Hey all! I have a couple questions for you. Answers to any/all would be appreciated! You can skip to tl;dr if you don’t want the additional context.

Someone I know replaced their iPhone 11 with the iPhone 17 Pro Max the other day. They got a screen protector for the first time, at my recommendation, and went with the GOTO brand in store for $40.

Since there are so many options on Amazon, I figured we’d save ourselves the research on screen protectors and buy in store. We were thinking that even if it’s the cheaper option of the two, it’s still $40 and carried directly by T-Mobile, so it should still be reputable, right?

The protector is also off-center. I also had a new screen protector, same brand, put on my iPhone 14 Plus recently. We noticed that had a whole box to stabilize the phone, whereas the iPhone 17 Pro Max screen protector simply had a plastic piece plug into the charging port, which is the only way the protector’s angle stabilized before applying. The protector is off-center a little, so we’re thinking this could be the cause.

Anyway, fast forward a day and the corner is chipped. One more day and it’s got a long crack running the length of the phone. They have not dropped their new phone. They have only taken it to work and back (purse, car, desk, and actually using the phone). There is nothing in their purse that could have pressed against the screen and cracked the protector.

This person is incredibly careful with their phones — the iPhone 11, which had a case, but no screen protector, was in perfect condition when turned in. Only needed the screen fixed one time in all these years.

Tl;dr and questions

Screen protector chipped/cracked seemingly out of the blue on day one. This person is incredibly careful with their phone. The employee put it on slightly off-kilter. Here are my questions:

1. Most importantly, could this be due to the employee placing it slightly off-center from the new application process? Does that make a screen protector less likely to work as intended?

2. How reputable are the GOTO screen protectors? We figured it would be decent since it was sold in store.

3. What is your experience with GOTO relative to how careful you are with your phone?

4. What do you think is the best course of action now? We are going to ask for a replacement, or ask to buy the Zagg for $20 since we already sank $40 into the GOTO with disappointing results. Never hurts to ask!