Bluetooth Antenna replacement much easier. If you have a steady hand and a soldering iron simply desolder the connecting cable from the bottom of the antenna and solder it back onto the new antenna. This means there is no need to dismantle the iPad and the repair is much faster. Hope this helps :-)

Had much more success using the metal spudger versus the plastic opening tool that came with the front panel kit.

Pay attention to the Power Button cable located in the upper right corner !!!

Successful battery change but I did sever the cord/ribbon to the power/sleep button. As my iPad had been opened before at a repair shop, I think they put adhesive over the cord as the small section was stuck underneath the LCD, barely visible. So be careful not to put adhesive above that exposed ribbon/cord to the power/sleep button or the next time you open it up, it's severed.

On the iPad 2 I repaired, the opening started at 1 inch and ended at 3mm.

Like others i found the plastic tool pretty useless. Exacto, razor blade, or small metal pick/pry tool works much better to get that first guitar pick inserted. Be careful not to damage the bezel too much. Unless to plan to replace it.

If you have an iPAD that has been repaired before note that the adhesive strip might not have an opening by the volume control as shown. I replaced the glass and the new glass had a 2" gap to the left of the Home button only.

The glass is much thinner than you'd think and I broke mine trying to lever it off before the adhesive has softened enough. Be VERY gentle!

My plastic opening tool broke in no time flat. Perhaps I was pressing down too hard and not wiggling it enough. But for me I found that the metal spudger was the best tool for the job. I was able to wiggle it while slowly prying up the glass and once it was under the surface of the glass I was able to work it along the edge quite easily. I saw that some people used a razor blade but I would be afraid the blade would break. The metal spudger was just thin enough to do the job well.

!!!!!!razor-blade & hair-dryer !!!!!!!

I have found that using these plastic picks, spudgers and edge tools are ineffective as tools for inserting or creating a gap and glue separation action.

They are just too soft and too thick for this, causing cracks and not able to reach underneath without causing stresses.

After heating the adhesive with a heat gun (and using cardboard to shield the lcd screen) I have been using a metal round headed scalpel to insert between the glass and bezel, and to very carefully use as an adhesive separation tool at a very oblique angle so as to miss any sensitive cables or components.

Also, instead of this iTool heating pad and a microwave, they should create an electrically heated shaped pad, this would avoid the constant cooling and reheating and maintain the right temperature.

Addendum, I have a temperature controlled heat gun, and set it to 180F for this.

The iOpener works fine, I'm not sure what y'all are talking about. To be fair, you have to press the iOpener into the iPad in order for it to work, which isn't explained well in this tutorial. Wear heat-resistant gloves when you do this, the center portion of the iOpener gets VERY hot. I use a pair of gloves from ACE Hardware. While it takes a bit more effort with the picks, I was able to heat up one side of the iPad, then seperate the adhesive with the picks the rest of the way through.

I do not recommend using the little blue tool they show above, the part you're supposed to wedge in is way too thick. I use the Jimmy and some opening picks.

Third image is slightly misleading, you want to go about a centimeter below the volume button.

Yoh but this is not so simple of your screen is shattered to the edges. Basically I had to lift, shatter more, and then pick off the splintered glass with tweezers bit by bit. Patience is a virtue here. I gave up on saving the adhesive and used it to help remove the splinters. I basically removed the edges of the iPad like that and then lift glass off. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. I would be blind now if I didn’t. wifi antenna -Go slow make sure it’s hot +check what you are doing in the crack. Remove all splinters fromiPad when it’s open. Clean LCD with a microfibre cloth and inside of your new digitizer. When I first reassembled, the home button didn’t work. I reopened and made sure the two gold connectors align with the two spikes on the body. I placed the home button board face down onto the connector spikes with adhesive on the other side, then lowered the digitiser onto it so the board would stick to the digitiser. Notes: forget plastic spudger they’re only place holders, I used a blade knife and metal Spudgers

Irreversible damage to the Wi-Fi antenna is nearly unavoidable, but this is not the end of the world since you can pick up a perfectly fine replacement on-line for a few bucks. Many digitizer screen replacement kits include a new WiFi antenna and new bezel since removing the screen without damage to these is also nearly impossible. If your iPad is old enough to need a new battery, and you plan on keeping it thru at least another battery's expected life span, then I would plan on replacing the digitizer screen, bezel, and WiFi antenna as part of the battery replacement. The battery is going to be the most expensive of the set, say around $15 (US), and adding the other three will only add about another $15 (check the prices in ebay, amazon, etc.). Removing the screen often results in damage to the on/off and volume control cable since it too runs along the upper right hand edge of the base right under the screen. If you cut thru this then add another $1 to replace it too.

Based on my experience just (nearly) completing this job on an iPad 2, CDMA, is that the trickiest step is reconnecting the three CDMA antenna cables on the underside of the CDMA chip that is part of the logic board assembly. These are nearly microscopic button connectors (maybe 0.5 mm in diameter). I needed 8X magnification glasses, very bright light, tweezers, and incredible luck to get these reattached. They pop off no problem, but getting them positioned to apply pop-on force takes a LOT of patients! Maybe someone knows a trick to doing this? There’s a similar connector on the WiFi cable but the chip it attaches to can be removed from the logic board so you’re able to manage positioning them interdependently. The CDMA chip is attached (soldered?) to the logic board and the three button connectors are on the underside, and pretty close to one another, so getting all THREE attached and then the logic board in place is a miracle.

This BEGS for an Archer "Just The Tip" reference.

It wasn't obvious to me at first that I'd broken the antenna. A picture of the antenna that works compared with one that is broken would be useful. Fortunately I'd ordered the replacement part just in case, as suggested.

I think using extra heat on this spot may make it easier to unstick without breaking the antenna?

A diagram of what the antenna looks like, from the side, would make it clearer what to do with the pick. You are trying to detach the antenna from the glass, without ripping it off where it's screwed into the bottom of the ipad. Since you can't see what you are doing, and the antenna is quite fragile, that's tricky.

I think once you've broken one you would know better how to do it. When you slide the pick to the right you need to be sure the pick is moving above the antenna and not snagging on it in any way, and you need to be sure the antenna is completely detached from the glass, so you don't tear it when you lift the glass up.

Can anybody give me a clue as to what the exact part is in step 57, As there are slightly different cables for the ipad 2, Mine is A1395, Thanks.

Another lesson learned while removing the WiFi antenna. The photo shows the iPad laying face up on the table, but to see what you’re doing when detaching the antenna you ‘re better off with the iPad edge up so you can see how the antenna is attached. The antenna is very, very easily broken. To be honest, it’s a lot easier to replace a broken antenna than to try to pry it loose.

Please mind that the GSM model has on the upper side left and right from the front camera the 3G antennas. When I removed the broken glass I cut the right one off which I have to fix now.

The GSM component is glued to the screen with different adhesive (more like glue). I managed to not damage this but it was really tricky. The guitar pick is too thick and weak to release this from the screen. Id recommend you wait until you lift the glass (future step, NOT NOW). Then, with a good light you'll see the white plastic adhered to the glass. A thin metal pick or exacto is needed to patiently cut & pry your way through the adhesive. Careful of the camera as your pulling in that direction.

There is an error in the red text in this step. It says ‘The digitizer cable is located approximately 2" from the bottom of the iPad’. The next sentence says .. ‘Stop sliding the pick when you get ~2.25" from the bottom of the iPad.. This will slice and ruin that cable. The last sentence should read ‘Stop sliding the pick when you get ~1.75" from the bottom of the iPad.’ so you stop cutting glue before you get to the digitizer cable.

@Jenny & @dleimonis - you can buy the digitizer and new cable by itself if you do not need an LCD also. They are separate parts.

At this point it is a good idea to get the packing tape back out and wrap it around 2 or 3 of your fingers making a circle with the sticky on the outside. Make it loose enough you can place your fingers on the table surface to the side and pull your fingers out. When you remove all the tiny parts/screws in the next steps put them on top of the tape so you know exactly where they are when you need them

you can use latex gloves to keep smudges and finger prints from the screen. I'm getting ready to repair mine, thanks for all the comments and tips. Btw, I wonder if a vacuum cleaner would work for removing small pieces of glass.

De Dios sept.10 2014

where is the connecotr for home button at the ipad 3....i have nothin where i can plug in the flex cable comin from the button

Go slowly as you lift up the glass and be sure that you are not tearing a ribbon cable. When I lifted the glass the digitizer cable was torn and unusable. Perhaps I had cut it with the pick/spudger but it tore completely off when I lifted the glass. Good thing I had purchased the full front panel assembly with the digitizer (IF116-018-3).

When reassembling I used canned air to blow off dust on the LCD before closing it up.

You can use a clean soft brush like a make-up brush or small paint brush to brush off the LCD.

I like how the pictures show an intact screen being removed (although the one in step 4 has a couple of cracks in). I don’t know if anyone would have the luxury of being able to remove a screen in one piece, the ipads I've fixed have been completely smashed pretty much all the way around the outside of the lcd underneath. I used this guide to know where to watch for cables etc - very helpful. I end up using a window scraper/razor to scrape off the glass shards/adhesive around the edge. Glass shards/dust all over the lcd is easy enough to get off but cleaning the lcd after that is a real pain. Does anyone have any suggestions how to clean the lcd properly?

When reassembling the glass, align the camera first. On the back of the glass there are two pins on the metal camera frame.

Align them to the camera first, in order to avoid to get a ‘bulge’ visible on the glass or on the back of the iPad.

+1 to Luca’s comment. This deserves a RED NOTE for reassembly. I probably just destroyed my new wifi antenna due to not having a reassembly call out for alignment of the screen. Had to pry things back apart and wifi antenna looks like it may have bit the dust. So this is a VERY important bit to know for a first timer.

When reinstalling the front panel check the home button’s ribbon cable doesn’t get trapped. If it gets folded back on itself, the cable will break and you’ll have a reassembled iPad with a non-functioning home button.