How To Fix A Cracked Screen

Okay, so your smartphone screens look like it had a headbanging competition with a wrecking ball. What happened? There’s a gazillion way to smash your screen. From dropping it gently onto the pavement, to receiving an, uh, upsetting text message, we won’t ask how you broke your cell phone.

It looks like you’ve found yourself in a financial pickle. But before you finish off your smartphone in the garbage disposal, check out these DIY phone hacks. Your shattered phone screen might be salvageable after all. You never know — you might suddenly discover a passion for electrical DIY!

Is it a scratch or a crack? Getting it repaired will depend greatly on how much damage you’ve inflicted on your cell screen. If it’s a case of the scratches, take a sigh of relief. These are pretty easy to fix yourself. It’s also super cheap.

Here's how to fix a scratched cell phone screen yourself.

Toothpaste
Yes, toothpaste! Toothpaste can repair screen scratches! From a rogue kitty to your car keys twerking on your cell phone, scratches can make your brand new iPhone 6 look pretty miserable. Dab some toothpaste on a Q-Tip and rub the scratch away in small semi-circles. It’s that easy!

Put a tiny bit of toothpaste on a cotton bud and rub it on the scratch, making sure it doesn’t find its way into headphone sockets, buttons or other vulnerable parts of your device. It will make your phone minty fresh, although it won’t restore it to mint condition.

This method can fix a small scratch, or at least hide it. Put a tiny bit of toothpaste on a cotton bud and rub it on the scratch, making sure it doesn’t find its way into headphone sockets, buttons or other vulnerable parts of your device. It will make your phone minty fresh, although it won’t restore it to mint condition.

Baking Soda
A folk remedy circulating online suggests a paste made from two parts baking soda to one part water can fix screens. Just make a thick paste and then use a cloth to rub it in. This should cover up the problem for a while.

Is there anything baking soda can’t do? Well, yes, rather a lot. But for the most part, it’s always handy to have a tub of baking soda around the house. Turns out that it can also be used to remedy a scratched phone screen.

- Mix two parts baking soda, one part water
- Stir to form a thick paste
- Apply to a dry cloth and gently wipe the scratch in slow circles until it disappears

Vegetable Oil
For the smallest of scratches, vegetable oil is a cheap and easy cosmetic fix! Like the other solutions, apply a small amount to a dry cloth and wipe it away! Be careful with how much you use. Some smartphones have something called an oleophobic coat. What? Although it sounds like something bizarre, like a fear of elephants, it’s actually a new type of finish for advanced smartphones. In essence, it’s an oil-free metal which will banish fingerprints from your smartphone screen. Excellent! Unless you have a brand new smartphone and decide to clean it with oil - bad idea! If you have an iPhone 6, or something released around the same time, avoid cleaning substances altogether. They won’t help you out and could make your mess a lot worse. Try a clean soft rag to clear your oleophobic screen.

Again, this will hide the problem but won’t entirely fix it. Just rub a dab of oil on to the scratch to hide it. But beware: the oil will rub off and will need to be reapplied.

Plastic Bag
If your phone screen shatters, you can stop it getting worse by buying a screen protector. But what if your finances are as broken as your mobile? Just wrap a thin, transparent plastic bag around the mobile and it should temporarily stop the problem getting any worse.

Sandpaper
This is a method that is not for the faint-hearted. If a small mark appears on your phone, you can try to sand it down with paper or even use a grinding machine. But don't sand too enthusiastically because you might not have a screen left.