How to Get Your iPhone Screen Fixed in Beijing From the Comfort of Your Own Home

We've all experienced it, the slow motion horror as your treasured iPhone (or other indispensable mobile device) tumbles out of your hand and plummets towards the floor. Cringing, you bend to retrieve it and, yep, the screen is cracked. The problem then becomes, where do you go to fix it that's reliable and won't rip you off? Worry no more, dear reader, for I was recently recommended a service that will not only fix your phone for a reasonable price but will come to your own house to do it, providing further fuel to my theory that soon you won't have to leave your house to do anything in Beijing (except for, you know, meaningful human interaction, but who needs that?).  

RELATED: 9 Things You Should Do if You Lose Your Phone

Shenzhen-based 1fix Technology (万修科技 wàn xiū kējì) offer to-your-door phone repair services in 28 cities across China. You can reserve via their website or through their official WeChat account (search fix-10000), which was very simple, although does require basic Chinese. Since I recently shattered the screen on my iPhone 6 I obviously chose to fix that, but they do also offer repair/replacement services for batteries, camera lens, buttons, speakers, and more. 

I'll take you through the steps of how to order below.

1. Follow fix-10000 and enter the official account.

2. Once inside the official account, open the menu on the bottom left-hand side of page and select 上门维修 shàngmén wéixiū (at-home repair).

3. Pick your service. Once you're on the repairs home page, select the icon with a little picture of a broken phone screen (屏幕维修 píngmù wéixiū, screen repair) or the icon that corresponds to the service you want. You'll notice they currently have an offer on for the iPhone 6, replacing both the screen and battery for RMB 379 – handy if your iPhone battery has a tendency to give up the ghost at 40 percent, as older phones are wont to do. 

4. Enter the details. On the next screen, you can select from two options: a broken outer screen, with no display problems (1) or a broken inner screen, which is affecting the display (2). Then select the color of your iPhone (3) and press the big red button in the bottom right (4) to continue.

5. Enter your personal details. On the final screen, enter your name (1), city and district (2), detailed address (this will come up automatically if you have location services turned on) (3), mobile number (4), and any notes/extra info about the problems you're having with your phone. At this point, I would suggest putting in the number of a Chinese-speaking friend if you can't manage a phone call in Chinese since you will need to speak to someone for the next step.

Once you have submitted your request, you'll receive a text message telling you that one of their representatives will be in touch soon to arrange a time for the repair. The text message also reminds you that if the repairman shows up and isn't wearing his uniform or official badge, you can claim your money back. 

I submitted my order at 7.30am and the repairman rang me at 9am to say he would be there by 10.30am. He turned up promptly (wearing all the requisite uniforms/badges, you'll be glad to know) and got to work, checking all the phone's functions, and asking me to double check, at the start and end of the process. My phone was fixed in half an hour for a grand total of RMB 299 (for reference, it costs over RMB 900 to get your phone screen fixed at the Apple Store). Perhaps not as cheap as you could bargain it down to if you went to an electronics market (try the second floor of Bainaohui or the Zhonghai Computer Market and neighboring electronics markets in Zhongguancun), but certainly cheaper than the RMB 800 a friend of mine recently shelled out at a repair place in Sanlitun.

More stories by this author here.

Instagram: @gongbaobeijing
Twitter: @gongbaobeijing
Weibo: @宫保北京

Photos: Pixabay, Robynne Tindall