i dropped my iphone in water

[jorsuss]

I was checking the phone if I got any calls or messages and I dropped it in the sink. I reached in and grabbed it right away but it was completely under water for a good 2 seconds. I wiped it off and turned it off right away. I tried to turn it back on and it just kept rebooting itself. I finally got it to turn off and then it would not go back on. I figured it was just wet still so I tried the rice trick and I let it sit outside in the sun to dry out. it turns out that the phone was completely drained of battery. I called pro care and finally got some juice in it and did a full restore. When everything was up and running again I noticed that the bottom half of the screen didn’t work. So I could not slide the bar to unlock the phone, which makes it virtually unusable. I went to the apple store and they are sending it away to get replaced or fixed. Now my question is how does it work with water damage? I’m pretty sure the water should have been dried up by now. I don’t care if I have to pay to get it fixed, I just don’t want to have to buy another $600 phone.

[dukeblue91]

Sorry to hear this.
It's my nightmare scenario.

[applehero]

OUCH! Hopefully it will not be too bad to fix.

[unity]

Leaving it in the sun may have done more damage than good.

If you drop a device in water, make sure it is turned off if still on and remove the battery - well, if you can.

Then let is sit for SEVERAL days. Just because it LOOKS dry does not mean it is, there are lots of places for water to sit.

Sorry it happened! If you are lucky, Apple may just replace it.

I wonder if there is a water-dot dye inside? Most phones have then, when it gets wet is changes to red or something.

[amemoryoncelost]

yeah, I've always been told, turn it off. Leave it off for at least a day and oddly enough, let it sit on top of the microwave for that day or longer...

[trainguy77]

Often when you turn electronic items back on it sometimes will fry components. So your best option is turn it off and leave it off for a couple days. I hope everything works out for you.

[jecapaga]

Man that is awful. What a nightmare! I'm sorry that happened to you. I dropped my ipod in the gutter and it was completely dunked for about 2 seconds. I wiped it off and figured it was dead. Turned it on the next day after drying out and it worked. I was amazed.

[robPOD]

This really sucks, my iPod nano went through a full cycle in the washing a machine (thanks mom) but I let it dry out near a heater for a few days and it now works fine. The other week I was on my MB when I spilled my glass of water , some of which went on/under my keyboard and my MB started going nuts eg the num lock kept flashing etc, again I left my MB by a heater for a few days and now it still works. All I can say is that maybe you didnt let your iPhne dry out enough and it is worth a shot at getting it replaced.

[woodbutcher]

A great way to help the internals dry out is to place it in a sealed tupperware container with as many silica gel packets as you can find. They ship with electronic and machinery because they draw the moisture out of the air, and capture it in their cells. I have used this method on other cell phones and it works great.

[meagain]

Good idea.... I suspect you could get silica in some quantity at a Craft store such as Hobby Lobby.

[diehardmacfan]

definently let it dry for at least 4 days. Recently i spilt 8 oz of water on my ibook and i let it dry, and every day i tested it. But it did not turn on until the 4th day. Wait as long as possible, and it should be fine.

[mrowl]

does the iPhone have a "water detection spot", like other cell phones?

[K-Funk]

I feel your pain. The other day I spilled milk on my TV remote, and now it doesn't work. That's $10 I'll never see again!!

Seriously, though, that sucks. I hope you can get it fixed.

[lofight]

I feel your pain. The other day I spilled milk on my TV remote, and now it doesn't work. That's $10 I'll never see again!!

Seriously, though, that sucks. I hope you can get it fixed.

lol
i also spilled milk on my remote and i just toke a cloth and wiped it off then all the buttons did other functions then after a week it worked back but then it broke in 2 because i dropped it from too far...

[vintagexsmiles]

On saturday dropped my iphone in the toilet.. i'm retarded. I just tried replacing it by telling them that it just "turned off" but where the headphone sticks in theres a dot thats like silverish.. its hard to see but you have to look in the headphone hole. Half of that turned red.. letting them know it had been dropped in water. Should I even try drying it out? It turned on for a second when they plugged it in with some fire cord or something.. but I think its fried. This sucks.. what should i do?

[synth3tik]

You should have not turned it back on.


You may have been able to save it if you left it off for a few days. You also could have found some information online about how to disassemble the phone to allow it to fully dry out.

You maybe able to get Apple to replace it, but it may be hard/

[dakooga]

Did the same with a Nokia phone (had it in my pocket and jumped in a pool)...

Red dot inside showed the water contact.

I did as others have suggested, took the phone apart, left it by a window for a few days and voila, worked fine except for a few keys on the number pad which needed to be pushed quite hard - not relevant for this iphone forum but for completeness this was solved by taking it apart more and releasing the key membrane and drying it properly).

The only thing I would suggest is that this is fine for all components EXCEPT the battery. Solid state boards are usually ok if they dry quickly, the boards are lacquered a certain amount and most components are sealed against air anyway. Batteries are not sealed, the cells that make up the battery are simply housed inside a plastic container and they usually short quickly in the water especially salt water. Again not relevant for an iphone since for reasons known only to Apple there's no user serviceable parts besides the SIM tray :)

Which means in all likely hood, if you drop your iphone in the water...the phone might be fine if allowed to dry - although you can't take it apart so leave it somewhere dry and warm for more than a couple of days and even then you'll probably have moisture in the screen - but the in-accessible battery will be dead.

DaKooga

[vintagexsmiles]

Okay so I got it to turn on... the only problem is the bottom half of the touch screen doesnt work.. it even rings if you call it and the contact and picture comes up but I cant pick up. But when I go to turn it off the top half will slide. (OF COURSE!) can anyone help me? thanks.

[ecks618]

Has anyone though of white out??

[gr8tfly]

I believe the worst case is the flat rate repair fee of $249 (last I heard anyway).

[Botts85]

Has anyone though of white out??

Bleach turned the water detection paper on my sony back to white, however, with drying out for 3 days, luckily it didn't need service, the battery nor the phone. I took it wakeboarding by accident, it was submerged for a solid 30 seconds, though I think it knew it got wet and turned off for protection.

[dakooga]

@vintagexsmiles I guess that semi good news...not sure about your screen. Other platforms have some replaeable parts including the screen but I think the iPhone is both too young and not designed for that sort of servicing...

Don't know what anyone else thinks though..

Did the screen dry out completely or is it a big foggy sometimes - remember the days when you digital watch got water on the inside and how impossible it was to dry out...

~ DaKooga

[lofight]

one time there was a little beer on my gsm and my cellphone was drunken, no really , my cellphone did things on his own, when i wasn't pressing anything, i just waited some days and it was over.

[zeemir]

i have 4gb iphone.i lost my sim tray any body help me where i gona buy sim tray.plz help me
:eek:

[Brianstorm91]

Isn't there a white dot in the bottom of the headphone jack which changes when it gets wet?
Not sure which way, though.
Good luck.

[trainguy77]

i have 4gb iphone.i lost my sim tray any body help me where i gona buy sim tray.plz help me
:eek:

Post a new thread, you will probably get help then.

[gillzj00]

Has anyone though of white out??

Yeah, I dropped my phone in the toilet while I was drunk. I grabbed it like super fast at the expense of getting my hand in my own piss. I turned it off for the night and turned it on the next morning. It worked perfect for about 3 weeks and now it giving me an error randomly. "This device does not work with the iPhone...". I'm not connecting it to anything this just pops up. I checked the watermark and it is half pink. I am a moral guy but forget paying another 400 bucks. What if I just put fingernail polish or like bleach on a q-tip or something. Will apple get it, figure it out and come arrest me? Or if I get it past the at&t guys at the store will I be home free?

Could I pay to have it fixed? I'm sure the little metal docking pieces are corroded. Do you think this problem will get better or worse over time?

[mpw]

My Nokia got dropped in the bath, a day on the window cill and you wouldn't suspect a thing. Tough as nails Nokias :D

[gillzj00]

anyone have any idea what I should do?

[ryan42]

The iPhone has one of those color changing water detectors at the bottom of the headphone jack.

[janitorC7]

What you should of done.

Filled a glass up with rubbing alcohol.

Drop in your phone, let it submerge, then remove and let it evaporate all the moisture, your phone will be dead (but at least you would only be paying for a new battery, and not for water damage)

JC7

[dapol0525]

I droped my I-phone 8 Gb in the pool and I found out 15 minutes later. The phone got very warm so I believe that may battery maybe death. I open my phone and I found a red square over the battery that I believed that is the sign that was dropped in water. Now I am going to let it dry in my car for a couple of days and try. Somebody knows where to buy a new battery

[slbjr]

I dropped my iphone in a toilet (yes, not good). I grabbed it within a few seconds but there was already water under the screen, phone shorting out, could not turn off, screen did not respond.

I took out the sim card, shook the phone in a towel, dried it with a hair dryer (not too hot), and then cooked it in the oven. Seriously!

I took a small baking pan, but about an inch of rice in the bottom to insulate the phone from the direct heat, and cooked it for 8 hours total at about 130 degrees. The phone works fine now! No trace of water except for the red half of the water sensor lit up (half white/half red now).

I hope you have my luck - and keep it away from water! I recommend turning it off if it will respond before you cook it, but I didn't have that option.

[drgade]

I droped my I-phone 8 Gb in the pool and I found out 15 minutes later. The phone got very warm so I believe that may battery maybe death. I open my phone and I found a red square over the battery that I believed that is the sign that was dropped in water. Now I am going to let it dry in my car for a couple of days and try. Somebody knows where to buy a new battery

I tryede the same - droped it in water, after i became very hot. Now it is dreing for day 2. Did you find a solution? replaced the battery and did it work??:(:(:(:(:(

[horrgakx]

I fell in a swimming pool a couple of years ago with my Nokia in my pocket. I removed the battery and let it dry for a few days. It worked fine when I tried it again but the backlight would not turn off. I sold it to a friend for £10.

However, several WEEKS later it fixed itself, must have dried thoroughly. And that was on a device that could be disassembled, let alone the iPhone.

[pdub68]

she dropped it in the pool, it was underwater for about 2 seconds. i used to sell cell phones, so i have brought several back after this happening, from both pool & bath tubs. the screen was still on when i got it out, but went off a few seconds later. i immediately put it in front of a fan, because this is what i had done with regular phones. i looked up how to take it apart, but decided against it, but i did take the sim card part out. i put it in her closet the first night. after that i put it back on the charger, but it never came on. it made noises a few times, but no lights ever. this happened last saturday, & today is thursday, so don't go spend $500 too quick. put your sim card in your old phone for a few days, & wait it out. she had given up hope, but just decided to check again today, & she just called me on it. so far she says everything is working, so hopefully it will continue to do so.

[dapol0525]

If you dropped in the water and this one gets warm you do nopt have too many options. in my case by accident I got into the pool and iI find out 15- or 30 minutes after. It got very warm, Very hot so Inew that chenmical reaction took placed. This was a 8 Gb i-phone so you can not open it so easy. I let it dry for few days but it did not work so i open it and dry it up. I found two red dots. I try the alcohol advice from other member of this forum without letting the batery to get wet with the alcohol but it did not work. No signs of life, Now I believe that this advise was not a good one that is something that I was not supposed to do. I let it dry (my phone) for two week in my car. I bought a new battery ( Google: I-phone battery $25-35 ) and I replace it but it did not work. During this time I used my sim card in a old phone. Therefore, I bought a new 16g i-phone. My old simcard did not work with the new i=phone so I had to get it activated to my same number but ATT gave me another two years of contract.
I should have wait for the new one that came to the market 2 months after but I did not know by then.

My advice is dry it up as soon as possible and do not do anything else such as alcohol etc. Then replace the batery and pray a lot that it will work again or just buy the new phone and get tied to ATT for another two years.

[ttech10]

i have 4gb iphone.i lost my sim tray any body help me where i gona buy sim tray.plz help me
:eek:

How did you lose that, of all things?

[drgade]

If you dropped in the water and this one gets warm you do nopt have too many options. in my case by accident I got into the pool and iI find out 15- or 30 minutes after. It got very warm, Very hot so Inew that chenmical reaction took placed. This was a 8 Gb i-phone so you can not open it so easy. I let it dry for few days but it did not work so i open it and dry it up. I found two red dots. I try the alcohol advice from other member of this forum without letting the batery to get wet with the alcohol but it did not work. No signs of life, Now I believe that this advise was not a good one that is something that I was not supposed to do. I let it dry (my phone) for two week in my car. I bought a new battery ( Google: I-phone battery $25-35 ) and I replace it but it did not work. During this time I used my sim card in a old phone. Therefore, I bought a new 16g i-phone. My old simcard did not work with the new i=phone so I had to get it activated to my same number but ATT gave me another two years of contract.
I should have wait for the new one that came to the market 2 months after but I did not know by then.

My advice is dry it up as soon as possible and do not do anything else such as alcohol etc. Then replace the batery and pray a lot that it will work again or just buy the new phone and get tied to ATT for another two years.

I let it dry for 4 days. Then the new battery came. I took the phone apart and took of the old battery, and let it dry for yet another 3 dayes. To day i solid the new battery on, and it immediately it came on - booting.
When “apple” booting screen came, i can se a lot of “stripes” behind the glass. I looks like it is not totally dry ore maybe the screen is damaged? it seems though that i could use - but i turned of the iPhone because it is not assemble yet.
advice please - let it dry more? can the glass come off, so that it can dry in between? ore just use it?

[rs20]

People, I dropped my phone last night and I checked this morning and it was acting stupid. u know the volume button on the side, everytime I try to turn up the volume, the volume automatically goes back down and on the screen the ringer picture comes up. I was wondering, since my phone is unlocked and jail broken, can i still send it to apple? to get it fixed or something? i think its been over a year though, so im guessing that options out the window. the phone seems so worthless now.

[mpw]

If you ignored your agreement with Apple, hacked the phone, dropped it in water and it's not even under warranty I'm guessing you're right that Apple aren't going to be able/willing to fix it for you economically. Sorry.

[rs20]

dang it! I was planning on selling it too now I can't even charge more than 150 for the phone. Anyways, thanks alot.

[Darth.Titan]

Wow, threadjackers galore in this thread...

[mpw]

Wow, threadjackers galore in this thread...

Really? where?

[Annabell12]

I just joined the "i dropped my iphone 3G in the toilet" club, and was in mourning for a couple of days:(. The phone was on standby mode when it fell in, i had no idea I had dropped it until i was getting ready to do my necesities, i noticed something that looked like a phone in the toilet and tought...'who in the world would drop their phone in the toilet?!' needless to say, as i turned around to observe it better, It hit me...OMG!!!:eek: it was my iphone 3G!!!! NOOOOO!!! I quickly retreived it...had no idea how long it was in there for since i didnt even hear it fall in from my back pocket! Wrapped it up in toilet paper and i noticed the screen was already malfunctioning, it was turning on and off, and everything was out of place, like the slider button was on top and reversed:confused: . Couldn't do nothing else, but wait until i got back home. when i got home the next day, i took out the sims card and thought of a good way to suck all that moisture out! So I decided to put it in the dryer, on the shoe rack, on the lowest setting possible, i did this over and over until I noticed the moisture on the camera lense was gone. Then I took it out and let it cool for about a day. The next day i placed the sims card back in and tryied to turn it on, but it wouldn't turn on, so I was starting to loose hope, then I decided to charge it, and sure enough, right after pluging it in, I reset it and Ta-da!! it works!! exept for that big water stain on the screen, but IT Works!!!

[tongteh]

hair dryer does work... i tried it.. :D look at my thread yesterday.. :D

[techfan]

I actually did take my iphone apart thinking there was no hope and yes there are two water damage dots on the inside. I'm gonna let it dry out for a few days then hope for the best.

[chabig]

My son dropped his 16G iPhone in the toilet. He fished it out in seconds, but it was dead. After drying out for two weeks in a ziploc baggie with silica gel packets, he thought it was still dead. But when plugged it, it charged and booted. Trouble was that it wouldn't hold a charge. So I replaced the battery for $20 and now it's back in business!

[jonycuba]

I got my iphone wet and I put it for 3 days in a sac of rice. Now it is working perfectly. I couldn't believe it, and yeah, the rice trick works. I just wanted to share it with everybody.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[iphonechica]

:apple:Two weeks ago, i dropped my brand new iphone4g in my sink while texting. I immediately brought it out to see that it had turned off, i turned it back on and everything was fine....or so i thought. The speaker stopped working after a few minutes and i couldn't turn it off. I called my father and he said he had once dropped his iphone3g in the also. He told me to leave it in a rice box (you know, one that is shaped like a rectangular prism and filled with rice?)
So i did, i put it face up, sitting on top of the rice, and closed the lid. This was supposed to take all the water out of the phone as the rice absorbed it. My father and brother upgraded to iphone4g's a few days later, and my father gave me his old 3g. Two weeks later today, i finally took out my phone from the rice box....( i had been counting down the days on my calender because it was so tempting to open the box up ).....and what do you know? It works!!! I turned it on, the speaker is perfectly fine, i can use earphones or play it outloud, play games, everything. People say this rice thing is a myth, but it's not. It might be your only hope if you've dropped your
iphone4g in water, cause those things are NOT water proof haha. It worked for me, so, if it's your last resort, and you MUST have a phone, use a temporary one, and resist from opening it. It works, try it

[iphonechica]

[QUOTE=Annabell12;6626033]congratulations!!! i did the same thing but i have the iphone4g, i freaked out too haha, unfortunatly, i don't even think the 4g HAS a sim card, so my dad told me to put it in a rice box for a couple weeks, now it works, i'm so excited:D

[smileneway]

My iphone 3GS fell in toilet on Wednesday. I shook as much water out as i could, then 5 hours later i put the phone in a tupperware container with rice. The following evening, the screen no longer contained condensation and the camera lens also appeared dry. So I decided to let it charge over night. Throughout the night the phone would vibrate as if I had a text coming in, but the phone never turned on. This morning i connected the phone to my computer, and my files showed i took a screen shot of the screen where have to type in a password in order to use the phone. So apparently, my phone is still functional, but I can't see anything on the screen. Any suggestions?

[chargit]

My iphone 3GS fell in toilet on Wednesday. I shook as much water out as i could, then 5 hours later i put the phone in a tupperware container with rice. The following evening, the screen no longer contained condensation and the camera lens also appeared dry. So I decided to let it charge over night. Throughout the night the phone would vibrate as if I had a text coming in, but the phone never turned on. This morning i connected the phone to my computer, and my files showed i took a screen shot of the screen where have to type in a password in order to use the phone. So apparently, my phone is still functional, but I can't see anything on the screen. Any suggestions?

your lcd may have went out. normally that doesnt happen when you get a water damaged iPhone but im working on one right now and thats what happened with it!

[smileneway]

Thanks chargit. I guess I better start saving for a new phone:(

[pooryou]

I accidentally swallowed my iPhone (don't ask). Should I try to induce vomiting or wait for it to come out another way?

[Gadgetgeezer]

Any water damaged phone must be presented to a decent repairer ASAP. I have fixed quite a few now with contact cleaner, a small brush and a pin plus my trusty microscope. Sooner you get it there the better since corrosion soon takes hold.

[Rhs30]

My Iphone just got wet as well. I got home from a baseball game and put my uniform in the wash with my phone in the pocket. My stupidity caused my phone to go through a whole wash cycle. I'm letting it dry for a couple days before i act, however, I came across a sight which claims 90% success rate at drying Iphones. At 40$ it's much cheaper than the above mentioned fix of $249. Hope it helps.

http://www.ifixyouri.com/blog/?tag=iphone-4-water-damage

[Apple OC]

My Iphone just got wet as well. I got home from a baseball game and put my uniform in the wash with my phone in the pocket. My stupidity caused my phone to go through a whole wash cycle. I'm letting it dry for a couple days before i act, however, I came across a sight which claims 90% success rate at drying Iphones. At 40$ it's much cheaper than the above mentioned fix of $249. Hope it helps.

http://www.ifixyouri.com/blog/?tag=iphone-4-water-damage

The site seems suspect