iPhone 4 proximity fix after screen replacement

Thanks J-Billz. I will give it a try. Can I use any old scotch tape or does it have to be specifically Scotch Magic tape? And I don't need to poke wholes in it where the sensors are?

I would stay with magic tape as it accepts the sharpie better. Don't poke holes. That will make it likely not work by letting too much lite in. That's why the electrical tape isn't working. My method works great.

+1 and thanks J-Billz !!

My ennoying past days have been dealing with iphone 4 pentalobe screws version, IOS 5.1, no screen upgrade, just having to change the flex cable to get the power button working again.

My first mistake: not noticing that the tiny glass was not included with the new flex cable. ( it covers the prox sensor and can stay stuck to the phone or come out with the old flex .... if you're not lucky ).

Even putting this back in place, no luck. I tried the electrical tape fix several times with different hole size..still no luck. (keeping the tiny glass in place...)

The happy moment came when I tried the magic tape and sharpie fix.

For those like me (at the begining), wondering wich kind of tape this is, I just used some regular tape from my office, that appears frosty on the roll, but is invisible on paper, and writable on..

Covered the sensors window, and made it completely black with the sharpie.

Did the comparison, the proximity detection works just as well as another iphone 4, never opened.

So thanks to this topic, and your time, I can rock now.

Seriously J-Bill, you're the best. I tried the trick, I've been repairing these phones for a while now, and it works FLAWLESSLY. I only put some tape on the sensors iteself, then black Sharpie. I did not put tape on the tinted sensor window/glass, only on the sensor itself.

I tested right away, IT'S WORKING! I even tried replacing the sensors, nothing else has fixed it.

Glad you got it to work! The least i could do was Share my method, after all the long hours of rebuilding the phone to test it lol.

After a long long time of trying to fix this myself, and numerous flex's later. The 5 bits of electrical tape works a treat. I would like to thank all for putting the time in to find a fix for this. And especially publishing it on here.

Keep up the good work.

i used the "3M" strips that you get with the 3g/3gs digitizers. i just cut a small piece and removed the backing of both sides and covered both sensors with the one small piece.

i then didnt notice that it had been said to completely colour them in with a black sharpie. i covered it all but left a space the size of a small pinhole in each side.

anyway it works fine now. i also had tried the insulating tape previously on repairs but this is way better and easier

i reckon the insulating tape just doesnt stick aswell and lets light through the sides

i only needed one layer of the 3m strip also

I hear ya buddy, took mine apart so many times, was starting to think I had mental issues for not knowing when to give up! But finally tried the 2 tape sharpy method, and to my amazement, it WORKED! Since I had took my phone apart so many times, I started to shortcut, and only used a couple screws and half ased it together to speed each try, but I started doing this on the time that it worked LOL so I had to take it apart 1 last time to put all the screws in.

THANKS J-BILLZ!!!!!

Thanks a billion. Works perfectly. Before disassembly. Check your connections, make sure they are not damaged. If they arent then this most likely your problem. If it doesn't work, you probably didn't cover enough space with tape. Redo it.

I has the same problem! But after I found this solution I improve your solution and do a combination of bothe methods: I cut a small piece of electrical tape and make 2 small holes using a sharper pencil and cover the 2 sensors, then cut 2 small rectangles of electrical tape and cover the edge of the LCD to cover the extra light coming out when the screen is on, and its work very fine!!!

YO TAMBIEN TUVE EL MISMO PROBLEMA PERO HICE UNA COMBINACIÓN DE Las 2 soluciones que aquí se muestran, coloque un pequeño rectángulo de cinta eléctrica con 2 pequeños agujeros hechos un la punta de un lápiz bien afilado sobre los 2 sensores (el de proximidad y el de la luz); también cubrí la orilla de la pantalla para eliminar el exceso de luz que emite cuando esta encendida, lo arme y listo me funciono perfectamente!!! Gracias

Thanks for the info J-Billz, I'm going to give this a try. I've been repairing phones for quite some time, and have only recently started having issues w/ this... I will report my results, have 2 phones to go back and fix again!

1 of the phones only had a lock button fix done, so I suspect that one may be due to damage to a ribbon cable somewhere...

After having taken the phone apart and put it back together for the third time only to find that everything but the proximity sensor was not working, I was not about to tear it apart again. I took a black sharpie and drew a thin line right on the face of the screen. Slap on a screen protector and all is well. Thanks!