Google Pixel Midframe Replacement

It’s EXTREMELY easy to crack the screen. Just buy a new display module before fixing it. The old screen will be disposable.

If you haven’t purchased this kit yet then stop right here. The difficulty, as stated, is very difficult. This was my first attempted repair. I spent a good hour heating the adhesive and felt good about getting the display off. I even paused to boot the phone to make sure I didn’t damage the screen before flipping it over - it worked fine still! Then I went to pull the display from the top using the picks. Shattered the corner of the screen. $129 for a new screen. At this point, the Pixel 3 is $499. I bought a new phone. Just be prepared to break the screen. Many people mention it in the comments. I felt confident I could do it. I couldn’t.

My tip: Place a hot-water bottle on the screen for 2 minutes. Use the suction handle to lift one edge and insert an opening pick. Use an opening tool to cut through the adhesive at the bottom and place another opening pick in the second corner. Place the hot-water bottle on the phone again and wait 2 minutes. Cut through the sides with the opening tool (if you are focused it's nearly impossible to put this tool in too deep) and do the same on the top of the phone as on the bottom. I was afraid of the high difficulty, but it only took me 15 minutes to remove the screen with no problems. Medium difficulty.

I didn’t crack the screen, but somehow the thing wouldn’t power on after. Not sure if it was heat, or if I borked the cable somehow. New screen went in and it works great.

Tip, use a gallon ziplock bag with some hot water (maybe 150 degrees). Place the phone on a towel and fold the towel over and shield the part you aren’t working on, then use the bag for ~30s to apply and re-apply heat as needed. I first heated up the entire phone and ended up separating the screen from the glass (thus breaking the screen). The second time I did it, I just heated up one section at a time and I succeeded in removing the screen without breaking it.

Couldn’t get it open with anything, including dunking it (wrapped in a ziplock) in freshly boiled water for from 2 to 20 minutes. But then I managed to get it with only minor discolorations along top and bottom edges (which are noticeable when the screen is off or on dark backgrounds).

What did the trick was setting the heat gun to 100°C and heating it really up close for 2 minutes. 60°C didn’t do squat, but 80-90°C would probably work better, without damaging the screen.

With that done, the glass required a little bit of force to lift up, force of gravity on the rest of the phone wasn’t enough.

I attempted this with an iOpener and gave up as it didn’t seem to heat it enough to lift the edge of the screen.

I remembered I had a heat gun at that point (duh, should’ve been what I started with). I had the gun at 350 initially and moved it around relatively quickly. But, discovered that if I lingered a little it discolored the screen (tested and the screen still works where it’s discolored, but it’s slightly off-color at one corner). I ended up using 200 deg (F) instead and moved more slowly. I put slight pressure on with the suction cup while heating the edges and finally got a corner up. Plopped a pick in there and used another pick to slowly cut along that edge while heating where cutting. I kept a pick plopped in each corner as I went. Once I got most of the screen free I grabbed the edges of the screen to keep upward pressure from the glue and heated any places that were still stuck with the heat gun and cut the last strands with another pick.

TL;DR - The iOpener doesn’t seem sufficient for this job.

I was super careful based on all the comments to not even get close to touching the back of the screen. But when reassembled I get nothing but a vibration when turning the phone on.

I used the suction cup, lotsa heat, started from the top and pried screen off towards the bottom just barely teasing the edges with a special pick that I had from previous battery replacements (special pick limits penetration). It seemed to come off unscathed. But the results say otherwise.

Woof, like others have said, it’s incredibly easy to ruin the screen in this process. Kind of impossible to tell if you’re getting the adhesive or the screen with your tools.

Definitely have a replacement if you really want to have a working phone after this step.

I agree with what other have stated. I tried both the iOpener and a hair dryer but was never able to get the suction cup to pull the glass up at all. I saw other instructions that use a “Thin Metal Pry Tool” to get under the glass. I improvised with some very thin metal I found from some parts I have available and that is able to get under even without heating. You don’t use the metal to pry open at all, just to get under the glass enough to get some thin cards under to remove the seal. The picks are too thick for any of these steps it seems. Just sliding the picks under the glass as shown seemed to be enough bending that I saw some hairline cracks in the glass. But I also damaged the OLED in the process. So, as others have reported, I too ended up with a dead screen. Waiting for my new one to arrive soon.

I think it would be good to show more information about how you expect this step to work as it doesn’t seem to work as shown here. Or, look up some of the other resources online that work better.

I can’t see any way this can be done without screwing up the screen. I bought a replacement screen and then didn’t have to worry.

No surprise the number of comments in this section. My experience here is slightly different. I took extreme care in screen removal and in the end everything works great! HOWEVER!!! I have the blue Pixel 1 with a white screen. DESPITE using ALL PLASTIC tools I scratched the white off from the back of the phone glass. It’s very noticeable along the top and bottom edges but does impact how it functions. In hindsight I think I could be careful and patient enough to avoid this but I had NO CLUE this was something else to look out for. No on mentions this anywhere. I considered before re-assembly of taking a white paint pen or Sharpie to the glass in an attempt to “repair” but decided that might do more harm than good.

I didn’t apply enough heat during this process and subsequently separated the digitizer from the glass, instead of the whole assembly from the case. I had 3/4 of the screen free from the case when I became impatient and just tried to muscle my way through the rest of the adhesive. It is important to stop and apply more heat during this process any time it starts feeling difficult to move the pick through the adhesive, otherwise you risk breaking the screen and having to get a whole new one.

I got the glass off without cracking anything, but now that it’s back together it doesn’t seem to work. Could it have been damaged from the heat? It flickers green for an instant when plugging in to power or pressing the power button.

Any recommendations on adhesive when reinstalling? I see there is a pre-made adhesive for sale here for $5.99. Don’t know if 3m double-sided tape would work just as well, or what thickness to use. Any tips would be much appreciated.

Hey Phillip! I’d go with the pre-made adhesive to save yourself the headache of measurement, cutting, and having a whole roll of 3M tape you might not need. It would definitely work if that’s what you prefer though!

Here’s a guide for applying the pre-made adhesive that you can follow, or just curb from if you use the 3M tape! Google Pixel Display Adhesive Installation

Gut bewährt hat sich eine Heißluftpistole mit Temperaturvorwahl - möglichst mit optional aufgesteckter Flachdüse. Bei 120-140 Grad Celsius kann man die Wärme zielgerichtet und dosiert auf den zu lösenden Teil des Displays ausrichten. Nach Ansetzen des Saughebers solange erwärmen, bis sich der benötigte Spalt für das Plektrum zeigt, und danach den Displayrand weiter zonenweise vorsichtig erwärmen, bis sich das Display ohne Druck und damit ohne Bruchgefahr abnehmen lässt.

I accidentally severed the ribbon cable for the power and volume button setup during this step. It’s located by the top right clip. It might be worth your while to order power button board when you buy the replacement battery — the boards are like, $9 new.

The wording was very confusing for me, but you don’t push on the black part on the inside of the frame, you put a pick or a jimmy in the gap between the midframe and outer case and lever it up.

I don’t understand how to release the 5 insert . And I don’t want to destroy my pixel …

I found the iFixit opening tool (I think that’s what it’s called) WAY easier for doing this. It’s the blue tool that looks like it has two pry bars. I used the pick to pry the frame up slightly and then put the opening tool in with the pry part facing towards the outer frame. Like you were trying to pry the outer frame out. This puts pressure on the side of the mid-frame which very easily popped the clip free.

I had more success separating the midframe from the body by prying the midframe and body apart, rather than applying inward pressure.