Like a moron, I dropped my not even year old iPad about two and a half feet onto a hard floor. There is now a very tiny semicircular crack or chip in the very edge, nowhere near the screen. It begins and ends at the edge, and the arc looks a little ragged.
Is it something I can dismiss as cosmetic and static, or is it something that could get bigger with heat or handling, and thus something I should get fixed at one of those mall kiosks?
Related rant: this never would’ve happened had my official Apple iPad cover enveloped the whole thing like it used to with previous generations, instead of just the screen. I know there are reasons, good reasons, but I’ve already put two dents in this thing in 8 months, and nobody’s perfect, right? I might just go to Fry’s and buy a second party one that protects the whole thing because of this.
Not an expert in the least, but I can provide anecdata: my ~6-year-old iPad mini has fallen on hard floors several times and I’m pretty sure it has at least one spot similar to what you describe, and it still works fine. I wouldn’t sweat it. I even gave it a full (but brief) soaking in the toilet once (I know, I know) and no apparent problems. Obviously I’ve been rather lucky.
I suspect it’ll be fine. I have an iPad that has a somewhat bigger crack (about 2"on the bottom left corner of my screen.) One of the kids had dropped it about a year and a half ago. It’s not in a particularly annoying place, and it hasn’t really spread so far as I can tell. So it’s just a matter of how much it bugs you.
My iPad has dents, cracks and chips and teeth marks. 4yo. It works. It bugs the hell outta me. What you gonna do? I’d fix it but I would just rebrand it, within days. OTOH, my reader is perfect, not even a scratch, 5yo.
It probably won’t get worse on it’s own, but it can spread if the screen is stressed. So you probably want to be a bit more gentle with it. It’s more a problem for phones since those are often in pockets where they may experience some bending forces. That will cause cracks to get bigger. You don’t have to get it fixed if it doesn’t bother you. The worse thing likely is that the cracks get bigger, and you can get it fixed at that time.
It might be worth getting a screen protector on it. It will help protect against future damage and should protect your fingers against scratches and splinters from the existing damage if it should spread (I have managed to do that).
So if it’s nowhere near the screen, you cracked the case, not the screen, right? Ignore it. It won’t affect functionality. You might to tape it over to prevent the crack from spreading, but even so, it won’t affect how it works.
My iPad was dropped in the first year I had it, and the screen has cracks in one corner. I just taped over it to keep glass from falling out and it still works fine. It’s off in the upper left corner so rarely used but I can still tap/swipe there if I have to.
Sorry, no, I was mistaken. I thought the “screen” was just the touch surface part, but it’s in the corner of the full face of the iPad. It’s just on a corner where it’s nowhere near the visual display part.
About 2002 I had to carry a pager on my belt as a part of my job. One day I had an urgent need to spend quality time on the porcelain throne in the men’s room, and did so.
As I stood up the pager’s weight pulled my belt out of the forward loop of my trousers, and you know exactly where the device ended up. The bowl had not been flushed yet, just to let you know.
I always kept one quart zip-lock bags in my office, so that was a partial solution. Unwound a wire clothes hanger, retrieved the device, deposited it in the bag, zipped it shut, then flushed.
The administrative assistant wanted very much too much information about why I was requesting a replacement pager and the reason I recommended she not take it out of the bag.
(I’m still glad it didn’t have a more modern battery. Like lithium-ion.)
I woulda just fished it outta there with my bare hands, given it a shake, a good wipe off with some paper towels, and then maybe some Windex when I had a chance. It ain’t some sort of flesh-eating acid there, just a little bit of piss. Or piss and shit. Whatevs. Maybe you have to have kids to just not care about that kind of stuff.
I cracked the screen of my iPhone X. Just one crack along the top portion. I happened to see that Batteries Plus replaces screens without you having to send your phone away and be without it for a week+. So I called - the guy said it would run about $600-$700!!!:eek: I told him I’ll live with the cracked screen.
That happened to mine but probably worse than yours. I taped over with some clear packing tape and it’s worked fine like that for years. I’ll post a pic if I get a chance.
Holy cripes! My kid busted my iPhone SE screen and it was only $50 to fix at the shop down the street. And an old iPad Air I managed to fix by myself for $20. The newer the tech, the much more expensive the repair!
That said, looking online, it seems the iPhone X is the only one that is that much of a bitch to repair. You can get everything up through the 8 Plus fixed for $125 and under here. I can’t find a place that does it locally to compare with Apple’s $279 glass replacement repair price. (If you have a local Apple store, you can bring it in for repair, but I don’t know how long it takes with that particular model. I know they’ll do repairs while you wait, though.)