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archieafroz

macrumors newbie
Jun 2, 2008
6
0
Iphone In swimming Pool !!!

So here's the deal. I went for a swim keeping my iphone on my towel. Finished swimming and picked up my towel and and didnt realize my phone was on it. wiped myself and everything and was looking for my phone. And all of a sudden i stamped on something inside the pool to find out it was my IPHONE .

Took it out to find that it didnt respond to anything i did. And all of a sudden the phone went blank......

Went to my apartment and placed the phone in front of light bulb.

1st Day

Place the phone facing the back cover( apple logo ) towards and bulb and removing the sim card cover. Didnt turn it on or charged it .. NOTHING. DONT EVEN TOUCH IT... FORGET U HAVE AN IPHONE.

2nd Day

Woke up and turned my iphone towards the screen facing the light bulb. Dont turn it on or charge it. Still forget u have an IPHONE.

3rd Day

Woke up and changed the side again. The back cover facing the light bulb. Let it Go , dont touch it if u ever want it to work.

4th Day

Woke up and switched it on to find that there is still some water on the screen. But it switched and and tried to " slide to open" and it worked ... Well there was still some water in the screen and i knew the touch response would stop eventually if all the water hasent been evaporated. so kept the phone back in front on the light bulb ( the screen facing the bulb ).

5th day

woke up and tried to turn it on. Turned on well and the water thad evaporated too. And when i tried to " slide to open " it , it didnt respond to my touch. Grrr..... felt like throwing it out the window. I didnt . Placed it back in front of the light bulb facing the screen. Didnt touch it the whole day.

6th Day

woke up and prayed that it starts well. Switched on the Phone. The apple logo. "SLIDE TO OPEN" . and it opened and for the first time in 6 days i saw my home screen. Tried to open all the applications , and stated my music and kept it going on until battery went dead ( for any moisture left, the phone would heat up and drain it out ).

So thats my story hope it helps anyone out there. Just remember to place the IPHONE 6 Inches away from the bulb so it wouldnt heat it too much.

Well need any help let me know.

Thanx and best of luck
 

tmonnett

macrumors newbie
Aug 11, 2008
2
0
Careful with the bag of rice

Just short of a month with my iPhone 3G and sure enough, ploop into the water it went (my small dog has a soup mug of water on my nightstand). It fell in head first (sim card slot end), and I grabbed it within 3 seconds, but no response at all.

I took out the sim card, which worked just fine in my old Treo 650 - after a couple of days in a zipped baggie with a cup of rice, all signs of moisture had disappeared, including the visible puddle under the screen. Good as new, right?

Not quite. When I went to insert the sim card, it wouldn't go quite all the way in. Turns out a piece of rice had gotten down into the slot (which I left open for drying purposes). It was wedged in there so tight, I gave up and went to the Genius Bar. Guy there got it out and said "now don't open that slot again."

He never even asked me how it happened, but I told him anyway - the best part being he checked my moisture sensor and it was unchanged... (Plus they didn't charge me anything and got a chuckle to boot.)

FWIW, though - if you're going to put your iPhone in a bag of rice, stick the phone in a piece of nylon stocking first . . .
 

GHST

macrumors newbie
Aug 12, 2008
16
0
Cambridge,MA
tried it and true... Silicone the black one the gasket maker one... Put a pea size amount in there let it set and cure over 24 hours and it will water proof the sensor :):apple:
 

coco0612

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2008
14
0
Hey guys, My 1st gen iphone was left outsidde where it took humidity and maybe a little rain, let it dry for two days, hairdryer, towel, blowing ect

and it turns on when i plug it to it's power cable showing me the itunes connect to pc logo but when i plug the usb to the iphone, the iphone just doesn't react, doesn't turn on, so i basically cannot do anything with my iphone... don't know what to do!:confused:
 

AkenanM

macrumors newbie
Jun 30, 2007
12
0
If you drop in water, NEVER HEAT, use rubbing alcohol

A little chemistry advice:

If you drop your phone in water....let it air dry. Then soak it in isopropyl alcohol. One of the biggest issues with electronics and water is not necessarily the water - but the charged minerals left behind as a residue. You need to get rid of those residues before the phone will work again. After you soak it in the rubbing alcohol, dry it off and let it air dry for a bit longer.
 

RobK7

macrumors newbie
Sep 13, 2007
12
0
A little chemistry advice:

If you drop your phone in water....let it air dry. Then soak it in isopropyl alcohol. One of the biggest issues with electronics and water is not necessarily the water - but the charged minerals left behind as a residue. You need to get rid of those residues before the phone will work again. After you soak it in the rubbing alcohol, dry it off and let it air dry for a bit longer.

Can't the alcohol damage any glued parts that might be inside?
 

nc7r

macrumors member
Feb 1, 2007
99
0
I keep having nightmares that I dive in to a swimming pool or the sea with my iPhone in my pocket but only notice mid-dive which is pretty distressing!

The new 3G ones have water sensors in the dock connector too which turn pink when near heavy condensation, sweat or other liquids.

I wonder whether Tipp-ex would be enough to validate warranty..
 

spicer

macrumors newbie
Oct 21, 2008
1
0
I'm not sure what happened to my iPhone, maybe water damage but the sound keeps disappearing (phone, music, unlock slider etc) and I keep getting an iPhone accessory incompatibility error all the time?

Anyone have any idea how to fix this? Thanks
 

michaelb1984

macrumors newbie
Oct 30, 2008
1
0
Yay, this morning I woke up and had my iphone on the shelf above my toilet.... while in the shower I heard something fall, right into the toilet my phone went. After drying it out with rubbing alc, I restored it and to my surprise it actually works, now the thing is... it wont read my sim card. Any suggestions?
 

brn2ski00

macrumors 68020
Aug 16, 2007
2,239
12
MA
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.

That is ridiculous but amazing all at the same time.

OP, this stinks and I hope everything works out for you.
 

777.benny

macrumors newbie
Jan 7, 2009
1
0
fully operational iphone after water

Damn! Complete accident! I had my iphone in my top pocket at bent over the sink and the phone fell in. I quickly dried it and tried to turn it off but it wouldn't. It just kept saying something about this adapter will not work with the iphone. I tried to restart by holding down home and top button and it finally restarted. However, now the whole bottom half of the screen is not sensitive to touch. Once the phone locks I can't do anything. I can only answer calls by using my bluetooth headset to answer. I heard some stuff about Apple knowing if has been damaged by checking a water sensor. Does anyone know this to be true? Man, accidents happen and I just really don't want to have to pay for a whole new phone.


I recentely dropped an iphone in water, it was completely logged.
i dried it off, went home put it in the oven with dorr open and on low for 3 5 minute periods, i saw that there was still condensation in the canmera lens so i got the blow drier and spent half an hour heating the iphone concentrating on the connector part, waited til cool and observed if condensation had completely left, continued until this was accomplished, then sat for 3weeks. I sdaid a prayer to jesus then connected the phone to its charger and pRESTO!!! completely opperational phone.... until 2 weeks ago when the screen went blank for good hehe, i can hear it beep when i plug it into a charger lol.
 

scottybubatty

macrumors newbie
Mar 26, 2009
1
0
my iphone is back to life!

first of all, the tragic story of how my phone got wet starts here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEZb02MLpF4

After fully submerging my phone in a pond, I immediately tried to turn it off. I knew that if I could turn it off before it short-circuited I might be OK, but every time I turned it off it would reboot. This was driving me crazy.

When we got back to the house my gf went at it with a hairdryer. At some point, it turned off on its own. I took this to mean that it had finally died. I suspected that the air blowing into the phone had pushed it into some circuitry.

Then I buried it in a big air tight jar of rice. I waited 24 hours. I turned it on. It responded by telling me that the battery was dead. I plugged it in and it works! Everything is working perfectly.

So if you are in distress right now, because I was, you should know that there is hope! Your iphone may live again!
 

szabo84

macrumors newbie
Feb 18, 2009
2
0
just dropped mine into a puddle! opened my car door to get out not knowing there was a puddle beneath me and it fell into it completely submerged. Luckily i had a case on it so the screen an buttons and touch sensor work fine but none of the speakers work. i cant here people or talk to them. or play music. im baking it in the oven as we speak. never thought i'd say that.
 

ryams27

macrumors newbie
Apr 6, 2009
1
0
Hey guys,

I am currently going through this myself, and was hoping you guys could offer some advice about how best to proceed.

On Saturday afternoon (two days ago), I dropped my iPhone 3G in the toilet (which, thankfully, was spotless at the time). Although it was completely submersed momentarily, I retrieved it almost instantly and began shaking the water from it, blowing in the headphone jack and dock connector, and drying with a towel/hair dryer.

While it initially acted a little screwed up (I think it gave me the Emergency Call screen briefly), it quickly rebounded and appeared to be functioning fine. Within a matter of 10 minutes or so, however, the touchscreen lost all functionality. I also began getting the "airplane mode" prompt repeatedly. The buttons on the phone, however, still worked perfectly.

Since that time, the phone has been sitting idle, although the power has been on (reset it a few times, but didn't know how to power it off with the touchscreen not working). During that time, I received several calls/texts that could not be answered/responded to due to the touchscreen. Finally, this morning, the battery ran out of power, and the phone turned off.

After being off for about an hour or two, I plugged the phone back into my computer, as I was planning to try a restore, etc. Well, what do you know--after powering back, everything is apparently working perfectly.

While things appear to be fine for now, I'm concerned that this is merely a temporary revival, and I want to be sure that it keeps working properly (and many people warn not to use the device after being exposed to water).

Do you guys have any advice as to what to do? Should I power it down and keep it off for a while? Try the rice trick? Or do you think I'm in the clear?

As a risk averse person, I would just power it down for several days to be extra safe, but I rely on my phone quite heavily on a daily basis for my job, so I don't want to be without it unless others think using it right now is a bad policy.

Thoughts?
 

illjazz

macrumors regular
Apr 18, 2008
227
2
Heya all.. I googled "iphone water" and this thread was one of the first results :). Well, it finally happened to me as well. And the worst part is.. I didn't even do it! I went to work out at the gym and when I came back, left my iPhone in a pocked of my workout pants in the bathroom. I showered and went to my room, hanging out for about two hours before I started to wonder where my phone is. (Happens all the time.. I displace it, then call myself from the land line to find it. I'm sure this happens to all of us from time to time). Except this time, my mom took all the dirty laundry from the bathroom and put it in the wash! Once I realized what had happened, I immediately tried calling the phone and it kept going straight to voicemail.. a clear sign. Calls to me NEVER go straight to voicemail. Well, it only spent a few minutes in the laundry machine.. but it was enough to completely soak it in detergent-y water. This was Friday night.. so something like 50 hours ago. I tried turning it on once yesterday but got no response.

By the time I took it out of the machine, it was off. I'm guessing it just died and I doubt I'll be able to do anything to revive this one.. but I'll be damned if I don't try :)

Does the fact that the water was loaded with detergent make matters worse? Something tells me that it does..
 

bushbaby

macrumors 6502a
Aug 12, 2007
539
38
SoCal
Heya all.. I googled "iphone water" and this thread was one of the first results :). Well, it finally happened to me as well. And the worst part is.. I didn't even do it! I went to work out at the gym and when I came back, left my iPhone in a pocked of my workout pants in the bathroom. I showered and went to my room, hanging out for about two hours before I started to wonder where my phone is. (Happens all the time.. I displace it, then call myself from the land line to find it. I'm sure this happens to all of us from time to time). Except this time, my mom took all the dirty laundry from the bathroom and put it in the wash! Once I realized what had happened, I immediately tried calling the phone and it kept going straight to voicemail.. a clear sign. Calls to me NEVER go straight to voicemail. Well, it only spent a few minutes in the laundry machine.. but it was enough to completely soak it in detergent-y water. This was Friday night.. so something like 50 hours ago. I tried turning it on once yesterday but got no response.

By the time I took it out of the machine, it was off. I'm guessing it just died and I doubt I'll be able to do anything to revive this one.. but I'll be damned if I don't try :)

Does the fact that the water was loaded with detergent make matters worse? Something tells me that it does..


Yeah, I think so. I'm not clear if your phone was just sitting in the water as the machine was filling or if it actually started the wash cycle? Either way, this isn't good.

Now the question is, are you going to get another iPhone? We're stuck in a hard place as the new one will be coming out shortly...
 

illjazz

macrumors regular
Apr 18, 2008
227
2
Yeah, I think so. I'm not clear if your phone was just sitting in the water as the machine was filling or if it actually started the wash cycle? Either way, this isn't good.

Now the question is, are you going to get another iPhone? We're stuck in a hard place as the new one will be coming out shortly...
A hard place indeed. I fully plan on getting the new iPhone, whatever it ends up being called. I just don't know if it will launch simultaneously with the US over here in Europe. I currently live in Switzerland, but the good news is that Switzerland was one of the countries that had the iPhone 3G launch on July 11th 2008, the same day as the US.

I'm assuming Apple will actually ship the new iPhone in June, a month that, as a reminder, is about 6 weeks away! But eh.. they could again be like "we're announcing it today.. it will ship in July" or something like that. Damn that was disappointing last year :)

This is my 3rd iPhone though. I had the first 2G iPhone (still have it, but it could be in better shape). And I have another 16GB iPhone that's locked to AT&T because I moved from the US to Europe last September. I can try fixing my Swisscom locked one while software unlocking the AT&T locked one--all while waiting for iPhone 3..
 

irishsuperhero

macrumors newbie
Apr 20, 2009
1
0
It worked!

I am not a techie. Rather... just a guy who was lucky enough to come across some helpful advice and patch it together to bring his iPhone back to life.

The gist...

I dropped my iPhone into Lake Arrowhead.
It sat submerged for, say... 1/2 hour.
9 feet down.
At the bottom.
Ugh.
I managed to fish it out.

I shook out the water. Set it aside for the drive home.
Plugged it into my car charger for all of ten-twenty seconds (curiosity killed the cat. But thankfully... not my iPhone.)
Nothing happened.
Instinct told me... maybe smarter to unplug it.

The next day I drove to Home Depot.
In the plumbing section, they had a product called DAMP RID.
http://www.damprid.com/

I bought the refill bag only.
(Think it cost me, maybe... 5 clams?)

Got home. Poured a layer in a small tupperware container?
Set my iPhone in it.
Sealed the tupperware.
And then let it sit overnight.

Next morning?
Went to plug it in?
Nada. (Ugh).
Went to workout.
Came back a couple hours later.
Was literally about to head out to AT&T to buy a new phone.
Announced to my wife, "I'm going to give it one last shot."
Plugged it in.
And... shock of all shocks... the "lightening bolt and red sliver of battery"-screen came on.

What?! Was this really happening?
I set it down.

After five minutes? Nothing. Still same screen.
Finally... I depressed the power button and the small button at the bottom with the white square in it (Told you I'm not a techie) for five seconds. In some hope that I'd reset it.

Well... guess what... (drumroll)...

... the iPhone went black... shut off... I then hit the power button and...

(TA-DAH!!!)... the apple icon screen came back.

A minute or two more charging and...

... presto whammo!... Old Jed's a millionaire.

It worked! No glitches! No water damage! Nothing.

It immediately downloaded my incoming messages from that morning and...

... all's well that ends well.

So... in case you're wondering?
I'm here to say...

... don't despair!
It can work!

All the best,

mm
 

illjazz

macrumors regular
Apr 18, 2008
227
2
News here. I managed to turn my iPhone on today. At first it would only show the boot Apple for about 15 seconds and then shut off right after that. It did that a few times. Then, once, I actually got to the standby screen, unlocked, and was shocked that everything worked. The touch screen was perfectly responsive and everything seemed to work. Then I put in the SIM card and as soon as I did, it shut off again. I should also mention that all of this only worked while it was connected to power. Without power connected, I get no reaction from pressing the power button. That one time when it worked, however, I pulled the power cable out while testing it and it stayed on and worked. The battery icon showed a full charge.

Since then I've had no such luck.. it's back to only seeing the boot Apple :/. Also, there are some pretty bad spots on the display. They're all over and it doesn't look too pretty.. but the whole display still works. It's hard to describe and I'd gladly take pics if I could get the phone to go back into that state again, which at present I cannot.

I'm pretty sure this iPhone's toast.
 

Sideswipe7777

macrumors newbie
Apr 24, 2009
1
0
I dropped my iPhone 3G into the toilet...pulled it out as fast as I could. I stayed calm and looked through this thread.

Just took a couple of the techniques described here. I instantly toweled off the phone...shaking the water away from the sensor in the headphone jack, just in case. Then I turned off the phone by holding the HOME button and LOCK button. It rebooted 2 or 3 times, but then finally turned off. I then grabbed the Windex and Q-Tips and started wiping down the contacts such as the connector and the headphone jacks. To get inside the headphone jack, you have to use Sidecuts or scissors to trim off the bulky part; but it works well to get inside that little area. Then, I put my iPhone in a dress sock, then in a Ziplock bag. I filled the bag with rice and put it on a shelf for 48 hours. The hard part is not touching it for 2 days...

Came out of the mess solid. So far, no issues. <knock on wood> Hope this helps someone in the future.
 

unluckyguy

macrumors newbie
Apr 25, 2009
1
0
My iphone also went for a 10 min swim in a lake a few days ago and after drying it up I was amazed it still worket, well sort of. It only turn's on if it's being charged and the display shows a lot of stripes, but that's not the bad part. When I take it out of the charger and it goes int stand by it start's restarting every 5 secundes or so and the on/off swith dosen't respond anymore, i'm thinking either it's being presset by residue from the lake water or a bad contact somewhere, and the headset jack dosent respond either. I haven't been able to see if the sensor turned pink/red but i think i did after it's gloryous swim. Any ideas on what I should do to make te 2 component's work again? Oh and another strange fact is that I can't get my mail from the yahoo server, I keep geting a incorrect user/pass error even if i tried with multiple account's.
 
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