Your iPhone is on, but the screen is black. Your iPhone rings, but you can’t answer the call. You’ve tried resetting your iPhone, letting it run out of battery and plugging it back in, and your iPhone screen is still black. In this article, I’ll explain why your iPhone screen went black and what you can do to fix it.
Why Is My iPhone Screen Black?
A black screen is usually caused by a hardware problem with your iPhone, so there usually isn’t a quick fix. That being said, a software crash can cause your iPhone display to freeze and turn black, so let’s try a hard reset to see if that’s what’s going on.
To do a hard reset, press and hold the power button (also known as the Sleep / Wake button) and the Home button (the circular button below the display) together for at least 10 seconds.
On the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, you perform a hard reset by pressing and holding the volume down button and the power button at the same time until the you see the Apple logo appear on the screen.
And if you have an iPhone 8 or newer, perform a hard reset by quickly pressing and releasing the volume up button, then quickly pressing and releasing the volume down button, and then pressing and holding the power button (iPhone 8) or the side button (iPhone X or newer) until that Apple logo appears.
If the Apple logo appears on the screen, there probably isn’t a problem with your iPhone’s hardware — it was a software crash. Check out my other article on frozen iPhones, which will tell you exactly what to do to fix your iPhone. If the Apple logo doesn’t appear on the screen, keep reading.
Let’s Take A Look Inside Your iPhone
iPhone Logic Board
A brief tour of the inside of your iPhone will help you understand why your screen is black. There are two pieces of hardware that we’ll talk about: Your iPhone’s display and the logic board.
The logic board is the brains behind the operation of your iPhone, and every part of your iPhone connects to it. The display shows you the images you see, but the logic board tells it what to display.
Removing iPhone Display
The entire display of your iPhone is removable, but it’s a lot more complicated than you might think! There are four major components built into your iPhone’s display:
- The LCD screen, which displays the images you see on your iPhone.
- The digitizer, which is the part of the display that processes touch. It digitizes your finger, which means it turns the touch of your finger into a digital language your iPhone can understand.
- The front-facing camera.
- The Home button.
Each component of your iPhone’s display has a separate connector that plugs into your iPhone’s logic board. That’s why you might be able to swipe across the screen with your finger, even though the screen is black. The digitizer is working, but the LCD is not.
The black stick is touching the display data connector
In many cases, your iPhone screen is black because the cable that connects the LCD to the logic board has become dislodged. This cable is called the display data connector. When the display data connector becomes dislodged from the logic board, your iPhone can be fixed by plugging it back in.
There are other cases where the fix isn’t so simple, and that’s when the LCD itself is damaged. When that happens, it doesn’t matter if the LCD is connected to the logic board or not — it’s broken and it needs to be replaced.
How Do I Know Whether My Display Is Dislodged Or Broken?
I’m hesitant to write this because it is by no means a hard and fast rule, but I have noticed a pattern in my experience working with iPhones. There are no guarantees, but my rule of thumb is this:
- If your iPhone display stopped working after you dropped it, your screen is probably black because the LCDÂ cable (display data connector) has become dislodged from the logic board.
- If your iPhone display stopped working after it got wet, your screen is probably black because the LCD is broken and needs to be replaced.
How To Fix A Black iPhone Screen
The way you choose to proceed may depend on whether your iPhone LCD cable has become dislodged from the logic board or if the LCD is broken. You can use my rule from above to make an educated guess.
If the LCD cable has become dislodged, the Genius Bar at an Apple Store may repair it free of charge, even if your iPhone is out of warranty. That’s because the fix is relatively simple: They’ll open your iPhone and reconnect the digitizer cable to the logic board. If you decide to go this route, make an appointment with the Genius Bar before you arrive — otherwise, you could end up standing around for a while.
If the LCD is broken, that’s another story. It can be very expensive to repair your iPhone display, especially if you go through Apple. If you’re looking for a high-quality, less-expensive alternative, IÂ recommend Puls, an in-person repair service that will come to you, fix your iPhone on the spot, and give you a lifetime warranty.
If you’d rather get a new iPhone than have your current one repaired, check out the UpPhone phone comparison tool. You can compare the prices of every smartphone on every wireless carrier. Carriers are eager to have you switch to their network, so you may find that you can get a new iPhone for roughly the same cost as repairing your current one.
Repairing Your iPhone Yourself Usually Isn’t A Good Idea
Star-shaped (pentalobe) screws keep your iPhone closed
iPhones aren’t meant to be opened by the user. Just take a look at the two screws next to the charging port of your iPhone — they’re star-shaped! That being said, there are excellent repair guides out there if you’re feeling adventurous. I took the images in this article from a repair guide on iFixit.com called iPhone 6 Front Panel Assembly Replacement. Here’s a brief excerpt of that article that may sound familiar:
“When reassembling your phone, the display data cable may pop off its connector. This can result in white lines or a blank screen when powering your phone back on. If that happens, simply reconnect the cable and power cycle your phone.” Source: iFixit.com
If you believe your iPhone LCD cable (display data cable) has simply become dislodged from the logic board, you’re very tech-savvy, and going to an Apple Store isn’t an option, reconnecting the display data cable to the logic board isn’t that difficult, if you have the right tools.
Replacing the display is very complex because of the number of components involved. Let me be clear: I do not recommend you try to fix this problem yourself, because it’s just too easy to break something and “brick” your iPhone.
You Know What You Have To Do
Most readers won’t be able to fix their iPhone screen just by reading this article, because a black iPhone screen usually isn’t caused by a software issue. Everything was working fine until your iPhone screen went black. Now you can’t use your iPhone at all, but you do know what to do next. I’m interested to hear how you fixed your iPhone in the comments section below, and any experience you can offer will undoubtedly help other readers with the same problem.
Thanks for reading and all the best,
David P.
All iPhone images in this article by Walter Galan and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.
What a relief! Thaaaaaank you so much. SML
Good share.
Thank you for this post. Fortunately, my iphone had a software crash so the first tip worked for my iphone
oh my goodness gracious this saved my life!!! OOF
Just repaired the phone myself; the LCD cable came undone (even though they looked perfectly fine and in place). I just unclipped everything (lcd cables) and slotted them back in place- then reset my phone. All is grand now
My iphone dropped but good enough continued to recieve calls using earphones while the screen is black
THANK YOU! I was looking everywhere for reasons why my iphone 7 went black and I kept trying and trying to hard reset; but, I wasn’t aware that you reset an iphone 7 differently than other iphones! The hard reset fixed my phone. Thanks!!!
Thanks for this useful article. I replaced my screen with another one. The phone fall from me, and the screen is fluctating, sometimes it is working, and sometimes it is black. If I keep pressing the sleep button, on and off, the screen is back.
Any idea whether the screen is bad one, or the fall caused this?
OMG THANKS I WAS GETTING A LITTLE WORRIED THERE
my iphone went black and I just followed what you said here..press home and sleep/wake buttons at the same time..and it worked…thanks
Its works. Thank you
thank you it really works ey was stressed
Thank you! I’ve spent a very stressful day worrying that I’d ruined my 7 month old phone. All restored. Phew.
I did the hard re set and it worked! Thank you! However, I have a 5C and it is going on 4 years old. I think it’s telling me it’s time to upgrade.
i was using phone and my phone was on charging at the same time but it went black suddenly and then won,t switch on while using home and sleep button together….iphone 6
please tell me
my 7 has slipped under the seat, and has had a couple of small falls but had a case and was fine – no problems.
took it out of my coat pocket the other day, black. it was glowing slightly, making noises, and siri worked… now n o t h i n d e a d doesn’t seem to be charging
I fixed my blacked out screen thanks to your advice!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
i got myLCD fixed on my phone then it worked perfectly fine but it went black ten mins later. you can still hear all the notifications but i dont know the problem
My screen suddenly became black, without dropping my telephone. I tried out every single way to restart it and the result is the same – the apple is appearing and again turning to darkness. Sometimes is showing the screen right after the apple and darkness again follows… What is my problem then??
omg my iphone 7 blacked out but all the buttons were working this saved my life 100% the best and most useful thing ive found on google for a while
thanks a lot for the instructions regarding to iphone 7 plus.
I thought I have to replace my screen since I was quite sure that the screen was burnt.
Hey Bro Love You I was Shocked But Your
Article Make My Day Thankyou So Much 🙂
You are so genies !
I have several IPhones come across my desk with the screen of death (Black Screen ) The first thing I do is check to see if there are any cracks and if no cracks then I open them up to see if any connections are off. 90 % of the time I find neither so I then put a test screen on and if there is still nothing then I change the battery.In some cases the battery needs changed and the screen comes on but for a shot time only. So I ask why is this. I’m sure it is… Read more »
I didn’t fix it. I didn’t drop it nor was my phone wet. It just came back on its own dialling SOS. What could be the reason behind this?
Thank you!!!
the hard reset workd for me (iPhone 7)
my iphone 6 just went black.. i cant here it ringing… i did all the button tricks but none worked.. how can i fix it
i am dead
my iphone was dropped and half the screen is black, help?
THANKYOUUUUUUUU!!
The screen on my new (two weeks old) iphone 7 went black. Could hear noftifcations for texts and emails. Was able to get it to successfully reboot by simultaneously pressing the volume down and the power buttons.
Re boot worked for me thank you !!
My screen gets whole black for sometime and after sometime it gets fixed by itself it all started with Vertical line . so what is the solution of my probleam , should i have to replace my screen or their is another way ??
Thanks for this article! 🙂
Thank you very much. This just saved my life!!
My iphone 5s is 3 years old. I have had a few black screens. This time I will need to take it into a technician. If the LCD is dislodged, this would be good news. However, I may need to replace my phone. This being said, Where is the best place to buy a phone? Should i buy a used 7? They are so expensive…worth it though if they last 3 years right? I am seeking advise.
It was fixed with technical guy some technical damage was occurred
tanks
Did not drop my 3 month old phone nor did I get it wet. It just went black. Went on my iPad to look for help and your suggestions helped me reset the phone with Power and Home buttons being held for about 10 seconds. I was so relieved. Do I still need to bring it to the Apple store? What do you think caused this? Hardware or software?
Tried all of these suggestions and nothing worked. I have an iphone 6 and it was not dropped or anything. Screen just cut off during use. I have a 2nd iphone 6 and tried putting a new screen on it by swapping the screens. It won’t light up either screen, and the other iphone makes both screens work just fine. I see no damage on the logic board. I have tried doing a restore in itunes and it keeps giving me an error. I don’t know what else to do.
Why is that it doesn’t show even if the apple logo? How can i fix this
omg that hard reset saved my life ty ^-^
My sons phone screen went black. He said it had a purple line across the middle and went black slowly. Have tried to resent with the home button and the power button down for several minutes. He has an iPhone 6. Any ideas?
My 7 plus is just 10 days old here and I didn’t drop it or get it wet. Screen went black, Siri works (I called my husband that way lol), and no apple on the attempted hard restart. Just a bad phone? Hopeful they give me a new one today.
Hi I have the black screen have tried restarting phone checked all the cables screen works when on a different phone Have also updated iTunes and done software update and also restored the phone but still have a black screen screen I can still answer calls if I swipe in the right place any ideas it’s my sons phone and warranty has ran out was not dropped or water damaged
thanks heaps, very helpful.
Amazing! thank you … you saved my day 🙂
Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for the advice on the iphone 6 when the screen went black. I read your article about holding the power button and the, “belly button” of the phone for 10 seconds and it worked! I jumped for joy. Guess the phone got messed up becasue of the power outages and flickering lights due to this crazy weather. Thanks again!
Thank u so much, home button and power button reset worked. Saved me
my phone was still working even though the screen was black, then i did the hard reset and now it has completely stopped working, does anyone have any information?