How to Replace JUST the iPhone 5 screen, not the whole LCD

I just recently attempted to replace just the glass on my iPhone 5. I got all the tools pretty cheap, along with adhesive remover. New front glass was only $1.99 on eBay. The task is fairly simple until removing the broken glass from the LCD screen. The LCD is very fragile and finally it cracked halfway thru the process. No warning at all. Everyone I know that has attempted it has failed. Replacing it as a whole unit may cost more but it is very easily done with a high success rate.

melissa, "The front glass, digitizer, and LCD are all one component, thereby increasing cost of repair." from here. So that means you will have to replace the whole front assembly. The guide for that is right here. This is of course not to say that some people haven't done it. Check on here as well as here for some approach. Just be warned that the success rate for this is very low, and the risk of destroying the LCD in the process is high. No, you can not get the glue in a regular store. I believe the glue used is of the LOCA variety. Hope this helps, good luck.

I have started to have more luck with this repair. I have had a couple successful attempts. The most difficult part of this type of repair is definitely the glass removal. I have found that two things are very important to get right:

1. Heating and Maintaining the amount of heat applied. This means keeping the entire thing between 160-170 degrees F. If it starts to cool the glue will become to thick to work with and the screen will break.
2. Starting point. It is absolutely critical to get the wire flush and pressed against the glass. Otherwise it will cut the digitizer, polarizer or something.

The glue will get cut fast if you do this, but the corners of the screen on the top have been super glued or something. You have to keep it heated and be patient to cut this. If you mess it up the (+) or (-) things whatever they are will get totally messed up and it's dead in the water.

Liquid glue is a nightmare. It can get inside the LCD, between the LCD and backlight and it shows. It is a lot easier to use the OCA Film.

If there were any good advice at all... anywhere on this repair, it is this: JUST BUY the assembly, even if it's just the top glass that's broken. You are going to save yourself a TON of grief and aggravation in the long run. I tried to replace just the top glass, I got the special glue and all the stuff you need. I even worked on it in a static & dust free environment (My day job requires this type of environment) and even with all that and the 15 years experience (3 in the US Army) in the IT field that I have... it was a disaster !! It is so, so, so much easier just to put up the cash to get the complete digitizer/LCD assembly and just replace it. That's what I ended up having to do in the end anyhow, even after all the frustration of going through the aforementioned process. I don't know about you, but my time = $$$ and I wish I would have just done a complete replacement of the digitizer/LCD assembly. It took me 15 minutes TOPS to take the assembly out and then simply replace it. Now I know...

You can get the original Touch Panel Glass on line, which is cheaper than regular store. But I don't suggest you to replace the touch glass only. It is a very hard task.