On Protecting Your iPhone’s Screen

Dr. Mac’s Rants & Raves
Episode #404

 

I am fussy about my device screens and like to keep them free of fingerprints and scratches. I am fussiest about the smaller screens on my iPhone, which I always protect from breakage and scratching with a third-party screen protector.

There are three basic types of screen protectors for iPhones: tempered glass, rigid plastic, or film. Glass or plastic protectors are mostly self-adhesive, while film protectors often require you to moisten the adhesive with an included spray solution before application.

I’ve tried dozens of products over the years, and my conclusion is that tempered glass and rigid plastic offer better impact protection than film protectors and are easier to install. And tempered glass is harder to scratch or scuff than most plastic protectors. So, I’ve used tempered glass protectors on all my iPhones for years unless I’m testing another screen protector.

Better than Tempered Glass???

I recently tested protectors from Diamond Dog and BodyGuardz, which claim features to make them better than ordinary tempered glass protectors.

The Diamond Dog uses patented “DiamondClad Diamond-Like Carbon Technology” claimed to make their protector 3x–6x harder than other leading screen protectors and less likely to scratch or break. Diamond Dog was easy to install and lived up to its promise: It didn’t scratch or break over many weeks of testing.

Bodyguardz PRTX is a “shatterproof synthetic glass” screen protector, which claims maximum clarity and sensitivity (like glass), combined with “strong impact protection engineered not to crack, chip, or break.” It was equally easy to install, and while it didn’t crack, chip, or break, I could see several scratches before the end of testing.

While both protectors performed well for the most part and offer lifetime replacements, you could wait a week or more for a replacement. Since I hate for my screens to be naked for even one day (and I hate paperwork even more), I have discovered another option that works for me.

And the Winner is…

For years I’ve been buying generic tempered glass screen protectors at Amazon.com, mostly costing around $5 each. I’ve had good luck with several brands over the years, but I’ve been buying protectors from JETech on Amazon.com for $7.99 a pair. Then, if I happen to break one, I order another pair immediately, thus avoiding any risk of a naked screen.

I have broken (or my family has broken) several of these generic tempered glass screen protectors. And, although the protectors may have cracked or shattered, none of us has ever experienced damage to an iPhone screen while it was protected by tempered glass.

With out-of-warranty screen replacements costing from $129 (iPhone 5, 6, and SE) to $329 (iPhone 11 Pro Max), pretty much any screen protector is cheap insurance.