Fix iPhone 6 Screen Ghosting Issue

Hello Apple fans! Welcome to today’s #iPhone6 article. We’ve decided to tackle one difficult and often expensive issue that can affect a lot of iPhone users — screen problem. We know that the iPhone 6 was released a few years ago but its screen sports a robust screen that can still rival the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models. Unfortunately, screens do get broken for a number of reasons and if you have one that does not work normally at this time, you’ll most likely end up replacing the part or even the entire phone. There are very few software causes that can cause the screen to malfunction so don’t be surprised if the eventual solution that we tell in cases below is repair or replacement too.

Below are specific topics we’re bringing for you today:

Fix iPhone 6 Screen Ghosting Issue

Problem 1: iPhone 6 screen ghosting issue after repair, screen discoloration issue

Dropped my phone about 8 months ago, shattered the digitizer but the LCD was intact. Took it to a third party repair shop (nearest Apple store is more than 100 miles away) that had an outstanding customer rating and had the screen and digitizer replaced since it’s all one unit. Ever since, there’s been a screen issue with two things:

  • at the very bottom of the screen, about half the time there is a very thin line which is a duplicate image of the top of the screen (like the top of the screen “rolled over” to the bottom, almost as though the screen image itself was positioned too high), and
  • the screen will occasionally have “crawly lines” on certain colors (imagine your wallpaper on your screen, and suddenly all of the lines and points that are one random color start crawling like a line of ants) and then the screen goes black, but with backlighting (I guess blank would be a better descriptor than black since it’s still lit up, just with no image). When this happens everything still functions, like if I’m on an app when that happens and I press the home key, when the screen comes back on I’m on my home screen, I just can’t see anything while this is going on. The touch screen also acts funny sometimes, clicking on things far away from where I actually touched the screen. The tech place I took it to wants to charge me to diagnose it, but I don’t know what’s wrong and this was going on as soon as they have me my phone back 8 months ago. Any suggestions, or at least some idea what the heck causes this? — Nicole

Solution: Hi Nicole. First of all, we want to make it clear that identifying a hardware issue is best done by a technician who has direct physical access to the device. Since we obviously can’t check the phone objectively, what we’re going to say here may not be accurate.

Secondly, since the phone has been previously repaired by a third party technician, there’s a need for you to return the phone to the shop that fixed it. This is the only effective way if you intend to get to the bottom of the problem.

Lastly, there are a number of possible reasons why your screen does not work as expected. We are almost positive though that your case is a repair gone wrong. This means that the technician may have messed up some things, or that the hardware simply failed sometime after a repair was done.

We think the phone’s LCD was damaged or defective. Any discoloration or unnatural lines is a clear manifestation that there’s an ongoing problem with the monitor or LCD. This can sometimes occur if the LCD cable was not plugged in correctly in the logic board. This can also result if one or some pins in the LCD cable connector pins are bent or damaged. In any of this case, a technician must re-attempt a repair from scratch to trace the real reason for the malfunction. If you’re lucky and the main reason is simply due to incorrect connection of the LCD flex cable, plugging it back in correctly may help. If one of the pins is bent or missing though, there’s a need to replace the specific cable.

The “crawly lines” or discoloration of the screen can also be an indication of a damaged LCD or monitor itself so the next logical troubleshooting that the technician must do is to replace the LCD. If your phone is not covered by any warranty whatsoever, you may have to pay for the repair and the replacement part.

Problem 2: iPhone 6 black screen issue

Hi. It’s gonna be almost a year that I bought my iPhone 6 (16 February). It has never caused any problem until 2 days before suddenly it just went blank, as in I could see only my wallpaper. I knew I was getting a call and I knew I was getting messages but could not shut the phone with the on/ off button. Later with the help of a phone guy he just started the phone but he said there is no issue. Again today morning, the same thing happened but this time I could see my lock screen as in the time and everything I pressed the switch off button and it appeared and got started back again. Can you please tell me what’s the issue? Is it a display problem or something?

Also I haven’t updated my phone to iOS 11 like some people said iOS 11 causes it but I have not updated please help. Thank you for your help. — Alefiya Alefiyaahmedabadwalla

Solution: Hi Alefiya. We don’t know the full history of your device so it’s hard to tell where the real problem lies. This is either being caused by a content/app/operating system bug, or a hardware malfunction. To know which one, we suggest that you restore the phone as a new device. Here’s how:

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer with the cable that came with your phone.
  2. We assume you remember your phone’s passcode so simply enter it when you’re prompted for it.
  3. Select your iPhone once iTunes asks you for the specific device.
  4. Once you’re in the Summary panel or screen, select the option that will restore your device (Restore).
  5. Confirm by clicking on Restore button.
  6. Wait for a few moments while iTunes restores your device to its factory settings. It may also take some time if iTunes will need to install an updated operating system version.
  7. After this factory reset, all software settings should be restored to their defaults.
  8. Avoid installing any app at this time. Let the phone run for some time for a minimum of 24 hours and see if the problem returns. If the screen continues to act erratically, send it in for repair.

Remember, the steps above will delete all user data from your phone including your photos, videos, etc. Be sure to create a backup via iTunes, iCloud or both.

Problem 3: iPhone 6 turns off randomly, won’t charge, screen is blank

IPhone 6S randomly turned off yesterday. Won’t even go on with charger or usb. Tried rebooting it, tried it through USB, updated itunes but wont let me update iOS as phone storage is full. But I can’t get on my phone in general. Comes up white start up screen with logo then turns blank. I would restore it but scared it wipes everything. I haven’t done a backup in months and don’t know if my iCloud saved my photos. Can’t even check as log into iCloud and they go on about sending code Verification. I can’t get on my iphone! I have so much important things on it right now, i don’t know what to do. —  Shannan

Solution: Hi Shannan. iOS troubleshooting is limited and most of the steps a user like you can do require that the phone is working. For your specific issue, there’s really nothing much that you can do except to attempt a factory reset (Restore). If it won’t fix the problem at all, that means that the cause is most likely deeper in the hardware, which of course means sending the phone to Apple so it can repaired or replaced.

As far as your user data (photos, videos) are concerned, there’s not much that you can about them either. You’ll most likely lose them if the problem is hardware-related anyway. You can only create a backup of those files if your phone works normally. This situation should serve a lesson to always keep a copy of irreplaceable data in another device or cloud service. We know how inconvenient it is to lose files but this is something that you don’t have control right now.


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