Accidental fall of the smartphone on asphalt or carrying in the pocket along with the keys often leads to unpleasant scuffs on the display. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices know that even the durable glass Gorilla Glass does not give a hundred percent guarantee against microdamage. Small scratches not only spoil the appearance of the gadget, but can also reduce the brightness of the image, create glare and worsen the tactile sensation when swiping.
Before you start taking action, you need to assess the depth of damage and the type of coverage of your screen. Modern AMOLED and IPS matrixes often have an oleophobic coating that is easily damaged by aggressive chemistry or abrasives. The wrong approach to polishing can turn a barely noticeable scratch into a matte spot that will horn your eyes much more strongly.
Damage diagnosis and risk assessment
The first step is always to clean the surface thoroughly and visually inspect it under good light. Swipe your nail across the scratch: if the nail does not fall into the recess, it is a superficial injury that can be repaired at home. Deep chips that reach the matrix require professional intervention or glass replacement.
It's important to understand that many of the techniques that are being written about online can do more harm than good. Abrasive pastes can erase the oleophobic layer, making the screen less responsive to touch and more dirty, so before you start, make sure you're willing to sacrifice some of the factory properties of the display for visual cleanliness.
It's also worth considering that some "scratches" are actually marks from other objects or scuffs on a protective film. Remove the old protective glass, if any, and inspect the display itself. Often the problem is solved by simply replacing the accessory, rather than repairing the smartphone itself.
Folk methods: toothpaste and soda
The most affordable way that forum users often mention is to use a regular white toothpaste, which contains soft abrasive particles that can polish micro-units on glass. This is best suited to a classic paste without colored granules and gel structure, since they are less efficient.
The process is as follows: apply a small amount of paste to a cotton pad or a soft microfiber. Rub the product in the scratch area with circular motions for 5-10 minutes. After that, thoroughly wipe the screen with a wet and then dry wipe to remove the remnants of the abrasive.
Similarly, baking soda and water gruels work, mix the ingredients in a 2:1 ratio to a thick sour cream, apply the mixture to the damaged area and carefully polish, which works by mechanically grinding the edges of the scratch, making them less visible to the eye.
⚠️ Warning: Do not use whitening pastes or pastes with large crystals. They can leave new, coarser micro scratches on Xiaomi glass that will finally spoil the picture.
The effectiveness of these methods depends on the hardness of the glass and the depth of damage. If after the first procedure the result is not visible, do not rub the screen for hours - it is better to try more specialized tools.
Why does pasta help?
Professional polishing with cerium oxide
If folk remedies don't work, a more serious chemistry comes to the rescue, and cerium oxide is a powder that's widely used in the glass industry to polish optics and smartphone screens, and it removes even the most noticeable scuffs, bringing transparency back to the glass.
To do this, you'll need cerium oxide powder, distilled water, and a polished circle (you can use a felt circle for napping or a special nozzle) and the powder is mixed with water to the consistency of liquid sour cream and applied to the felt. Pollination is done at low revs to keep the matrix from overheating.
The main risk is overheating. Redmi Note or Xiaomi Mi series displays are sensitive to high temperatures. If you heat the glass too much, you can damage the adhesive layer (you will get a yellow jelly spot), or you can disable the matrix itself. You need to work in short sessions of 10-15 seconds with breaks for cooling.
After polishing, you need to thoroughly clean the screen of oxide residues, as it is a rare earth metal, and it is undesirable to get into the speaker connectors or charging. Use a soft brush and alcohol for final cleaning.
☑️ Ready to polish
Cloaking method: liquid glass and hydrogel
Sometimes it's easier not to remove the scratch physically, but to visually mask it by filling the void with a transparent material. Modern liquid glass treads (liquid film) do a great job of doing this. They penetrate the microcracks and freeze, making the surface smooth.
Hydrogel films also have the effect of self-healing small scratches, so when you stick high-quality hydrogel protection on a POCO or Xiaomi screen, a special glue fills in the bumps, and the light is refracted differently, and the scratch becomes almost invisible.
This method is the safest for the matrix, because it does not involve friction or chemical exposure, you do not risk erasing the oleophobic layer completely or overheating the device, and you also get new protection from future shocks.
Before applying the liquid tread, be sure to degrease the screen with an alcohol napkin, apply the composition evenly, spreading it with an applicator over the entire surface, not just at the site of the injury, this will ensure uniform layer thickness and no optical distortion.
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Before buying an expensive polishing kit, try pasting a quality 3D glass with a full adhesive layer.The glue often hides 90% of small scratches, and the screen looks new without risk of damage.
Comparison of methods for eliminating defects
To make it easier for you to choose the right option, we have systematized the main ways to deal with scratches, each method has its pros and cons, which depend on your skills, availability of tools and willingness to take risks.
Below is a table that helps you compare the effectiveness and safety of different screen recovery approaches.
| Method | Efficiency | Risk of damage | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toothpaste | Low (micro-scratches only) | Medium (obliteration of oleophobic) | Minimum |
| cerium oxide | Tall. | High (overheating, dust) | Medium |
| Liquid glass | Medium (masking) | Low. | Medium |
| Glass replacement | 100% | Low (with pro repairs) | Tall. |
As you can see from the table, mechanical polishing gives you better visual results, but it requires caution. Cloaking methods are safer, but they don't physically remove the defect, they just hide it.
When a glass or screen is needed
There are situations where polishing is useless and even harmful, and if the scratch is deep and you feel it with your nail, or if it's cracking through the whole screen, no paste will help, and in those cases, there's only replacement.
Replacement is also necessary if the touch-con is damaged, which manifests itself in dead zones where the phone does not respond to touch, or in chaotic presses (phantom taps), which cannot be fixed by software or polishing.
In Xiaomi devices with curved screens (Curved), self-replacement of glass at home is almost impossible without professional equipment (separator, laminator, vacuum camera).
⚠️ Note: If a scratch is accompanied by the appearance of colored spots, stripes or black dots on the display, this means damage to the matrix.
For low-end models such as the Redmi A or C series, it is often more cost-effective to replace the entire module (screen + frame) than to try to glue a separate glass in the service.
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Deep damage affecting the touch layer or matrix is not subject to home repair – a replacement of the display module in an authorized center is required.
Preventing the appearance of new scratches
Once you've cleaned up the screen, it's important to keep the result, because the smartphone owner's best friend is a quality safety glass, and it takes a hit and scratches instead of the main display.
It is recommended to choose glass with a hardness of 9H and oleophobic coating. Cheap films quickly lose their properties and can even worsen the sensitivity of the touch screen. For gaming models POCO and Xiaomi Black Shark, there are special glasses with increased strength.
Also worth revising is the way you carry your phone: Keys, coins and small change in your pocket are the main enemies of smooth glass. Use elevated-sided covers that protect the screen when you fall flat.
Rub the screen with a microfiber regularly, and the dust contains particles of sand (quartz) that are harder than the glass on the screen, and if you drive your finger across the dust screen, you can easily leave new micro scratches.