iPhone 8 Battery Disconnection

I already replaced my iPhone 8 battery with one from iFixit and honestly I wasn't impressed. It worked well for a few months, but then I started noticing the peak performance capability dropping significantly thereafter. I followed the initial charging instructions to a tee and only let it drop below 20% once a month. Normal everyday use for me... no intense apps like games, etc. I considered having Apple do it this time around, but for these older models they don't keep the batteries in-stock and you have to give them your phone for up to a week. So in the end, I opted to try another battery from iFixit instead. Hopefully this one will last longer.

How with the gigantic kit do I not have a 3 1/2 pentalobe driver the very first screwdriver I reach for and that I need is not in any of these kits. What’s up with that?

Same problem. The kit comes with a screw driver, but not for this pentalobe screw. This is a problem.

I had to search what screwdriver bit I had to use from the ifixit toolkit; it's the P2 bit. (Maybe it's more obvious if you bought the battery kit, because it only has one type of pentalobe screwdriver.)

I laid my phone face-down on my 3D printer’s heated bed, and set the temperature to 60 C. After a few minutes, it was ready to loosen.

If you don’t have an “iOpener” or heat gun, try using an electric heating pad. I have a small $11 pad I got at CVS for my knee. On medium heat it worked fine for removal and with the “pennies” for setting the new seal.

I used a heated tea kettle and a tea towel, it worked!

I put on the furnace vent for 10 minutes to get it warm to the touch but not hot.

I attached it to the after burner of my rocket ship and that worked.

I'm holding mine just above an erupting volcano but I'm still waiting to see if it has worked. How long does it need?

I used a water-filled ziploc bag, heated it in microwave. fast, cheap, worked.

The most effective way to heat up the glue is to leave the phone in full sun - if it's available. In fact I would always wait for a sunny day to repair any glued together Apple device. The heat will be very even and the phone was probably designed to survive anything the sun can throw at it - although it can get very warm. (I'm in the UK) If you leave the phone turned on it will give a warning if it goes near the temperature limit.

I'm sorry but I tried both the hair dryer (for 3 minutes!) and the eye opener (also 3 minutes) and no luck. Not even a hint of loosening the adhesive holding down the display!! Do I send this kit back for a refund or what??!!

No luck, guys. 3 minutes of hair drying and 3 minutes heating up the iopener. What next?

Okay, a half hour later i finally got the screen loose, but not after super heating it for at leat 10 minutes with a hair drying and burning my hand trying to pry it open. Also, watch out for the power button because it inadvertently keeps switching the phone back on while you wrestle with it. More later . . .

. . . and now I need to buy a new phone!!! the cable broke as I was trying to unscrew one of the top screws, so thanks! I FIXed IT but Good!!!!

Nate B's advice was key. I couldn't get the temperature of the display hot enough to break the seal with a hair dryer. A heat gun set to low speed and 550F (287C) got the display up to just over 130F, close to the 60C Nate mentioned.

This part was actually much easier than I thought. I used a hair dryer on max for 2 minutes on each side of the phone, less than half an inch away from the phone, just on the bottom half. It was hot! Screen came right out!

I used a tube sock full of about 1 cup of white rice. Tied a knot in the top of the sock. Put the sock of rice in the microwave on 60% power for 1 minute. Kept doing this until the temp felt right. Put the sock of rice down, put bottom edge on sock, then covered w/ other half of the sock/rice. Put a piece of paper towel between phone and sock/rice to absorb any moisture. When lifting up on front panel, I rested the phone on the sock/rice. Worked nicely once I got the temp of the rice high enough.
(threw the rice away later :-) )

“Threw the rice away later” has to be the best advice here. I wrapped my phone in a small heating pad and turned it up to 6 of 8. Worked great in 5 min or less! No need for water bottles, microwaves, heat guns, volcanoes, …. I kept the heating pad later ; )

Get a suction cup pliers. It’ll make this part fun

iSclack EVO opened the iPhone easily even without heating with no fear of accidentally over-opening it like with a simple suction cup.

If you don't have the anti-clamp device, to prevent the screen from tearing open when suctioning it, I suggest some layers of tape around it and the back of the phone (the tape has to be stretchy enough to just minimise the momentum when separating the screen), or some big rubberbands

Be really careful here. I placed a sucker to the front and rear to help lever off the screen. However, the whole thing came away much easier than I anticipated and I ripped the front part completely away from the rear, tearing all three connector cables. New iPhone required.

Note that the opening pick they show here does not appear to come with the kit, which is a bummer! The plunger, the mini blue crowbar thing, these are too thick. I ended up using a really thin guitar pick.

Following careful methods can mostly preserve the seal and reusable. Won’t be as water tight but probably still pretty good.

Bottom edge is pull up with suction + separating tool. Use small precision scissor to cut any tape that gets overly stretched upon initial opening.

- For the 2 long edges, use an exacto knife to separate the seal from the screen. This keeps the tape on the chassis. Go slow along the long sides. Becareful to avoid scratching the paint on underside of the screen’s edge.

- Top corners have a thick sealed tape. Best to just use separating tool to twist it open.

In summary, top and bottom edge use separating tool. Side long edges can use exacto knife to gradually gently separate the seal from underside of the screen’s edge.

4 picks and an exacto knife, plus 45 minutes later, I finally got it to open! Thanks tor the tip!

Intact screen, check. Tool kit, check. Hair dryer hot enough to make the phone too hot to touch, check. Following all instructions, check. Screen still in place and refusing to come off, check.

I heated, reheated, pulled and pulled. I simply could not get it off. Worked at it for an hour and a half, and I’m not a small guy. Yes it is hard to hold, but could get a grip. Just could not get it to budge. Off to the iPhone repair shop tomorrow. Anybody want to buy a repair kit and replacement battery?

After struggling for 30m, I looked up some alternate methods and found this helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25zAK5mG...

- I used a utility knife and pried up right under the home button

- the angle matters! I was trying to go too far down before going in. The top surface of the phone is rather thin, so you go in after barely getting under the chassis lip

- tilt utility knife left to right once you’ve got it under to work it in

- leave the utility knife in, and now add that pick

Pro-tip: don't be an idiot like me. Instead, remove the screen protector you have on the phone before applying the suction cups. Derp.

I struggled with a hair dryer at first and a singular suction cup. However, I tried putting packing tape on the spot where I put the suction job (even though my screen isn't cracked) and I was able to do it first try with ease. Definitely recommend packing tape.

Suction cup pliers. Dead easy

After successful screen replacement, returning to give my thanks here. Excellent tips from you all - if you’re using force, you’re doing it wrong. Heat, very very gentle exact-o knife barely down then fully under the screen below the home button … perfect. Slow and patient around the upper corners, and don’t forget to heat there as well! Thank you all!

The problems with this step are (1) not having three hands and (2) managing to hold the phone in a way that doesn't put reverse pressure somewhere else on the screen. Exacto knife was the best tip. It's a little dangerous. On a misstep you may scratch the screen or jab yourself, but it's what got me in.

sorry, could not lift off the display any nano-meter even after applying enough force I think and heating it up. need to visit a store.

I used a razor blade and plenty of heat, and it somehow worked like a charm at the cost of me cutting myself. Definitely be careful when doing this, I used the razor blade on the left side of the iphone then wedged in a small screwdriver and then used the pick to cut the rest of the material away.

DO NOT LAY THE TWO HALVES FLAT!!! There is a reason why the third photo shows the screen half leaning against a box! This really needs to be a warning in addition to the one about not separating the display.

If you're skipping the screen and taptic engine removal like I did, I suggest you tape the back of the phone to the table, and also tape the screen to the vertical object it lays on, so it stays still. That way you will avoid having to constantly readjust it because of the sliding of the housing of the phone when you're working on it. Be careful where you're putting the tape on the screen though, if you're doing it on the internal components.

Takes a little pressure with the Philips head

Upon this step, I noticed I had no bracket or screws. I had my screen replaced previously and I’m disappointed to find out the repairperson made no effort to replace these parts. I’ll start trusting myself more to do my own repairs.

took me awhile to figure out I needed to use PHOO bit for the 2 -1.3 screws

It is important to keep careful track of the screws' position. Have a tidy workplace -- a few times when I tried to re-attach the very tiny screws with the tweezer, they slipped and flew away and I almost lost them.

can you strip the screws / how can you tell if its strip or not

I cannot get the new battery reconnected to the connection port. Any tips/tricks? New and old battery connections appear similar. It wasn't difficult to disconnect to old battery.

Some reports here seem to indicate that the battery must be the very last connector to re-connect because otherwise there might be malfunction in some display components?

It wasn't difficult to disconnect to old battery. But the most difficult part for me was to get the new battery reconnected to the connection port. I tried many times to carefully position and press it down with my fingertip or the flat end of the spudger but it did not hold its position. Maybe I pressed too weak because I was afraid breaking the connector and the mosfet above (?) it. But finally to my surprise it connected (at that point I temporarily booted the iPhone with the loose display to verify that the battery was connected). Whew, it succeeded!

The connectors have very little "click" to them when they do seat properly, and are covered with soft foam. Very challenging to attach them by feel, and having the screen propped up, blocks light from exactly where you need it.

Make sure the new battery connector cable has similar length and width to the one of the original battery. I got a third party battery and the cable was longer and not folded in a "U" way near the connector, like the one in the genuine battery was, only folded at a 90 degree angle. That "U" actually perfectly fits in the small space between battery and connector port, so the cable doesn't stick up thus making connecting it or closing the screen impossible. So fold the cable, connect it, and while holding it to prevent it from disconnecting, stick the battery so the "U" curve of the cable sits down just between battery and connector port.