How to Make the Apple Logo on Your iPhone Light Up Like a MacBook (iPhone 4 & iPhone 4S)

Hate that your iPhone blends in with all the other iPhones? Wish you could do something to make it stand out? Well here’s a pretty big way to do just that. Know Macbook laptops? Know how their Apple logo on the top lights up when they’re in use? Why not add that same feature to the apple logo on the back of your iPhone? Here’s how.

I. Before You Begin

1. The simplest way to do this is to purchase a light kit from here. *Make sure to select the one for your correct model of iPhone, and the color you want.

UPDATE 01.31.16: I updated the tutorial for newer iPhones over here!

2. This will void your warranty (simply because they can tell you opened your iPhone because of the dye that is on the screws at the bottom and that voids the warranty).

II. Open the iPhone

1. Unscrew the two tiny screws at the bottom of the iPhone and make sure to set them aside by themselves (do this because all the screws you’ll be removing are different sizes and so we want to make sure we put the right ones back in the right places).

2. Slide up on the back panel, until it moves up slightly.

3. Remove the back panel.

III. Install the Light Panel

1. Remove 5 screws holding the EMI shield in place and make sure to set them aside by themselves (do this because all the screws you’ll be removing are different sizes and so we want to make sure we put the right ones back in the right places).

2. Gently lift up the connector that gives power to the screen.

3. Remove the Kapton film from the underside of the connector.

4. Attach two pieces of the 3M tape in between the two connectors under where the connector we lifted up was (one on top of the other to give it height).

5. Position the light pad so that the connector of the light pad sits on the two pieces of 3M tape.

6. Put the connector that gives power to the screen back down on top of the connector on the light pad and reconnect it to the two connectors on either side of it.

7. Turn on the phone to check to see if the light pad lights up correctly.

8. Peel the tape off either the white or colored light diffuser and stick it to the inside of the back cover so it covers the Apple logo (the white one will make the apple logo white, the colored one will make it change color depending on angle, up to your personal preference which you choose).

9. Put the back cover over the back of the phone just to test to make sure everything is lined up properly, then put it aside again.

IV. Close the iPhone Back Up

1. Replace the 5 screws the held down the EMI shield.

2. Take the rear panel that comes with the kit and slide it back on to the iPhone in the opposite manner you removed the original one.

3. Replace the 2 screws at the bottom of the iPhone.

209 thoughts on “How to Make the Apple Logo on Your iPhone Light Up Like a MacBook (iPhone 4 & iPhone 4S)”

  1. only 20 dislikes on youtube? i thought everybody would break theyre iphone and try to sue you for teaching them how to mod an iphone XD

          1. There are some kits on amazon for other iPhones but its much more difficult. If I can find a good supplier with a kit that doesn’t require soldering, I’ll do a new video on it.

        1. Ha yeah that’s what the company that makes them told me, “soon”. Just relayed what they said. For more info you’d really have to ask them. (Although they’ll probably say “soon”).

  2. I’ve been saying this on different tech sites comments pages for two years and i’m so so so happy someone finally done it. When I find someone to do this for me I am getting it. i have extremely large hands or I do it myself. Great job guys! See I knew it could be done Apple, now maybe they will buy it from you guys and put it in their next unit.

  3. What is the light panel actually called( led panel or something)? And also any ideas on how to do this for android or where I can find or where exactly I have to attach the light panel in the phone on android htc hero? Really cool!

  4. I checked the website and it said it comes with a white diffuser is there something special you need to do for coloured or is it just not mentioned on the website?

    1. Iphone 4 GSM stands for “global system for mobile commutations” and Iphone CDMA stands for ” code division multiple access” but to make it more easy fro you most iphone 4 GSM have s sim slot on the phone. and usually the iphone 4 CDMA does not.

  5. what do you do when the back wont seal tight? ps my screen went out in the process of wiggling the light around… but now it works what are my chances of it happening again later

    1. I seriously hate, hate, HATE when people say I-Pod or I-Tunes (I could keep on going, but you get my point. iPod. Not that hard.

  6. I just want the light Ive already have the tools Ive bought a new screen so the screwdriver came with it so how do I make the light panel? Provide link or something

  7. Awsome! Can you send a link to purchase the kit? I’m in India, so I need a retailer to ship it to India. Does it go the same way with the iPhone 5?

  8. is there for the white iphone 4s and also one other this what is the back panel made of? and does it cover the whole back of the iphone without leaving no ggap?

  9. the instructions says that to make sure to select the v2 version of the it and on the link i have no option to select the v2 version just to make sure.

  10. can these things be installed on iphone 4s ? and how can i buy these things because im from macedonia iff i buy them online how they are goning to be delivered to me ???

  11. I bought the kit for iPhone 4 CDMA Black on 10/10/13 and it is now the 13th and it is still pending, why hasn’t it started the shipment yet?

  12. Hi guys, dont laugh i have a Iphone 4 and think the apple illumination at the back looks great and i would like to do the conversion. Problem is i am in South-Africa how can i get hold of this product? Pleas pleas

  13. Has this company gone out of business or something? I’m getting a 403 forbidden and an additional 404 not found on the link.

  14. Speztsnaz Leron

    Why cant i buy the i buy the light up kit? it says:

    Forbidden

    You don’t have permission to access / on this server.

    Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

    my b-day is in 16 days and i would like this fixed asap because i want this as a present, Thanks 😀

  15. Hi can you you help me
    I fitted this kit and when I tern the phone on the light at the back lights up, however the screen does not, when I fiddled with it the led pad it came loos and the screen came back on, what can I do
    Please answer

  16. A couple of questions…. First, how much battery life does this feature drain? Also, how hot does this light get inside the iPhone casing? Is that something that one should be concerned with? Could it generate enough heat to damage your phone? It’s a very cool feature, but don’t want to have my phone get damaged. Thanks!

    1. Sorry, this only works on the iPhone 4. I’m working on getting a kit for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPhone 5S. The internals of those make it a lot more difficult, but we’ll see.

    1. There’s a link in the article to where you can buy kits. Unfortunately, the original place I bought it from closed down so the link is for where I’ve found others on Amazon. Good luck!

  17. hello, thanks for the video and the instructions… however, isnt that shield the wifi antenna? will the wifi work without that black piece? thanks in advance!

    1. They probably won’t. After this model the back no longer slide off and became a part of the body (making this type of thing MUCH harder to do and companies haven’t made a kit yet).

    1. If you read the article you’d see this bold line from a long time ago: UPDATE 01.31.14: Seems the company that originally sold the light kit is no longer in business. Feel free to look for a similar kit here

      1. Was this the only one that you found? I’ll contact Amazon to see if it’ll be back in stock and update you. Thx so much!

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