iPhone repair
Screen, battery, camera, charging port, liquid damage and back glass.
iPhone · 2017
Repairing an iPhone X in Barcelona: phantom touch and Face ID
This is the model that introduced Face ID, and also the one that shipped with a display fault Apple ended up acknowledging in writing.
4,6 out of 5 · 138 reviews on GoogleDocumented design fault
Apple opened a programme over touch, not over glass
In November 2018 Apple published a display module replacement programme for the iPhone X. The symptom it described is not cracked glass: the display, or part of it, does not respond to touch, responds intermittently, or reacts when nobody is touching it.
That programme ran for three years from first retail sale and is now closed, so no iPhone X qualifies through it any more. What is still useful is the diagnosis: if your unit does exactly that, the problem is in the display module and not in software, and there is no point spending an afternoon restoring the phone.
The other side of the iPhone X is Face ID. The TrueDepth camera is paired with the logic board, so there is no such repair as “replacing Face ID”: if the original module is damaged, it cannot be swapped for another. What often can be repaired is its wiring and its connectors, and that has to be looked at under a microscope before anything is written off.
Where all this comes from
What we see most on this model
The screen taps by itself
It opens apps, types stray letters or the keyboard goes haywire without you touching it. That is the exact symptom Apple described in its 2018 programme.
A side strip that will not respond
One band of the display ignores your finger while the rest behaves. It usually points at the same module, not at invisible cracked glass.
Face ID that will no longer set up
The phone reports that Face ID is unavailable. Before writing the module off we check the wiring and the connectors involved under the microscope.
Before you bring it in
Rule out software first
A force restart and an update rule out half the scares in ten minutes. If touch still misbehaves, the fault is physical and we already know where to start.
Face ID and the display are two different things
An iPhone X screen can be replaced with Face ID intact, because the TrueDepth camera sits in its own module and moves across. What cannot be done is fitting a different one.
The service this belongs to
This page digs into one specific model. If you want the full picture of what we do with this family of devices, start here:
Similar models with their own page
Frequently asked questions
Can I still use Apple’s programme?
No: that programme ran for three years from the unit’s first retail sale and is now closed. The repair is still possible outside it, and the initial diagnosis at the workshop is free.
Can Face ID be repaired on an iPhone X?
Sometimes yes, when what has failed is the wiring, a connector or a board trace. What does not exist is swapping the module for another: it is paired with your board from the factory and a foreign one would not work.
Does restoring the phone fix phantom touch?
Almost never. A force restart and an update are worth trying, but if the symptom matches the one Apple described, the cause is in the display module and no restore will change that.
Shall we take a look?
Tell us what’s wrong and we’ll tell you what it is, what it costs and how long it takes. No obligation, and the initial diagnosis is free.
4,6 out of 5 · 138 reviews on GoogleCarrer de Fontanella, 14, bajos · 08010 Barcelona — or drop by Fontanella 14, next to Plaça Catalunya