How To Get Bubbles Out Of Your Phone's Screen Protector

Jul 07, 2023

A good screen protector is vital for a smartphone, not only protecting your all-important touchscreen from incidental scratches and impacts but also repelling all manner of assorted grossness like dust and grime. Placing a screen protector on your phone isn't that difficult of a process, save perhaps for a single aspect: dealing with air bubbles.

Whenever you attempt to place a screen protector on your phone, you just can't seem to make it happen without one or more bubbles making themselves known on the surface. No matter how slowly and deliberately you attempt to stick the protector on, they always show up.

Not only are these bubbles unpleasant to look at, but they mess with the texture of the screen protector, preventing you from making a proper touch connection with your touch screen phone. That's a double serving of annoying, so let's banish these bothersome bubbles and restore the proper smoothness your device needs.

Generally speaking, a screen protector bubble arises from a spatial cavity between the surface of your phone and the sticky side of the protector. The protector is supposed to be flush against the screen, but if something gets in the way, a little pocket of air forms and bubbles up in the sealed space. You know how when you pull an overturned canoe underwater, you can stick your head up into it to breathe? It's kind of like that.

So what can cause this cavity to form? The most common culprit is a spot of dust on your screen. Even if it's small, as long as it interferes with the stickiness of the protector, a bubble can form. Bubbles can also form if you apply the protector improperly, just sticking it right to the screen rather than rolling it downward from the top.

The best way to get rid of bubbles on a screen protector is to prevent them from forming in the first place. If you've already applied a screen protector to your phone and there are bubbles on it, you'll need to peel it off first.

First, make sure your phone's screen is as clean as possible. Wipe it down with a microfiber cloth to remove any hidden dust, fingerprints, or other possible contaminants. Make sure to wash your hands, too. Skin oils on a screen can cause bubbles.

Next, carefully align the protector with your screen. Don't just eyeball the dimensions and slap it on there. Hold the protector above the screen and line it up with the phone's shape and size as closely as possible.

Finally, and this is the important part, use a firm, flat object like a credit card and brush out any bubbles from the center of the screen. Push the bubbles in a uniform direction so you don't compromise the protector's stickiness. If any bubbles remain on the edges of the protector, use a flat piece of plastic (not your fingers) to lift it just a bit and get rid of them.