How do I stop my screen cracking, or fix a cracked screen?

What to do immediately, whether a repair is worth it, and the protection that actually prevents the next one.

Difficulty: beginner
Time: 30 min
Read: 2 min
Safety: caution

Short answer

Tape over the crack to contain the glass and back the phone up straight away, before deciding anything. Then compare a screen repair against the phone's value — on an older handset the repair often costs more than it is worth.

Two separate things break: the outer glass and the display underneath. Glass-only damage is cheaper to fix and mostly cosmetic; if the display shows lines, black patches or dead touch areas, the repair is substantially more.

Safety

A shattered screen can shed glass splinters. Do not run a bare finger across it, and cover it with clear tape before handling. If the screen is cracked and the phone is also swollen, hot or will not charge, stop using it — a damaged battery is a fire risk and needs professional attention.

Step by step

Back the phone up immediately.Cracked screens fail progressively, and a phone whose touchscreen stops responding is very hard to back up afterwards. Do this before anything else.
Cover the crack with clear tape.Packing tape or a screen protector over the top contains loose glass and stops the crack spreading. It is a holding measure, not a repair.
Work out what is actually damaged.Cosmetic cracking with a perfect display is one repair; lines, discoloured patches or unresponsive areas mean the display itself, which costs considerably more.
Check for insurance or warranty cover.Home contents insurance, bank account packages and phone contracts sometimes include accidental damage. Check before paying — many people have cover they have forgotten.
Compare the repair cost against the phone's value.Get a quote from the manufacturer and an independent repairer. On a handset near the end of its update life, replacement is often the better decision.
Check whether the repair affects water resistance.Reopening a phone usually compromises the seal unless it is resealed properly. Ask, particularly if you rely on it.
Fit a tempered glass protector and a case with a raised lip.The lip is what actually matters — it keeps the screen off the ground in a face-down drop, which is how most screens break.

Tips

A screen protector is sacrificial by design. Replacing a cracked protector is trivial; replacing a screen is not.
Most breaks happen from waist height onto a hard floor, not from dramatic drops. A case with a raised lip addresses precisely that.

Common mistakes

Continuing to use a badly shattered screen — Glass splinters are a genuine hazard, and moisture entering through the crack damages the display and battery further.
Not backing up first — If the touchscreen fails before you do, recovering the data becomes far harder and sometimes impossible.

Questions people ask

Is a cracked screen worth repairing?

Compare the quote with what the phone is worth and how long it will keep receiving security updates. On a recent handset, usually yes; on an old one, usually not.

Will a cracked screen get worse?

Usually. Cracks spread with flexing and temperature changes, and moisture entering the crack eventually reaches the display.