Did you know that 87.8% of people feel uncomfortable leaving their phones at home? Given this kind of statistic, it’s little wonder that having a broken cell phone causes no end of stress, worry, and panic.
If you’re on a budget, you probably don’t want to visit a phone repair shop if you can do it yourself. You might also just want to “get by” until you’re eligible for an upgrade.
Read on to learn everything you need to know to do your own cell phone repair before visiting a cell phone repair shop. Whether you have an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone, we’ve covered everything you need to know about the top phone problems and also provided DIY phone repair solutions.
Ready to learn how to save time and money while repairing your phone?
Let’s get started!
Cell Phone Battery issues
As expensive as many smartphones are these days, they’re not diamonds. One of the most common issues you’ll have with a cell phone is battery problems.
Unfortunately, many smartphone manufacturers don’t make it easy to replace your phone battery. This is particularly true if you have an iPhone, in which case it can seem easier just to buy a replacement iPhone.
There are several ways to repair or try to salvage a broken phone battery. Here are the most common phone battery issues:
Top Phone Battery Problems
- Your phone battery is losing charge: If you’re having trouble with your phone battery losing charge, try lowering your screen’s brightness or disabling live screen wallpapers.
- The phone battery isn’t fully charging: Try switching charging cables to see if it’s your phone or the cable that’s broken. Also, keep your phone out of extremely hot or humid places.
- Your phone battery is bulging or swelling up: This is a common problem in older phones or any model with a removable battery. Try contacting your manufacturer for a warranty replacement or visiting a repair shop near you.
DIY Screen Repair Hacks For Your Cell Phone
Just like a low cell phone battery, a broken or cracked phone screen can be annoying and frustrating for you, especially if you use your cell phone as a mobile office computer. Dealing with shards of a broken phone screen means that you’ll be unable to fully see the app icons on your phone, much less use those apps to do anything productive.
If you have a cracked or broken cell phone screen, you can use any of the following tricks as you try to repair your cell phone.
Tips For Repairing Your Cell Phone Screen
- Cut a piece of packing tape and place the tape over the crack on your screen.
- Seal up small phone screen cracks with super glue and wipe up any excess glue with a cloth.
- If your touchscreen still works, try replacing your broken phone screen with a brand new phone screen.
- If your phone is still under the manufacturer’s warranty, you may be able to get a free device replacement from your phone’s manufacturer.
- Trade in your broken phone and use any money you get from the trade-in to buy a new cell phone.
Slow Cell Phone Performance
Another common cell phone repair issue we run into at ScreenWorks is slow cell phone performance. This means that your cell phone is sluggish or running very slowly. If you’re having this type of trouble, here are a few troubleshooting steps:
Troubleshooting Tips For Slow Phone Performance
- Check your network connection to make sure it’s not a problem with your internet connection.
- Restart your cell phone. Often, a power cycle can resolve many issues with cell phones.
- Clear out your phone’s storage space. If your cell phone has less than 10% of storage available, it can start having issues.
- Update your phone apps or phone operating system. Software updates are critical to making sure that your phone is working as the manufacturer intended.
- Consider visiting a cell phone repair shop in your area. If you’re unable to repair your mobile phone, a professional technician may be able to help you.
Overheating Cell Phone Issues
It’s normal for electrical devices like an iPhone or other mobile devices to have some level of heat. However, overheating phones can indicate that you need to get a replacement.
An overheated mobile phone can have issues with reduced performance, a shortened device lifespan, and constant battery draining. In extreme cases, overheated cell phones can even explode. This overheating problem occurred with the Samsung Galaxy S7 cell phones in 2016, when a defect caused Galaxy S7 devices to overheat and explode.
Luckily, the “overheat-and-explode” situations aren’t common, but it’s still worth noting the potential danger of a device that gets too hot.
Tips to cool down an overheated phone:
- Close apps that you’re not using at the moment. When you have multiple apps open at once, this causes your phone’s processor and RAM to work harder and strains your phone battery.
- Stop charging your phone while you’re using it. This is known as pass-through charging and can cause your phone to heat up tremendously.
- Give your phone some shade in sunny areas. Keeping your phone in an area with direct sunlight can obviously increase the temperature of your device.
- Turn your phone off occasionally. Turning off your phone for just 60 seconds can allow internal heat levels to decrease and give your phone a chance to cool down.
Not Enough Storage Space
If you’re having trouble keeping enough storage space on your phone, there are some easy tips you need to know. Since the exact methods for clearing out storage space can vary by device and model, we’ve included some common phone storage tips below.
How to clear storage space on a Samsung Galaxy phone:
- Delete unnecessary apps by selecting Settings, then Apps, then choosing the apps you want to uninstall.
- Delete files you don’t need by tapping Settings, choosing an app, and tapping or clicking on Clear Data or Clear Cache.
- Use Samsung Cloud to back up your device and save contacts, pictures, and files without taking up your device’s storage space.
How to clear storage space on an iPhone:
- Go to iPhone Storage under General in the Settings menu. The color-coded bar lets you review which apps are taking up your phone storage.
- Back up your iPhone to iCloud. You can free up your phone’s storage space by uploading contacts, photos, videos, and files on your iPhone to iCloud.
- Clear your browser cache. Whether you use Safari, Chrome, or another browser, you can visit Settings, find your browser and tap Clear History and Website Data.
- Delete attachments in iMessage. This includes memes, GIFs, videos, pictures, and files that you’ve sent to others via text messaging.
An App Keeps Crashing
Often, mobile phone owners confuse a device crash with an app crash. But, it’s pretty easy to tell the difference. When your phone crashes, your device will become unresponsive and you’ll likely have to turn your mobile phone off.
On the other hand, an app crash is when a particular app on your phone isn’t starting up or is crashing while you use it.
Common problems that are the result of an app crash are:
- An app suddenly disappears from your iPhone screen.
- Check for app updates by searching for the app in the App Store on your iPhone. Often, bugs can be fixed with a quick app update.
- Check app privacy permissions: Enabling the right permissions is especially important on iPhones since Apple has placed safeguards to ensure data privacy.
Bad Reception
“Are you there?” and “Can you hear me now?” are two phrases you never want to hear when you’re on an important phone call. Unfortunately, sometimes bad phone reception pops up out of nowhere on you. Often, fixing bad cell phone reception is as simple as going to another room in your house.
But there are some other causes of bad phone reception that can help you as you try to do your own high-quality cell phone repair.
Tips For Fixing A Weak Phone Signal
- Remove objects that interfere with cellular reception: Try removing unnecessary electronics, metals, or any devices that send out magnetic waves or electronic signals. These types of objects can block your cellular signal.
- Charge your cell phone battery: When your phone’s battery is low, it can often start having bad reception problems. This is because it’s trying to conserve battery life by using less power to search for a signal.
- Search for a cell tower near you: Enter your zip code on websites like OpenSignal and Cell Reception. These websites let you get information about the cell towers that are nearest to your area.
- Use Wi-Fi calling: Most cell phone carriers offer Wi-Fi calling, which lets you make phone calls using your internet connection. Go to your phone settings and search “wifi calling” to turn it on.
Bluetooth Trouble
Bluetooth troubles are the worst when you’re trying to listen to music on your new headphones or any other task that relies on Bluetooth. There are a number of reasons why you can have Bluetooth problems. Here are a few of them:
Common Bluetooth issues
- Bluetooth versions aren’t compatible: Although Bluetooth is a universal standard, pairing different devices can be hard since some devices can be older or only be pairable with Bluetooth Smart-enabled devices.
- Bluetooth devices are too far apart: Typically, devices need at least 30 feet with no obstructions between them. If you’re having trouble pairing your phone with your car or another Bluetooth device, try clearing out any obstacles and trying again.
- Not enough battery life: When phones have a low battery level, they often enter a power-saving mode to conserve the remaining battery life for as long as possible. Try hooking up your phone to a charger, then attempt to pair your device again.
- There’s outside interference: It’s common to run into interference from Wi-Fi networks in your home or office. However, you can also have Bluetooth interference problems from Wi-Fi networks or when you’re near mobile hotspot devices. Try moving away from these sources of interference and re-pairing your cell phone.
Charging Port Problems
Another common problem with phones, particularly old phones, is when the charging port no longer works correctly. If you’re struggling to get your Samsung Galaxy phone or iPhone to charge, here are some tips to try before you rush to get a replacement.
Tips To Fix Your Charging Port
Do a hard reset: Often, your phone’s software can cause issues that prevent your phone from recognizing the charging port. When you turn off your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone, then start it up again, you may be able to fix the issue.
Fix your charger cable: Try using your charger with a phone that you know is working right. Sometimes, all that’s broken is your charger – not your phone. Easy fix, right?
Unblock your charging port: If you’ve done a hard reset and made sure your charger is working right, try clearing any gunk or debris from your phone’s charging port. It’s surprising how often people come to us with this exact issue.
Need Some Help With Your Phone Repair? Call Screen Works!
If you’ve tried all of the DIY cell phone repair tips in this article and are still stuck, call Screen Works! Our technicians are cell phone repair pros and will get your phone fixed ASAP. We provide a mobile phone repair service where our phone repair techs come to your home or office and fix your phone, saving you a trip.
Save time driving with our mobile repair service
Our mobile repair service lets our helpful technicians come to your home or office and fix your device. This lets you avoid skipping hours of work or dropping everything to drive to a professional repair shop. When a ScreenWorks technician arrives at your home, you can expect professional, helpful service. We provide each technician with all of the tools they need to get your phone working like new or help you with the best cell phone repair in Fresno County.
Repair work that’s done by pros with years of training
For years, Screen Works technicians have used the best mobile phone repair tools to fix many different types of phones, including iPhones, various Samsung Galaxy phone versions, and other smartphone models. We put all of our technicians through extensive cell phone repair training so each technician does the best job possible for you.
If you’ve followed this cell phone repair guide and haven’t found a solution, contact Screen Works today!
You can also visit any one of our Screen Works phone repair shops to get prompt phone repair service at an affordable price. When it comes to cell phone repair, you can trust ScreenWorks to get your phone fixed or a phone screen replacement in your hands as fast as possible.