Chosen Solution
I want to change the back plate on my ipod touch 4 gen and can’t seem to find out how. It does not have any screws.
Jane Thomas, there are plenty of screws that keep it all in place :-) Check this guide, it’ll get you close to the back plate. Lots of work and a bit of a PITA to do it. Keep all the screws marked so as to know where they go back into. Here is the complete teardown, it is not a guide, but should show you the extend of the work needed to replace the back. Hope this helps, good luck.
Replacing back case without tearing the button flex cable is extremely difficult since in the factory the cable is installed into the case first, then soldered onto the board after the board is installed. The ifixit guide made it backways because they tried to pull everything out. If you can do soldering, then refurbishing this device is much easier and straightforward. I consider replacing the case of iPod touch 4 as complete refurbishment because it is simply too difficult to just replace the back case. Discard the old battery, copper adhesive and flex cable, buy new ones and putting them together is more worthy of the effort and actually easier.
Everything is taken out from the front side. There are guides on this website. It is also not an easy repair to attempt.
Check out these videos on Youtube: Back Housing Replacement iPod Touch / Full Disassembly / Taking Apart - 4th Generation http://youtu.be/0ScpTGGqb3U Back Housing Replacement - iPod Touch 4th Generation - Part 2 http://youtu.be/SBRfagwk4II It might be helpful to see how it’s done step by step.
