Installing Originals

Everything you need is in the set. Nothing else is required.

• 1 Corner with a camera lens cutout
• 3 identical Corners without cutaway
• 2 sets of 4 C4 custom 3M adhesives
• Alcohol cleaning pad
• Single-use 3M primer ampule
• Wooden trimming tool

Corners4 were designed as a non-permanent, non-destructive application. Applied correctly, they will absolutely stay in place. Take ten unhurried minutes over it.

1. Step 01

   Lay everything out

   Put the phone and all the parts on the protective paper the set ships on, on a clean flat surface in good light. Take any existing case off — Corners4 bond to a bare iPhone.

2. Step 02

   Clean all four corners

   Wipe each corner of the phone thoroughly with the alcohol cleaning pad, covering the front glass, the rear glass and the band between them. Let it dry completely. Skin oil is what stops an adhesive bonding, so a corner that looks clean but has been handled all day is not.

3. Step 03

   Break the primer seal

   Squeeze the primer ampule at the black dot until the seal breaks and the liquid flows into the tip.

4. Step 04

   Prime the phone

   Apply the primer to all four corners of the phone — the top and bottom glass and the edges between them.

5. Step 05

   Prime the Corners

   Apply the primer to the inside surfaces of each Corner, where the adhesive will sit.

6. Step 06

   Apply the adhesives

   Press an adhesive strip firmly onto each corner of the phone, then peel away the white protective backing.

7. Step 07

   Seat the Corners

   Slide each Corner into place, wiggling it forward onto the corner, then apply firm pressure — Corner to phone — for 30 seconds. The Corner with the cutout goes on the corner nearest the camera lens. Press straight in rather than twisting: a rotational movement while the adhesive is grabbing shears the bond before it forms.

8. Step 08

   Leave it alone for 24 hours

   It takes about 24 hours for the adhesive to reach full adhesion. For that first day, take care not to pull or snag the Corners — no pockets full of keys, no peeling at an edge to check it is stuck.

Originals are domes, so there is no way up to get wrong — but there is still a correct position. Each piece is machined to cradle the corner, so it wants to sit flush against the band with an equal amount of the dome standing proud of the front and rear glass.

One Corner in every set has a cutout for the camera lens. That piece goes on the corner nearest the camera; the other three are identical.

Judge each corner against the phone's own edges rather than against the other corners. On rounded-rail iPhones — the X, XR, 11 and SE — there is no edge to register against, so alignment is judged entirely by eye and the dry fit is worth taking longer over.

This is what the second set of adhesives is for. A misaligned corner on a first installation is normal, not a defect.

1. Pull the piece off with a firm finger. The adhesive is non-permanent and comes away without taking the phone's finish with it.
2. Remove all adhesive from inside the piece — a pair of tweezers is ideal — and rub any residue off the phone with your hand or a soft cloth.
3. Clean and dry both surfaces again.
4. Apply a fresh adhesive strip from the second set and repeat the seating steps.

Never re-use a strip. Once a piece has been removed the original adhesive loses some of its tack, which is why a second full set ships in every box.

Anodised aluminium is hard and durable and needs nothing special day to day. Wipe the Corners as you would the phone, and avoid abrasive cleaners and solvents, which dull a polished finish and flatten the contrast on a sculpted one.

To remove a set, pull each piece off with a firm finger and rub away any residue. Because removal is non-destructive, a set can come off before a repair, a trade-in or a resale without leaving evidence it was ever there.

To move a set to a replacement phone of the same model, remove it, clean both the pieces and the new phone, and apply fresh strips.