i dropped my Ipad sideways, the screen is only black and it wont turn on

I have never commented on one of these online posts, although i frequently use them but I had to for this one. I dropped my ipad like 6 months ago and just chalked it up to a loss. I made an appointment at the apple store for my MBP and was just looking through the forum and decided to check on ipad stuff. When I saw this I laughed and though it would never work, 2 hits later and my ipad is back from the dead. I would like to THANK YOU SO MUCH! I never imagined it would be so easy to fix. I do wonder if I could ever turn it off again or will the same thing happen? But once again thank you so much! It works perfectly and I can't believe it. It had been over 200 days!

This completely worked! 5 smacks, but I did not hit it too hard! Was freaking out that I was going to have to go buy another today! But I still think I will get one this week, just not so critical 🙂

Man.. You are awesome!

I dropped my phone, had a black screen and thought that was a motherboard issue or something. I had 3 shades of gray (lol) on my screen and i smacked it like 10 times and all was gone. Thank you so much for the solution.

But, my phone restarted itself for 2-3 times. What do you suggest? Should i smack it a few times or should i show it to a tech service?

Thanks again sir.

I was hesitant to try this, but I figured my phone was already broken, so I had nothing to lose. I dropped my iPhone 5s face up on the floor and faint vertical lines appeared on the left half of the screen. I was unable to use the touch screen wherever the lines were. Hitting it over my knee didn't work, but I put it face down on the carpet and then smartly stomped it with my foot. The lines are still there but the touch screen works again! This is probably pretty risky, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone, but it worked for me! Thanks a million!

Thanks Alan. It worked for me as well. Saved my 250 USD.

I was soft with initial hits;; when it started getting better i was confident to hit harder and that worked;;

for others info... i put a thick cloth on the tile floor .

I also thought this was a cruel joke. I tried hitting it a couple of times in it's case and it didn't do anything. Then I kept reading posts of it working and I got really mad that it wasn't working for me so I took my ipad out of its case and really started to wack it. Then it just went back to the right colors again. Thanks so much! 😀

I just want to add my experience to this thread in case anyone doubts that slapping your iPad is a viable solution.

My wife dropped her iPad and it seemed to be ruined. Scrambled display. We thought it was finished. I stumbled upon this thread and decided to give it a try. Why not? Several sharp whacks on the back of the device (not too hard, about the same force you would use when clapping your hands vigorously) brought it back from a useless limbo. Working perfectly now. Unbelievable.

Does anyone have any idea of WHY this works?

I spent all day today trying to fix my son's iPad after he dropped it. After learning how to restore it even though I didn't have access to the screen to enterpasscode, and successfully navigating the time-out issue while restoring, and FINALLY restoring- twice... nada. It was suggested to me that it was "certainly" a hardware problem, so Apple would have to repair it, I found your Alan's post. The first time, nothing but then I smacked it a couple of times really hard, and TA-DA!!!! My son's iPad is once again in perfect working order! You saved my life! My boy has autism and his whole life is on that thing!!! Thanks!!!

Thankyou so much Alan! I googled "I dropped my ipad now it's blank" last night and this was the first solution I saw. The people's positive feedback gave me courage to try it and because it was late at night I smacked my ipad gently till my hand was sore then gave up. But this morning I put it back in it's case, turned it upside down and placed it on the bed, grabbed a magazine, put my back into it and smacked it three times and lo and behold! On the third time it came back on! I was so happy I could have cried!!! Thanks again! Saved me lots of time and money!!

OH MY GOD! IT WORKS!!!! Thank you Alan for your advice and many others for your encouragement!

A couple of thoughts on what worked for me: I started off just giving it a hard smack. Then I tried harder and harder smacks. I did this for about five minutes with no luck (alternating between holding down the buttons as instructed and smacking the back). By this time, I had started smacking it so hard that I was worried I would break it. So I read a few more posts and someone -- sorry, I forget who -- said that s/he (1) did not hit it particularly hard but (2) hit it fast in a bunch of different places. So I tried this. Lots of little smacks all over the back. Then I tried the buttons down again and -- YES! -- I saw the apple and my screen was working again. Thank goodnesss for this post and thank goodness I kept at it!

My two year old got mad and threw the iPad on the floor when i looked at it the screen was black!! I was so upset thinking great i have to buy a new one… after reading this post and how it worked i was still skeptical and wasn't sure if i wanted to actually smack the back of it…well what do u have to loose i thought the screen is already messed up! AND IT WORKED!!!!!!!! All i can say is thanks!!!!!! thank u!! felling so happy!!

my daughter dropped out iPad with the case on it and the screen went black. I plugged it in think the battery was low but when I pushed the buttons to turn it back on I could hear the camera flash. I had to really whack my ipad and for a lot longer than I thought. Just as I started to loose all hope the apple symbol appeared. So with a sore hand I type my thank you for this crazy way to fix an iPad. I'll admit when I first read your response I thought "way to kick a person when they're down. Like this would ever work." But I read on and so many people said it worked and like so many others I had nothing to loose. It works people I promise.

i tried this several times but it doesnt work

after everytime i do this i try pressing the home button and the switch on button , the apple sign comes but very dimly , and then the sign goes back off

any suggestions for this?

hi alan, i dropped my ipad on the floor on carpet, the red pixals cames up on it so i tapped it and then the blue came up instead of red, so i tapped it further and now the lock screen comes up and then quickly changes to black again, any ideas? also i can still hear it working when i put it on charge

Hi. My IPad felt sideways too. I tried this and didn't work. I don't know if I did it wrong. But I tried in so many ways and still not working. I'm heartbroken. I had this with sacrifice, and its so frustrating to me my iPad doesn't work. Help please.