iPad 5th Gen (2017) Repair

The 5th generation iPad from 2017 is the model that reset what an iPad cost, and it is still one of the cheapest devices on our entire repair list. A full screen replacement is £79 and a cracked-glass-only repair is £65. Those numbers make most decisions about this iPad straightforward.

How much does an iPad 5th generation (2017) repair cost?

Our fixed prices at iExpert Repairs are:

• Touch screen (digitiser) replacement — £65
• Full screen replacement — £79
• Battery replacement — £65
• Charging port repair — £65
• Diagnostic service — £15

Each includes the part, the labour and a 12 month guarantee. The £15 diagnostic covers faults outside this list.

The cheapest full screen repair we offer on any iPad

At £79 this is the lowest full screen price on our list, and there is a straightforward reason: the panel is a conventional non-laminated LCD made in vast quantities for a device Apple sold in enormous numbers. Nothing about it is exotic, and that keeps the part cost genuinely low.

It also means the repair-versus-replace question rarely troubles anyone here. A £79 screen or a £65 battery on a device that still streams, browses and handles email perfectly well is easy arithmetic. The only time it stops adding up is when two or three things have failed together, and we will tell you when that is the case rather than quoting for all of them.

Why there are two screen prices

The 5th generation uses a non-laminated display, meaning the outer glass with its touch layer is a physically separate component from the LCD behind it, with a small air gap between the two. Crack the glass while the picture stays perfect and only the digitiser needs replacing — that is the £65 repair. Damage the LCD as well and it becomes the £79 full screen.

You can test this at home in about ten seconds. Switch the iPad on in a dim room and deliberately ignore the cracks, looking only at the image. Is it clean, evenly lit and the right colour throughout? Then you probably need the cheaper repair. Dark blotches, lines, colour shifts or no picture at all point to the fuller job.

No Apple Pencil support, and that is not a fault

The 5th generation does not work with any Apple Pencil. Pencil support arrived on the standard iPad with the 6th generation the following year. We mention it because people occasionally buy a Pencil for one of these second-hand, find it does nothing, and assume the digitiser is damaged or that a previous repair broke something.

Nothing is broken. The hardware simply never supported it. If you want Pencil support you need a 6th generation or later, and no repair to this device can add it.

Home button, Touch ID and the one thing that cannot be undone

Touch ID sits inside the physical home button, and that button is paired to your specific logic board at the factory to prevent a stolen iPad being unlocked with a replacement part. In an ordinary screen repair we transfer your original button across and fingerprint unlock keeps working exactly as before.

If the button assembly itself has been destroyed — usually a hard impact to the bottom edge, or liquid getting underneath — a new one will still work as a home button but Touch ID cannot be restored by anyone. That is the pairing, not a shortcoming of the repair. We assess it before starting and tell you if yours is at risk.

Battery replacement at £65

These iPads are now approaching a decade in service, so batteries are far and away the most common reason they reach us. The cell is bonded in with adhesive strips that have to be eased out slowly rather than levered, and the device is charge-tested after reassembly rather than simply screwed back together.

Confirm the battery is actually the problem first. A worn cell handles reading and streaming and then drops sharply the moment a video call starts. If the iPad is instead just slow, check the storage — the 32GB version fills quickly and a nearly full iPad crawls whatever its battery health. Clearing space costs nothing and resolves that complaint surprisingly often.

Charging faults on an older Lightning iPad

Change the cable before anything else. Lightning cables fail internally at the strain relief far more often than the ports fail, and after this many years most original cables are long past their best. Then check the socket with a torch for compacted lint, which is close to universal on a device this old and which we clear at no charge. The £65 charging port repair comes last.

Is the 5th generation iPad water resistant?

No. No iPad has ever carried an IP rating of any kind, and there are no seals or gaskets inside this one. If liquid gets in, switch it off and do not connect a charger — running power through a wet board is the most common way a recoverable device becomes a dead one. Our iPad water damage repair service covers this, and where a board cannot be saved we can often still attempt data recovery.

How long does an iPad 5th generation repair take?

Battery and charging work is usually same-day once the device is with us. Screen work takes a little longer, because the home button has to be transferred carefully and the internal surfaces need to be genuinely clean before reassembly — dust trapped in the air gap of a non-laminated display shows as visible specks under the glass afterwards.

Where can I get an iPad 5th generation repaired?

iExpert Repairs handles 5th generation iPad repairs from our Essex workshop and accepts devices from anywhere in the UK by tracked, insured post. contact us to arrange it or to ask which screen repair you are likely to need.

We cover iPad screen repair, iPad battery replacement, iPad charging port repair and iPad water damage repair on every iPad generation, and handle other brands under tablet repair. Our iPad repair page lists every model we support.