By Desiree Salas (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Dec 18, 2014 04:51 AM EST

What to do when your iPhone screen's broken? Glue it back together?

The best person to answer that is one who has busted every single Apple smartphone model.

"From getting water in the original iPhone's dock to dropping and shattering an iPhone 6 within one day of its release, I've done it all," said Time contributor John Patrick Pullen. "Heck, my iPad even took a face-plant on the sidewalk once, resulting in shards of glass everywhere."

The surprising part of Pullen's misadventures with his iPhones is the fact that he has paid nothing to get each one repaired. Yes, you heard it right - $0.

So, how does he pull that off?

"Just upgrade it," he suggested. "If you're still lugging around a seven-year-old handset, you probably also have a seven-year-old cellular plan."

"Carriers will give you an iPhone 5C for free, and your plan will still be cheaper," he explained. He also said that this same solution can be applied to iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, and 4S.

However, if you're not against doing a DIY solution, check out iFixit's tips for the steps on replacing an iPhone 4 or 4S screen yourself. Or you can follow The Guardian's hints, instead.

Do know that a DIY effort can be quite risky as you may accidentally rip an essential part or even mess with other internal components during the replacement process. You may even injure yourself. But if you're pretty confident about your repairing skills, by all means, go ahead and take the DIY route.

Some important general hints: back up your device before you start opening it up. "Remember that this is a risky fix, so be sure to back up your data using iTunes or the cloud, and then power down your device," Mashable advised.

You may also want to protect your hands with surgical gloves, which still allow you to work with small components. Make sure you got all the tools and equipment you need before you begin the operation.

It may be helpful for you to take photographs of the interior array or components before you do anything to them. This is so that you have a clear guide on what goes where (especially if you're pretty much a rookie at this) when you're reassembling things.

Putting all those small parts on a magnetic board is also a good idea as it keeps everything together and prevents you from losing any essential part. You can even section the board with a marker and label each section with specific parts.

It is important, though, to consider the replacement part costs as these have been increasing. It may be wiser to have someone else repair your damaged iPhone as the costs of doing so is more or less close to what it takes to do the task yourself.

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