Before you answer, please, take a look at these pictures.

I recently replaced the battery on my S6 Apple Watch LTE following one of the repair guides here.

Everything ok, the watch is working fine.

However! Upon reassembly, I found that brownish/reddish film both on the case, and on the display. On the display side, it was already partially unglued.

So I thought: ook, maybe it's just another adhesive strip I need to peel off... Which I did. I removed both strips from the case and from the display. And replaced everything with only one adhesive strip, the one that came with the battery replacement kit.

Something like this.

So, it was a seal on the display with a brownish/reddish film on top of it, an identical one on the case (you can see it in the picture above), and some glue (the transparent one you can see in the pictures) in between them. Well, it was the same glue on all of them, but yeah.
So:
Seal on the display
Seal on the case
Glue in between the two
And glue under each brown strip.

Now, aside from the fact that the display didn't stick and constantly pops up of the frame, when putting back everything, I noticed the display was sitting a tiny little bit under the edge of the frame. It made kind of a lip of some sort. It's not noticeable unless you look really close, or if you run your finger over it.

Other than that, everything works fine, as far as I can tell.

However, now I wonder:

1. 1. should I have removed those strips (they felt a bit harder to remove, but I just thought it's probably just a harder glue to remove)?
   
   Funny enough, before removing those strips, I asked Google about it, and the first answer was: don't remove it, that's a 3D Touch Sensor. And I was like: what 3D Touch Sensor? Series 6 doesn't have that! And of course, it said: you're right, my bad. So I removed it, and now I'm confused.
2. 2. is there a 3D Touch/Force Touch sensor on the Series 6?! Cause, as far as I know, there isn't!
   
3. And if so, then what the hell are these sellers sell on sites like AliExpress (here), as "3D Force Touch Sensor Gasket For Apple Watch Series 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 SE Gravity Induction Sense Coil Flex Cable 38mm 40mm 42mm 44mm"?
   
4. For Series 1-5, yes, there is a 3D Touch sensor. But with Series 6, as far as I know, there is no such thing. So...what the hell is that?! A wireless sensor? There is no connection to the motherboard! How would that even work? Is it just a simple waterproof gasket....?
   The replacement they're selling seems to be similar to the thing I removed. So I'm thinking it's probably a multi-layer kind of sealant (is it?).

1. 3. do I need that? If so, is that supposed to replace the regular adhesive strip? Do I need to add both? I'm so confused!

What's even more confusing is that the guide I followed didn't seem to have any of that neither on the display side, nor the case side. So I thought: ok, he might have removed it. So here I am, removing it as well and cleaning everything up so that the new seal can properly adhere to the watch.

Can anyone, please, tell me what the hell is going on? Cause I'm completely lost at this point.

EDIT:
Apparently, there are different kinds of adhesive strips. And yes, as far as I can tell from this video here, that is supposed to be a lot thicker than what I got.

EDIT2:

The reason why the display would lift up is because this kind of adhesive strips (both the one that came with the battery, and the double sided one) are meant to be applied with a bit of heat and a bit of pressure. After heating up the watch with a hair dryer for a couple of minutes, and letting it clamped down for a few hours, looks like the issue was fixed.

So yeah, if you only apply the adhesive strip, without heating and keeping the watch pressed down for a while, it will likely not stick properly. I wouldn't be courageous enough to take this to the pool or anything. But at least it doesn't lift up on its own anymore.

⟐ Commented Temmuz 18, 2026 at 9:49 GMT-7

Thanks!

⟐ Answer edited Temmuz 18, 2026 at 3:14 GMT-7

I bought Apple Watch (45 mm) Series 7 screen adhesive. After an extremely thorough cleaning of the metal frame and the screen borders where the factory glue was applied, the adhesive appeared to fit perfectly. I clamped the screen and frame with four clamps for 48 hours, and it seemed fully bonded. However, after about two weeks, the bond started failing on one side and eventually the adhesive let go on roughly half the screen.

I removed the failed adhesive and reattached the display using a black gel adhesive commonly used for phone screen replacements. It has held securely for about one month and two weeks so far.

The adhesive I received was branded Tesa. I chose it thinking it would be a cleaner option, but in the end I had to switch to the messier gel method. I originally selected it because I was also replacing the Series 7 battery, and the battery replacement works great. The screen adhesive, though, did not.

⟐ Answered Temmuz 13, 2026 at 11:01 GMT-7

⟐ Answered Haziran 27, 2026 at 13:29 GMT-7

See the display and cable photos.

Thanks

⟐ Commented Haziran 18, 2026 at 1:32 GMT-7

⟐ Answered Haziran 16, 2026 at 2:33 GMT-7

I have a third party band that’s stuck on my Original Apple Watch. Apple wants to charge >$200 to remove the band, which is worth far more than the watch at this point. The release button won’t press down with this band on. Is there anywhere in the San Francisco area or via mail that I can get this repaired?

Thanks

There is no visible damage. The only symptom is that the release button barely budged when trying to depress it.

The Watch, aside from the stuck band is in full working order. I would just like to get this band removed so that I can change bands again.

Thanks

⟐ Commented Haziran 11, 2026 at 16:55 GMT-7

⟐ Edited Haziran 02, 2026 at 18:15 GMT-7

I recently bought an Apple Watch 7000 with a broken screen off ebay and managed to get it working again, but I found out that the watch is locked with a passcode.

I’ve tried the method illustrated at Restore Apple Watch to Factory Settings (Without Passcode), but no matter where I press on the screen after holding the power button, no erase content and settings screen comes on.

Is there something that I’m doing wrong, or maybe something different I could do?

Kind Regards,

Carpe Diem

Edit: I’ve added some images of the backside of the watch

⟐ Answered Mayıs 29, 2026 at 10:03 GMT-7

⟐ Commented Mayıs 27, 2026 at 15:32 GMT-7

Ok ok I know you can buy the adhesive strips to re attach the LCD I have tried several now from different suppliers but they all fail some literally within hours.

Has as anyone found a supplier to any that actually stick it down & could you share please?

Cheers guys.

⟐ Commented Mayıs 26, 2026 at 0:09 GMT-7

Like I mentioned above it's the lower left connector that has a screw holding it down. I think it is a ground point but am not positive. Thanks in advance to anyone who can identify this for me.

Ken

⟐ Answer accepted Mayıs 20, 2026 at 16:26 GMT-7

⟐ Commented Mayıs 19, 2026 at 6:05 GMT-7

⟐ Edited Mayıs 18, 2026 at 9:29 GMT-7

⟐ Answered Mayıs 17, 2026 at 14:47 GMT-7

⟐ Answered Mayıs 13, 2026 at 14:19 GMT-7

⟐ Commented Mayıs 01, 2026 at 15:18 GMT-7

⟐ Commented Nisan 14, 2026 at 8:25 GMT-7