Dead Pixel vs Stuck Pixel: How to Tell Them Apart and What You Can Fix
A dot on your screen that never changes can be a dead pixel, a stuck pixel, or just dust. They look similar but have different causes, and only one of them can sometimes be fixed. Here is how to tell them apart in a couple of minutes.
Start with a clean screen
Wipe the screen with a dry microfiber cloth before you test anything. A speck of dust or a smudge under bright light looks exactly like a bad pixel. If the dot moves when you wipe, or when you look at the screen from an angle, it is on the glass, not in the panel.
Run the color test
- Open the screen color test and go full screen. Turn the brightness up.
- Step through black, white, red, green and blue. Hold the phone at arm’s length first, then look closely at each corner and along the edges.
- Each time you see a dot, note which background colors it shows up on. That tells you what kind of fault it is.
What you are looking at
- Dead pixel: black on every color, most obvious on white. The pixel gets no power or its circuit has failed. It can’t be fixed with software.
- Stuck pixel: always lit in one color (red, green or blue), most obvious on black. Part of the pixel is stuck on. These sometimes recover on their own or with a pixel-flashing video.
- Hot pixel: always white, even on black. Treat it like a stuck pixel.
- Several dots, a patch or a spreading stain: usually pressure or impact damage, or liquid under an LCD. That is a panel problem, not a pixel problem.
- A thin line across the screen: a failing row or column driver or a loose display cable. It often follows a drop.
Can a stuck pixel be fixed?
Sometimes. The usual method is to flash red, green, blue and white very quickly over the spot for 10 to 20 minutes, which can nudge the pixel back into working. Our stuck pixel fixer does this in the browser, with a small box you move over the pixel and a timer. It works more often on LCD monitors than on phone OLED screens, and it doesn’t work on dead pixels at all. Skip the old advice about pressing on the pixel with a cloth: on a phone that can crack the panel or create new pressure marks.
Burn-in is a different problem
On OLED phones, a faint outline of the keyboard, navigation bar or status icons that stays on a gray background is burn-in, not dead pixels. It comes from uneven wear over months. Our burn-in test uses mid-gray screens that make it easier to see. Mild image retention that fades after a few minutes is normal; burn-in that stays is permanent.
Is one bad pixel worth a return?
Phone makers and retailers set their own rules, and most don’t publish an exact pixel count. If the phone is new, check the return window, which is usually much easier than a warranty claim. Take a photo of the dot on a black or white background with the date visible. If you are buying used, a single stuck pixel near the edge might be worth a small discount; a line, a patch or several dots means a screen replacement, which is often the most expensive repair on a phone.
Check touch while you are there
A screen that looks perfect can still have a dead strip in the touch layer. Run the touch screen test and fill every square. A row of squares that won’t turn green is a digitizer fault, which usually means replacing the same display assembly.