How many times have you almost dropped your iPhone into a puddle? How many times have you dropped it into a puddle only to have it get ruined by its encounter?
Most people would buy a whole new iPhone at this point, especially since most warranties don’t cover water damage, but you may not have to. A water damaged iPhone can be repaired, if you know what you’re doing; however, there is no completely foolproof method of repairing a water damaged iPhone. These tips though should at least help.
1) Get The iPhone Dried Fast
If your iPhone accidentally takes a swim, get it out of the water as fast as you can and check it out. Occasionally, if you’re lucky, your iPhone will work, or at least still partially work. Next, dry your wet iPhone with a towel, as much as you can, and try any one of the following.
2) Turn Your iPhone Off
Leave it turned off for 48-72 hours so it can air dry and not get fried by being turned on with water in the circuits. Put the iPhone somewhere warm and well ventilated, but not too hot or you’ll do even more damage to your phone. And, don’t turn it on for the duration of up to seventy two hours or the drying effect will be ruined. For some people, this works, other times, not so much.
3) Remove the Battery and Sim
As soon as you get iPhone out of water, remove it’s battery and also remove SIM card, removing battery will ensure that there is no short circuit happens inside the phone because of water as current keeps flowing even if it is turned off. Removing SIM will save your sim from any damage however normally SIM does not get damaged by getting wet.
4) Remove excess water
You can always remove excess water by various means, like putting it in Towel, Shaking the iPhone, wrapping in Newspaper and then shaking. Do whatever you can to remove most of the water, after that only few droplets of water will be left inside phones which can be removed or dried following next few steps.
5) Use Ear Buds
You can use Ear buds to reach to those areas where your finger, papers and towels can not reach use ear buds to clean those area, You can make your own by using cotton and needle to clean it up.
6) Use Vacuum Cleaner
You can also use vacuum cleaner to suck extra water out of iPhone. If you have Air blower that can also be used at low temperature setting to dry it. Any kind of Air blower or dryer can be used, basically water will vaporize when air blows through the iPhone, remember Air and water can reach in tiny holes which we can’t even see.
7) Freeze Your iPhone
Put the iPhone in the fridge. It sounds bizarre, but the cool air will draw out any moisture safely. Make sure to place it on a towel first and do not put it in the freezer or the LCD screen will be damaged. Take it out every ten minutes to check on it until it is dry.
8 ) Pull Your iPhone Apart
If you’re technologically savvy, as a last resort you can pull apart your iPhone and dry and clean each piece individually and put it back together again. You have nothing to lose. The warranty is probably already null from the water damage and some iPhone users have done this before and had their iPhone working again. You may find that you have to replace a few pieces, but this is still cheaper than a complete replacement or having the Apple company repair the Iphone for you.
9) Put Rice With The iPhone
Towel dry it and put your water damaged iPhone into a dry zip lock bag filled with white rice and leave it somewhere warm and dry for twenty four hours. The rice will draw out the moisture without damaging your phone.
Although your first instinct with a water damaged iPhone is to scream and then buy a replacement one, you might not have to. Although there is no guaranteed way to repair a water damaged iPhone, the above tips may work for you and save you a lot of time and heartache.
yeah i knocked over a spitter with snuff spit in it and it went all over my iphone. it will come up to the lock screen but wont let me slide it or ne thing. i have it in a baggie full of rice. do you think this could possibly work?? thanks.
The rice tip really works I dropped my iPhone in a cup of lemonade and was totally sadden until someone told mr snout this rice trick. At first it work but the screen was still dark but I put it ba k in the rice for a while and now my iPhone works like it was never even wet!! Great post!!
hi i dropped my iphone in the toilet last night and straight away i switched it off ( preventing it short circuiting) and took the sim card out with a paper clip as i was at work.
as soon as i got home roughly 2 hours later i put it straight into a bag full of rice ( so the phone is fully covered ) and put it in a draw for roughly 16 hours
and now it works likes never before
haha i accidently found my phone in the washing machine this morning after i left it in my pocket, screen was already black and wouldnt turn on anyway, so ive tried it as much as i can (with a towel) and now have it in a bag of rice, sealed, hopefully this does the job, i plan to leave it in there for at least 24 hours, wish me luck haha
ok so i did all of this…. THANK GOD!!! it worked like….. better than before but now whenever i charge it it wont stop switching from the apple sign to the low battery screen…. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
I cant even unlock it or anything. i leave it on the charger for like 3days and it wont stop. I cant even do anything!!!!!
I was with my iphone 4 in the hot spring for atleast 5 minutes. It was off and left it to dry. Tried to switch on the iphone didnt work. Blow dried it inn low heat Nothing… Tried charging it Nothing… After all this my last resorts were rice and apple. I left in the a sealed rice bag for almost 3days. Today switching it on it worked with a charger. But it has a problem with the battery i think cause it switches on and off continuously. Any one know the remedy for this? Thanks
My 7yo dropped in toilet with telling and when I found out I took out of otter box but the bottom rubber sealing for charge opening had been left open. Everything works fine except getting message that this accessory isn’t optimized for apple device and won’t let outside speaker for music/video play. The ringer is completely off but the sometimes it will pop on and then back off. Updated to iOS 5.1 and now that message doesn’t come up but my ringer volumne control will not stay on and won’t work for headphones have to use Bluetooth and those run down so fast. Any suggestions, have you heard of this before. Please inbox me, thanks in advance.
Got an iphone 4 went into a salt water pool wont start so ive put it in a bag of rice right now guess will have to wait 3 days and see if it works :S
OK, guys, here’s a little more on wet phones. A couple of nights ago, I threw a laundromat party and I got sloshed! In the middle of the night I woke up all wet; I had pissed myself. It wasn’t till the next morning that I pulled my phone out of my wet pants and it was all messed up. I tried all the drying techniques, but they didn’t work.
Now here’s what you need to know.
If your phone is dropped in regular water all you have to do is shut it off immediately, and get it dry;
I had to pull my phone completely apart, down to the 4th layer of my slider phone, but I found the problem and it was obvious because I could see the corrosion. I used a tiny wire brush and some Q-tips with 91% rubbing alcohol to clean the terminals. The affected spot was on the back of the circuit board where one of those little square black IC (integrated circuit) chips was plugged in. There was a little 12 x 12 grid of solder connections that had been short circuited.
If you need a set of little screw drivers, go to Dollar Tree and get one for a dollar!
The best way to dry your phone is with Silica Gel Desiccant . It is sold at hobby lobby in the floral section. It does the same thing as the rice, but better and faster. You should wrap you phone in toilet paper before you put it in the Silica Gel or rice to prevent a little granule from going up you headphone jack.
My 3yr Old Son washed the Iphone Completely, First I dried all the Water with out Opening the Iphone . Dried it for 7 hrs in wrm place.. When I found the tip of Rice … Tried that … It works Wonders … My Iphone is Working now………… Thanks For the Tip …
So, yesterday I was wrapping presents in the unfinished part of my basement(so my kids wouldn’t see). Unfortunately that’s also where my small older sump pump opening is(for just ground water since I live in the country)! I must have bumped the box my new Iphone 4S was sitting on and it fell in the sump hole which was full of water and I didn’t realize it for about 40 minutes. I took it out and dried it off but it keep heating up and cooling. I called Apple since I have the extended warranty but they told me that water damage isn’t covered. She then put me on hold and when she came back she told me to bring it in and they’ll replace it FREE!! They must have felt sorry for me since it’s almost Christmas. LOL!!
Water has got into my iphone4 it still works but the screen has dark patches around the edge. I think moisture has got in side it. Can someone pls tell me what i should do.
Thanks
Guys,
some more here. If it has fallen into dirty water or sugarwater or urine or whatever, best is to open it with the bottome two screws, take the battery out, and stick it into distilled water for a good period. This will dissolve the minerals, then take it out, towel it carefully, airdry with a vacuum cleaner (sucking, not blowing), and then close it (without the battery, wrap in a light cloth, and stick in a sealed bag with rice or silica as described above ! You might prevent to completely disassemble it in case of corrosion shorts from the dirt on some IC..
Good luck !
My iPhone 4 had dropped into the water.it was switched off automatically. I was out of station so I couldn’t do anything. As soon as I was back, I brought my cell to a technician who put my phone in the rice and everything what he can do. Now it starts well but there z no display. What should I do?
I accidentally washed my iPhone 4s today with my sheets and 10 mins into the wash I realized it was missing. Currently, it’s in a bag with siclia gel and rice. It turns off and on but there is water inside it. Does anybody know if the phone usually turns on if it’s friend?