How to temporarily deal with a cracked screen digitizer (Android)
In the tragic event of your Android phone's screen digitizer cracking, what do you do to until you figure out how to solve this desperate ordeal? You plug in a computer mouse in your broken phone and control it that way! Yes, we are not kidding, and no, we don't mean a Bluetooth mouse. Connecting a Bluetooth device would entail going through menus, which requires touchscreen input. We are talking about a regular, wired USB mouse.
It sounds weird and cumbersome, we know, and it is, but this method could save your nerves and time, when, say, you have to answer an important call or get that perfect Tinder match. So, that's what you'll need:
1. If you have an Android phone with a micro USB port, then you'll need a micro USB to standard female USB (type A) cable, or, if your phone has a Type-C port, you'll need a USB Type-C to female USB (Type-A) cable to plug your mouse into.
Both can be bought for a couple of dollars on eBay or Amazon.
1. If you have an Android phone with a micro USB port, then you'll need a micro USB to standard female USB (type A) cable, or, if your phone has a Type-C port, you'll need a USB Type-C to female USB (Type-A) cable to plug your mouse into.
Both can be bought for a couple of dollars on eBay or Amazon.
2. A regular ol' USB mouse
That's it, you're set! All you need to do now is plug the cable into your device and plug the mouse to the other side. You'll see a cursor on your screen – weird as it may seem when using a touchscreen device – and clicking is pretty much like tapping on the screen. No multi-touch, unfortunatelly.
That's it, you're set! All you need to do now is plug the cable into your device and plug the mouse to the other side. You'll see a cursor on your screen – weird as it may seem when using a touchscreen device – and clicking is pretty much like tapping on the screen. No multi-touch, unfortunatelly.
And a pro-tip from us: if this happens to you, please don't try to replace the broken digitizer by yourself. You'll most likely end up ruining the screen, as the procedure involves removing the cracked digitizer that's glued to the screen, gluing on a new one and curing it without letting any bubbles in. If you don't believe us, here are some horrifying examples of what might happen, should you go for the DIY approach:
Things that are NOT allowed: