Introduction: How to Prevent Scratched Cell Phones: on the Cheap

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Every get frustrated and down when you scratch the face of your new shiny phone? Well so do I and I thought that there must be an easy fix as opposed to buying a $20+ case for it.

The fix: Clear tape and soapy water

Benefits:
Protecting the face of your phone.
May help with resale value.
Phone company might believe you when you say "I hardly use it" when you send it in for a replacement/repair.
Friends keep asking why you keep the "original" plastic on the face.
These are materials you have laying around the house right now.
Comes off clean
Super easy
Super cheap

Disadvantages:
It will eventually come off (not as quickly as the original plastic) this is actually my second time doing it, first one lasted ~ 1 year.
doesn't protect from sharp impacts.
I am not sure if it works with iPhone or touch screens. (someone needs to try :3 )


This instructable will show you just how easy it is to protect your new shiny phone.

Step 1: First: Materials

For this project we need some simple household items:

Clear packing tape
Razor or scissors
Soapy water
Something to put the soapy water in
Credit card
Ruler
Permanent marker

Step 2: Next Step: Measure

It is always a good thing to measure what we want to cut, so take a nice ruler and measure your screen size. Mine happens to be roughly 3.5cm x 5cm, remember these dimensions or write them down.

Step 3: CUT

This is where you must be careful as you are dealing with a sharp razor. I scavenged my razor from a pencil sharpener, yet a box cutter or scissor will get the job done as well.

Before you cut make a mark along the tape to 3.5cm, it doesn't have to be exact but a better cut does give a better final product. Now although you measured the height you can just go ahead and cut an extra 2-3cm longer than measured.

Now for the cutting, when you cut try to make the straightest line possible. You can cut a little over your height.

Once you have cut the tape you now have to remove it, this is where that excess comes in. You want to peel the tape starting at the excess end. The reason for this is because in the following steps it will prevent the tape from getting hung up on anything. It also makes it look like its not even there.

Step 4: Prep

Now that you have your ever so precisely cut tape, you can now get it ready to apply. To do this get a small amount of soapy water, it doesn't have to be much probably 2-3mL would do just fine (1-2 drops of soap is all you need, try to avoid suds and lots of bubbles).

Now place your cut tape into the soapy water solution, and make sure that it becomes fully drenched. Time is not imperative here, you can leave the tape in the soapy water for as long or as short as you want.

Before you place the tape on the phone make sure it is clean and free from debris. Also make sure your hands are pretty clean and make sure there are no particles on your hands that could scratch the screen.

Step 5: Placement

Now that everything is prepped and ready to go all we need to do is place the tape on the screen. Before placing the tape on the screen, add one or two drops of water on the screen. Not too much water is required because we are working with such a small area, and we don't want it to seep into the phone.

All you have to do now is place the sticky side down on the face of the phone, and make sure its square.

Pro tip: when placing the tape down place the bottom first so all the air pockets get forced to the top.

Step 6: Squeegee

So you have a wet piece of tape on top of your phone, all you have to do is remove the water. I accomplish this by taking some flexible flat object ie a credit card or something similar(if you have a window tint squeegee than that works too) and pushing all the excess air and soapy water out to the top. Don't press too hard because the soapy water solution allows the tape to slide around.

Once most of the water is out take a tissue or another water absorbing material and press down on the face to soak the rest of the water away.

Be careful that you get all the air bubbles out.

Step 7: Remove Excess

The tape should be fully dried or close to it, it isn't too big of a deal if it still slides around.

What we want to do now is cut off our excess tape at the top. If you have a phone with neat geometry for the face then this might be a bit tough. Take the razor and carefully cut the excess just below the surface of the faceplate. By doing this properly you will avoid cutting into face of the screen (which would really suck).

Now that the excess is removed just make sure the tape is nice and dry and centered and viola, you have a protective screen cover.