What's the Secret to Putting on Screen Protectors?

[Ultrimate]

Hello, I bought some plastic screen protectors on eBay for like 99 cents each I bought 4 and ruined them all, I couldn't put them on without getting air bubbles and it looked like my iPad had herpes..

I tried everything, wiping them real good, applying eyeglass cleaner first, using a micro fiber cloth to clean it, but each time after I installed I had so many air bubbles!

Help..

 

[Purpleorchid]

#1 Patience
#2 Installation spray
#3 Squeegee or credit card
#4 Time to let the bubbles dry out

Check out the installation videos for Zagg Invisibleshield either on their website or on YouTube.

Save yourself money and don't get the 99c ones. Get a good quality one like InvisibleShield, Ghost Armor, BodyGuardz, etc.

 

[Matth3w]

Is it even worth it whatsoever? I don't think the iPad will be very scratch prone.

 

[Purpleorchid]

I think it's worth it, especially since there's an 18 month old son in my house who tries to play air hockey, scrolls between home screens and watches movies on it.

 

[Matth3w]

With what? Razor claws? lol

 

[Purpleorchid]

Not claws, but sometimes he has wet/dirty/crumb-y fingers. He's good about using only the pads of his fingers to touch the screen.

There's also the occasional uncovered sneeze that he subjects the iPad to.

The screen saver is just a piece of mind for me. I paid $500 for this, so why not throw another $25 for it? All my other Touches and iPhone have it. The iPad would have felt left out.

 

[Matth3w]

I suppose. I have a screen cover on my Droid, but it gets throw into my pocket, cup holder, center console, you name it, unlike my iPad which is always in a case when it leaves the house.

And the wife and I both despise children so we don't have to worry about little kids messing with the iPad because there are never kids allowed in our house.

Her dog doesn't give a crap about it, unless of course we were to put chapstick, bread, bubble gum, a glass nail file, and cough drops on it. For some reason she likes to chew those things.

 

[MikesTooLz]

apply it slowly and evenly from one side to the other. Use a credit card or drivers license to put it on smoothly but make sure not to press down to hard.

The more expensive InvisiShield or Ghost Armor screen protectors are better because they are applied with a spray so you can position it and work out an bubbles before it dries. They really are much more protective too. I used to get the regular stick on screen protectors, they served their purpose by protecting the screen but I would constantly have to remove them and apply a new one because the cheap plastic protectors do scratch.

 

[Purpleorchid]

LOL. Her dog is obviously into self-care with the chapstick, nail file and cough drops. Get her to chew toothbrushes, and the dog won't have doggie breath anymore.

 

[Joli]

I was told it was well worth the money to have the guys at the local electronic (think BB) put it on.

 

[ibgeorgeb]

It took me about three hours of "practice" with my screen protector/anti-glare sheet before I watched a YouTube video and then after that I slapped on the baby in ten minutes. Viola! No herpes.

 

[digitalbits6]

Screen protector application is a bit tricky. You need a clean dust free environment, clean fingers, and good technique to start in the middle and work towards the edges. Watch the Zagg InvisibleShield clip, they have a pretty good process. When you have a clean environment, no breeze, be super careful to not get any dust on the shield after you remove the it. Zagg also uses a liquid spray to wet the shield and then you squeegee the water between it and the screen out along with any bubbles. (But be careful to not let the water enter any cracks or openings for the headset, speakers, or 30 pin connector slot. Not sure if iPad has the same water sensors like the iPhone that turn orange / pink when they get wet).

Easiest way is to find a friend who has installed these protective shields before and just have someone with the right technique do it for you.

 

[BrennB]

My last install (Zagg) was my best yet... As the above post says, clean environment, clean hands. Lint free towel/cloth. Clean screen really well first, wipe in one dircection to remove any lint (which causes bubbles in the cheap protectors especially), wet fingers so you don't leave sticky marks. Also, a good idea I read and used is canned air, to blow the rest of the lint off and to clear the area before work. I put the Zagg screen on at Starbucks! with this method, and it came out perfectly. When I squeegeed the water/bubbles I wrapped the squeegee in lint free lens cloth to absorb the drainage, helped a lot also.

 

[pallentx]

I found the key be keeping your fingers and everything wet. You hands tend to dry quickly and start sticking to the film. I had to rewet them several times as I was working.

 

[dirtydan]

I put a "Speck" protector on myiPad. This has peel-off sheets on both sides. I had not used the iPad, so it was clean, I wiped it with micro cloth, then peel a couple inchs of the bottom sheet off and lay the bared part on the screen lining it up perfectly, now I slowly peeled the of the peel-off sheet and it was down just right, now before worrying about bubbles I very slowly pulled off the top sheet diagonally. I had a couple good sized bubbles that I moved off the screen with a credit card, all looked good except for on small bubble with a small piece of lint in the bubble, this was close to the edge of the screen, no problem, I took a piece of scotch tape and gently stuck it to protector and lifted it up, then another piece of tape grabbed the lint which was on the the under side of protector sheet, not the glass screen.
There is a video for doing this at the Speck website, but I don't think they mentioned the Scotch tape trick.
Dan