How to apply new adhesive on the Apple Watch Series 1

Step 1

Use a plastic opening tool to scrape adhesive off the back of the screen.

I had to do a lot of scraping with an exacto knife to remove the old adhesive from the crystal face. Plastic tool did not remove any.

David Elmore - 04/04/19

Step 2

You may be able to peel up the adhesive with tweezers.
Once you have all of the pieces of adhesive removed, you may want to use an alcohol soaked q-tip to clean any residue off the back of the screen.

Step 3

Use tweezers to peel the outer ring off of one of the adhesive strip pads.
Be sure to get both the double-sided adhesive and the brown backing paper.
If you're having trouble navigating the double-sided adhesive, check out this video.
Be very careful not to fold, bend, or stretch the adhesive tape, as this will make it too thick to seal the screen without a ridge between the screen and the case.

Where do I get the adhesive

Bret Moor - 08/03/17

It comes with the "Force Touch" parts kit, so you have to buy that to get the adhesive.

Christopher Bess - 27/03/17

It’s really hard to take the ring off! Any tips?

Emma Katherine - 05/02/19

Indeed, it was very difficult to peel off one side in particular, not the brown one, i hope that someone knows the correct technique

Sherko Zaza - 25/03/19

it is really immposible to take it off …. it is really $@$* … i lost 15€ (item 1 + shipping) … i thing that iFixit is able to make better solution like this cheap without any specific manual …. This manual is not too precise to understand how it works in real life

Peter CHOVAN - 09/04/19

I appreciate that this guide / company exists, but you basically have to be a surgeon to do all this without ruining your watch. The adhesive has been “updated” but is still a complete pain and there are no instructions for how to peel / apply the new style of adhesive. I wasted $50 and about two hours of my time.

Kristin - 14/04/19

Yep, I am stuck here also with no help from iFixit. I bought the force sensor gasket which seems to have its own adhesive. Also got the square pad with turquois plastic covering on on side and brown paper backing on the other. Series of.pictures does not match what I have. NO DIRECTIONS! Pictures shown here shows how to apply the pad but does not mention removing the paper backing. Contacted iFixit support and the tell me they can't help because the are not familiar with what they sell! This is crap!!

Daniel Devine - 25/06/19

Ok, I see they remove the brown backing at the very end when they replace the screen back on case, but I still see no way to peel off the turquoise plastic side of the adhesive pad. Ordering instruction for force sensor says it already contains adhesive. Later in help instruction it says you still need the adhesive pad even with force sensor. What gives?

Daniel Devine - 25/06/19

Brown paper shown in step 4 comes off more readily than the blue plastic that needs also to be removed before proceeding to step 4. I have tried unsuccessfully to get the blue layer to lift so I can place the sealing gasket down like pictured in step 4. Incidentally, I am replacing only the battery which swelled and popped the screen off. Removing the old adhesive was tedious but at least I had the screen already removed. I thought I could avoid removing the screen but I decided that would not be a simple task and would likely ruin the adhesive placement process so I “bit the bullet” and disconnected the screen so as to make adhesive placement easier. If I could only get that blue plastic layer to lift off so I could place that first adhesive side down properly! The handling of the adhesive is a missing step. It is straightforward to understand what needs to be done but doing it is a whole different level of difficulty.

James Lloyd - 21/07/19

I have read this over and over and I now think that it is instructing to peel only the brown layer and the adhesive layer off the strip pad leaving the blue layer attached to the pad. (That is what it says.) if this is the way to do it, then the graphic might be made more clear by making the outer ridge of the strip pad blue in color indicating that the plastic layer should be left with the pad. The current graphic shows a strip of blue on the outside ring that has been separated even thought the text clearly does not include it. (To be fair, the graphic does show a layer remaining but it is white and not the blue plastic that the pad I received has.) I took off all three layers and am having difficulty separating the plastic layer first. If this can be removed leaving the blue plastic affixed to the strip then the ring is immediately ready to be placed on the perimeter of the watch base as described in the next step. If I am unsuccessful in getting the blue plastic layer off the three layer adhesive ring I have created, I suspect I will be ordering a new adhesive strip to try the above method of removal.

James Lloyd - 22/07/19

Part 1: It is very stressful to remove the blue side of the adhesive strip edge from the actual sticky pad. After several attempts (with just the paper readily trying to come off every time), I used the middle square of adhesive. I removed the middle square and placed the sticky corner of that middle square on top of the blue skinny strip of the actual adhesive that was to go around and seal the watch. Using the needle nose tweezer tool to stick between the adhesive and blue as it started releasing, it finally lifted it off the sticky strip. You have to be EXTREMELY slow and careful as it can stretch the strip.

Deborah Schramm - 09/08/19

Part 2: Then the trickier part is removing the watch face from the base. Mine was attached much differently than the ones in the videos, so I left it on and had to put the strip OVER the face and then attempt to place it. Extremely hard but the only option I had at this point - the sticky strip was off and I was committed (and stubborn to win). I did stretch the strip just a tad in all the maneuvering , but I got it on and it worked! They need to place a removal tab sticking out, with maybe a very small piece of the paper under that spot with instructions on how to ‘‘pull there carefully”!

Deborah Schramm - 09/08/19

Since the new 3M adhesive is a transfer adhesive and not strictly a double-sided tape, I found it much easier to remove the brown backing tape first (which easily comes off) and then to place the adhesive together with the blue plastic onto the watch. Be careful to keep the small rectangle inside attached to the outer strip. Then you press firmly on the blue plastic with an opening tool and finally you can peel off the blue plastic with tweezers. If the adhesive is coming off, just apply more pressure with the opening tool and try again.

I also tried to peel off the brown backing paper together with the adhesive for at least one hour first, until I tried it the other way around.

Tobias Rettstadt - 05/09/20

Step 4

Lay the backed adhesive tape down on the Force Touch sensor, around the edge of the case where the screen rests.
Start in a corner with the tape as close to the corner wall as possible.
Press on the brown backing paper with a plastic opening tool to secure the adhesive around the entire perimeter.

Step 5

Use a plastic opening tool to reconnect the display data and digitizer cable connectors.
Be careful not to touch any of the contacts directly, as your finger oils may impede connectivity.

Step 6

To reinstall the metal bracket, line up the single tab with the slot in the top of the lower half, and slide the bracket down.
Snap the upper bracket in place.

How important is the reinstallation of the top of the bracket? I have everything else connected and have done the suggested sanity check at this stage by reconnecting the battery, and absolutely everything works fine touch screen and all, but before reconnecting the battery to do that, I have spent a few hours attempting to get the bracket back in place, and for whatever reason I can’t get it to snap together. I’m guessing either or both of the sides of the bracket have bent one way or the other and it’s so microscopically small that even with a magnifying glass and fine tweezers i’m unable to fix that. What would happen if I just left that bracket off? The bottom of the two connectors is adhered properly so they’re not moving about as far as I can see. I’m really tempted to reassemble from here, but I may be misunderstanding some crucial function of the bracket. Any thoughts appreciated. cheers, Ian

Ian McIntosh - 08/09/18

A few definitions would help. Is the slot in the top of the lower bracket on the end of the lower bracket where the connections are (have been) made? In the photo it would be the longer side next to where the tweezers are holding the upper bracket. (for reference, it is the same side from where the battery connector appears.) There is a latching tab on the longer left side of the upper bracket which needs to reach under the edge of the lower bracket, I presume. Then from the photos again, it appears that the upper bracket must be slid from the left shorter side to the right shorter side of the lower bracket. If this is the procedure I have worked for several hours and have yet to get a secure “snap in place” outcome. I cannot really explain why the “free” end of the upper bracket does not engage and snap onto the lower bracket. It just seems to lack that final secure latching.

James Lloyd - 23/07/19

I’m surprised at the small number of comments given how absolutely crazy this single step is. This is where I became convinced this product is not meant to be repaired by human beings. Both times I’ve done this, this it takes about an hour to get this bracket to make a clicking noise and be locked in place. I just did it for the second time and I can share what I think makes this a little easier. Bend that top bracket piece backward around the edge of something, like a table. You want to deform the part just a bit. This does two things: 1) ensures there’s a little more distance between the two sides, which are supposed to “grab” the edges of the lower part; 2) helps create a natural tension between the upper and lower part. Like I said, I’ve done this twice and I still have no idea what makes this part actually be together and I wonder how many people decide to just give up on the bracket and close the watch up as-is.

GeneralKire -

Just managed to do this in about 2 minutes. Here are my tips. First, lay the top half on a flat surface with the flat side facing down. Ensure that the bends are 90 degrees on each side of the bracket and that the middle part of the bracket is actually flat. I noticed that even with careful removal it’s very easy to bend this bracket a little. Just make sure it’s straight. Now, the technique of actually sliding it into place. Slide in the left side (without the tab) first. This should be done horizontally. Now for the harder part. First, ignore the tab itself, what you care about are the two clips that the tab separates. These two clips will snap on to the outside of the lower half. I took a few moments to make sure everything was properly aligned and then squeezed it together with a pair of tweezers. Best of luck!

Drew -

Step 7

Line the battery connector up with its mate on the cable inside the watch body.
Use tweezers to press the two connectors together.

Step 8

If your replacement battery came with pre-installed adhesive, peel off the protective tab now, exposing the adhesive.
Rotate the battery down into its slot, and press it into position.
Press the battery down against the S1 to re-adhere it in place.
Now is the best time to test powering on your watch—if it doesn't turn on, double check all three connectors and try again.

Plugged the new battery in and got the green wiggly snake screen. What does this indicate?

Scott Hennessy - 15/03/19

Step 9

Use tweezers to peel off the adhesive backing strip.
Peel the backing strip up halfway, then snip it with scissors so you can peel the rest off without it snagging on the display.

Step 10

Move the screen back to the right, folding the display data and digitizer cables neatly.
Center the screen over the case and press it down firmly onto the adhesive.
Alternatively, you can use screen vice clamps around the perimeter of your device to set the new adhesive.

Make sure your crown moves freely before place lid back on.

I placed my lid back on, but soon realized that my crown did not rotate freely. Perhaps I got some adhesive on it accidentally.

Vaughan - 10/11/17

Great repair guide! You iFixit guys are awesome. Took me about 2 hours but then I am very careful and I replaced the touch sensor and the battery at the same time since I had it open anyway. Make sure you have at least 2, and better 3 adhesive gaskets. You need 2 and, well, it’s easy to mess one up while trying to place it.

rbolling - 28/12/17

Since the screen popped off due to a swollen battery, I was able to skip many steps in taking it apart. The most challenging part was getting the battery contacts to mate with the case as I was putting in back together. Thank you for a fabulous resource!

Barbara Buckley - 21/09/18

Swollen battery? I think this may be the problem with the watch I am trying to fix. Seems the screen came loose and popped open. Going to try to replace the adhesive, but..what causes the battery to swell? It is charging fine on the charger but the owner noticed she couldn’t get the heart monitor to work any longer (Maybe the haptic/touch force not working, waiting to test)..wow glad I found this website and thread!

queenmarylady - 18/11/18

When I removed the old adhesive, there were to small tabs that extended into the watch batter case. No mention of these tabs, which are shaped like small T’s, anywhere in the repair manual for the Series 1 (original). I’ve just finished my repair (battery replacement and new seal, and have set the watch on the charger. I’m concerned that those two tabs, which I removed with the old adhesive seal, may have been important elements in the watch either for breaking some electrical connection, or making a “tamper proof” type of switch if broken or removed.

When I put the watch on my charger, it did not light up indicating it was being charged. SO, iFixit, you should better document the Series 1 removal of the adhesive seal to address those small “T’ shape extensions into the watch case!

Robert Grandmaison - 08/03/19

Update: I think this was a failed purchase for the replacement battery and adhesive seal. After placing the finished repaired watch with the iFixit battery on my charger, the watchface seemed VERY warm to me, and soon became almost too hot to even touch.

Shortly thereafter, the charging symbol was replaced by a red thermostat symbol. Now when I put it on my charger, it’s blank and I get nothing from it in the way of a display. So, buyers beware! iFixit, your product and directions have disappointed me!

Robert Grandmaison - 08/03/19

not sure if it was change or i was sent the wrong one but my tape (blue color) was a “single” side adhesive tape not double. Not sure what’s up with that, i scratched and scraped the inner part of the tape to make sure it was single and indeed no other protective film came up. Disappointment level = disappointed

Marvin St John - 29/10/19

My display just fell off after a week without even using the watch. Is there an adhesive problem?

Razvan Ardeleanu - 14/09/20

I followed directions meticulously replacing battery and touch sensor, but once reconnected I put watch on charger, and all I get is the lighted Apple logo going on and off every few seconds. Watch will not log on. I double checked all connections and they seem good. Any suggestions?

Al Hartgraves -

I didn't really have an issue getting the adhesive on and screen back down. It looks brand new. My screen was not the issue - battery swelled and popped the screen off. I put in new battery and new adhesive strip. After getting all back together it looks perfect. It charges up, but all the text is red and no touch interaction does anything. anyone know what is wrong?

eric cole -

How to apply new adhesive on the Apple Watch Series 1

Introduction

Tools

Parts