Watch CBS News

ConsumerWatch: Redwood City Company Offering Mobile iPhone Repairmen

REDWOOD CITY (KPIX 5) - Over the next year, 27 million Americans will accidentally damage their smartphone. Do the math and that means about 2 million people per-month, or 80,000 per-day will have an accident with the phone, according to warranty provider Square Trade.

Now, the fix is a phone call away. Redwood City-based company iCracked has figured out a way to fix iPhones with issues from cracked screens, water damage, and battery problems.

iCracked CEO AJ Forsythe said that he got the idea for the mobile technology repair company in college after his own iPhone screen cracked.

"I took it apart and repaired it myself and it really blossomed into a growing business," Forsthe said.

The 24-year-old entrepreneur now has 350 iTechs spread across the globe, offering iPhone and iPad owners a second chance with their devices through fully warranted repairs.

iCracked takes house calls for about $100 or offers a do-it-yourself iCracked repair kit for $65. The kit contains everything you need to fix your phone in three easy steps.

But for the technically challenged, using a repair kit is not always as easy as it appears. Our fix-it experiment started out simple enough, but quickly went downhill. It took two hours to reassemble the cracked phone. Turns out we missed a minor step and had to call iCracked repair manager Joe Mravca who came to the rescue and fixed the phone.

Icracked makes house-calls to offices and can fix most phones in less than 20 minutes or even during a lunch break.

There are a variety of other iPhone repair options ranging from $79 to $100. But in most cases, you have to bring your phone to them. If you attempt the do-it-yourself kit, ConsumerWatch suggests you watch the instructional video first and give yourself a couple of hours. Our issue was simply a loose connector that required a simple fix.

Keep in mind, any outside iPhone repair will void the warranty. These options should only be used for phones that are no long under warranty.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.