Help, I Broke my iPhone at Yonsei - A Guide

A few weeks ago, as I was rushing home very late one evening to my dorm at Woojungwon, I dropped my phone directly onto a concrete sidewalk like a dolt. 

To my dismay, the screen had cracked. Nothing too horrible, I could still swipe and use it as normal, but a good 1/10 of the screen was covered by one of those green lines. “I’ll fix this in the morning.. should be pretty easy,” I thought to myself as my head hit the pillow.

A week later, my phone had still not been fixed and I had learned to “live with the problem.” Part of the reason why was that I had no clue what to do! Thankfully by now, my phone is fixed. On my journey, I had explored quite a few options, especially because cost was a big factor for me. So I thought I would write down what I learned here in case it could be helpful to anyone else. 

One thing to note: the phone repair stores seem segregated by Apple and Samsung, so you need to specifically research the store of your phone choice. This blog focuses on iPhones and also focuses mostly on a cracked screen, and while I think you could take any external phone issue to any of these stores, I’m not confident that you’ll have the exact same results.

** Disclaimer ** I am by no means an expert on getting your phone fixed. This is just my personal experience with getting my cracked phone screen fixed near Yonsei on a budget. Some of the methods here might technically not be okay with Apple / legally (this entire blog is actually theoretical and just a fun made-up story!) and if you try to use Apple Care later down the line you might have problems if you got to an un-authorized reseller beforehand. Do with this information what you will. 

 

If quality is most important to you, look at the “Authorized Apple Stores” Section. If price is most important to you, look at the iFix Section. Ideally, check out both!

Authorized Apple Stores

Authorized Apple stores are probably a good place to start to get an idea of what would probably be the highest price you would possibly pay. However, you may have high wait times. Please note that these stores do NOT look like the Apple store “genius bars” (why are they called that??) in the U.S. but instead look like any other tech store with an authorized seller marking.

This is a good place to start, find out what’s actually wrong with your phone, and get a rough price range.

Pros:

• Professionals (theoretically)
• You can be assured your phone has been fixed with authentic parts 
• The price will likely match other authorized sellers (this is my speculation)

 

Cons:

• The biggest con: the price will probably be high
• You will probably have to wait to get your phone looked at
• The hours of operation will probably be worse
• You will probably have to fill out a confusing form that is entirely in Korean before you are seen for your phone

 

What to do if you like this option:

• Research an Apple repair store that uses “authorized reseller” or “authorized service provider” somewhere in its branding. 
• You can probably search “Apple Service” on Kakao or Naver maps. Make sure to check the store hours before you go!

So far, I am aware of 2-3: 

Apple Service Center Hongdae Center (166, Yangwha-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul). The one I went to! This one is right next to Hongdae station, seemed very professional, and was very pricey. You have to enter a lobby and go up an elevator to get there.

Apple Service Center Hongdae (11, Hongik-ro, Map-gu, Seoul).

I think there is an authorized reseller in the shopping area within the Sinchon subway tunnels, but I’m not totally sure. I believe it was near the famous donut shop!

• The outside of the store should have a marking that looks like the photo above. It should have an Apple symbol and the phrase “Authorized Service Provider” or “Authorized Reseller” on it, clear and easy to see. If you can’t see the sign or this label anywhere, it’s still worth checking out, but it might not be actually authorized. Look carefully!
• If you go inside the store and see tablets, you probably have to fill out a long form on there. If you can’t get it to switch to English, you might want to try google translate or ask for help. It didn’t seem to be a big deal what you put down though!
• After submitting the form, sit down and wait for a bit and the employees should call out your name. When they do, you can probably go up to them and explain your problem in English. 
• After explaining the problem, ask for a price estimate. DO NOT be afraid to leave if the price is way out of your budget! They are used to it and that’s the entire point of you asking for an estimate. If the price is within your range, you can get started right away - as an example, a broken screen takes about 5 minutes to fix.

To clarify, I have no clue if the store labeling itself as an “Authorized Reseller” or an “Authorized Service Provider” actually means that they are legitimately registered with Apple. However, I would definitely guess (and hope) this is the case based on my experience using one, research on the internet, and their prices.

Not-exactly-authorized Apple stores: iFix

If you don’t want to pay the big bucks, you can look for other options to potentially get a good discount (my estimate went from 350,000 won to 82,000 won just by going to one of these stores). 

You need to be aware that not going to an authorized seller might mean that you won’t be eligible to use your Apple Care or warranty. In my case, I don’t have Apple Care and my warranty ended a while ago! 

Pros:

• Will almost certainly be significantly cheaper (in my case, 1/4th of the price). This is by far the biggest pro.
• If you don’t care about screen quality, you can opt for a copy screen that will give you an even bigger discount.
• You can shop around at lots of nearby stores (in my case, all in one building!) to compare prices.
• There will probably be little to no wait times.
• Store hours will probably be better, albeit more inconsistent.

 

Cons:

• The seller may give you a price based on their personal store setup / their opinions of you (my speculation based on my experience)
• Shopping around to get a good price can be a little annoying and embarassing 
• If you are really going for the cheapest price, your phone screen is not going to be a real OEM
• You will have to bring cash or pay a 10% upcharge
• You need to be able to communicate at least a little in Korean or with pointing because the chance of the sellers speaking English well is significantly less
• I’m not sure exactly what would happen if you went to an official Apple Store after getting a copy screen
• These stores can be hard to find, but I’m about to give you a ton of options!!!

 

What to do if you like this option:

• First, find a store: you can either follow my guide OR you can search "iFix" in Korean (this blog will not let me write in Korean, spell iFix in the same way you can see in the photos above and below) on Kakao or Naver maps. 
• So far, I have visited 5 of these stores. This is because 4 (or maybe 5? I can’t remember) of them were in the same building! It also happened to be very close to the Apple Service Hongdae Center I visited above, so you could always visit there first and then come to an iFix if you didn’t like the price.

 

Hongdae iFix Options: 

Entering the building

• First of all, if you plan to get your phone fixed that day, you NEED to bring a lot of cash. If you use your card there will likely be a 10% upcharge, which will be a lot in this case.
• The building with all of the iFix’s I visited is right outside Hongdae station. Find on Kakao:
• Hongdae Iphone Soori iFix (again, the name is in Korean but I can't type it, so you will have to sound it out) (156, Yangwha-ro, Map-gu, Seoul).
• Getting into the building is a little confusing at first, so look carefully.
• This is what the front of the building (LG Palace Officetel) looks like:

• You have to enter through these revolving doors.

• Once you get in, you are going to look for the elevators if you walk forward a few steps. There should be four actually if I remember correctly.
• You are going to take the elevator up, and ideally, start at floor 7 and explore each floor to find the cheapest price.
• To find the stores themselves, once you step out of the elevator you should see a sign on the wall and an open door that looks like this:

• All you have to do is go inside, and point to whatever is wrong on your phone (it would also be great if you practiced a little Korean / brought a Korean-speaking friend, as it seemed that these sellers only knew a little English, but it was definitely enough to get by). Then you can hand over your phone, and ask “How much?” in Korean so they know you aren’t just blindly agreeing to get your phone fixed. They may take a bit to look at it, and will probably tell you the price in Korean, or write it out if you look too confused. 
• The seller may also start to explain to you the price of a “high-quality copy” vs. the price of an “OEM”. They are basically just asking if you want the original phone screen it was intended to be used with or a replica screen. The copy is going to be cheaper. You should decide what you are thinking of buying before you go. See more below if you are not sure.
• If you want to check out all the price options before committing after they tell you the price, you can just say, “Thank you, I’ll come back later!” or something similar. They will probably get the point. If you are too nervous, you can always have your roommate call you and pretend like her cat is sick and you need to go help her urgently.
• Now you have to check out all the floors! There are iFixs on a ton of them. I will tell you the ones I checked out and the prices they gave me, but again I recommend you check them all out yourself because they might have given me different prices based on my phone type, if they thought I would pay more, etc.
• I would also really recommend that after you check out all of the stores, you go back to the one that you liked right away. You can ask for the hours, but they may not be super consistent, and when you come back they may be closed. Alternatively, you can come back later and see if there are more options open.

Floor 7: There should be an iFix here, but I don’t believe I visited it.

Floor 8: Original - with cash, 130,000 won 

Floor 9: Original - with card, 100,000 won. with cash, 95,000 won.

Floor 10: Original - 110,000 won. Copy - 82,000 won. Card was 10% surcharge.

Sinchon iFix:

There is also an iFix in Sinchon which I visited. I couldn’t find its address on Kakao maps, but it’s in an alleyway right near a cafe called “Sinchon Blues” (spelled out in Korean). The price was a bit higher than the stores in Hongdae (around 150,000 won), but the building seemed a bit more professional and it was closer, so at least there was that…

I also saw one on Kakao maps called iFix SinChonJum (in Korean) (93, Sinchon-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul) but I could not find the actual building or entrance.

 

 

Should I get an OEM Screen or a High-Quality Copy?

This is a great question that I honestly don’t feel qualified to answer. I myself chose to get the “high-quality copy” for a discount of about 28,000 won if I remember correctly. I’ve been using it for about a month now and haven’t noticed any significant difference. The display seems to be the exact same as before, and same with the usage. There is one tiny thing that I honestly am not sure is attributable to the screen being a copy or if it also happened before - sometimes my keyboard gets a little glitchy (I think because it registers my fingers as swiping?), especially with Kakao messenging, and I have to close out the app and restart it, and then it fixes itself. Seems like just a Kakao problem, right? But I’ve noticed it with other apps where I have to do a lot of swiping, such as Subway Surfer - the phone registers it, but with a slight delay. 

Again, I literally can’t remember if this happened before or not, and also it seems to mostly be a Kakao issue, although I don’t use regular messaging very often. My guess is that the keyboards that the apps use are different. I personally am fine with my choice and would probably do it again, but if you are nervous about it, it might be worth spending the extra cash.

There could potentially be other consequences to a High Quality Copy, such as if you took it in for servicing at an official Apple Store. But I personally don’t think I would ever pay the high price at an official Apple Store anyway, so it didn’t matter much to me. Again you need to double check if you have Apple Care or a warranty before choosing this option! You can probably just google to check the warranty and cross-check with when you bought the phone. If you don’t remember buying Apple Care there’s a pretty good chance you don’t have it.

 

Final Notes: Prevention + Find my iPhone

The best thing you can do for any problem with your phone is preventing it from happening in the first place. Get a good screen protector and a good phone case! They are worth the money. 

The reason my phone broke was not an accident - it was because I didn’t have a screen protector on at the time. Getting a good phone case - ideally one with ridges that push up around the edge of the screen - is also extremely important to prevent minor cracks and indents on the corners of your screen. I know getting a cheap, cute phone case is tempting, but you will be kicking yourself when your screen gets ruined. Even if the cost isn’t as much of a concern to you, the time you spend getting it fixed certainly will be.

Another final note for iPhone Users in Korea: Find My iPhone doesn’t work here! You cannot track your location. You can, however, play sounds from your phone / airpods if they are within range.

Good luck with your phone! Don’t be afraid to do your own research, ask your friends, or speak with CIEE staff as needed!