Even if the phone is water damaged, you can easily find replacement stickers that you can put in, and no one would be able to tell the difference.
In other words, engage in warranty fraud. Tacky... Besides the Apple tech could still find evidence.
I am not condoning warranty fraud in any way, nor am I telling anyone to engage in warranty fraud... That is up to the person whose device is damaged, and their ethics when dealing with the situation. I am simply letting OP know what the options are, and what is on the market.
And although I do recommend being honest about an iPhone being water damaged, your statement that the Apple tech could still find out is wrong.
The reason they have the water damage indicators inside of the phone is so they can see if the indicators have been exposed to liquid (thereby changing color.) If the stickers do not change color, or are replaced with new water damage stickers, there is no indication of water damage.
It's easy to spot a water damaged phone without the sensors. The sensors are only there as a guide for technicians.
If you have rust in your phone, or internal water marks, but white stickers, your warranty is still going to be void.
I dropped my iPhone 4 into a pan of boiling water (crazy bubbling water) and it recovered after about 1 hour... at first I thought it was dead, the power button kept going off and on, and the headphone socket thought it was plugged in always..., but after shaking out the water and leaving it... it was fine, then I worried rust would eventually kill it... but 1 year later it's still fine!
I'm assuming the extremely bubbling water created kind of a bubble preventing much if any water actually getting in very far.
It's easy to spot a water damaged phone without the sensors. The sensors are only there as a guide for technicians.
If you have rust in your phone, or internal water marks, but white stickers, your warranty is still going to be void.
This is what I'm talking about, what if the water sensors are all good, but there is rust in the phone, and I'm having a NON-WATER related problem, such as software? DO they just assume that the only way my phone could have rust is if it was water dropped, and then reject my request for replacement even though the problem is unrelated to water?
This is what I'm talking about, what if the water sensors are all good, but there is rust in the phone, and I'm having a NON-WATER related problem, such as software? DO they just assume that the only way my phone could have rust is if it was water dropped, and then reject my request for replacement even though the problem is unrelated to water?
It doesn't matter if it was "water dropped" or not. Rust is caused by water. Evidence of water damage is evidence of water damage regardless of the condition of the water damage indicators. You'd have the burden of proof to demonstrate that it was a software issue and even if you did prove your case, depending on the software issue it might be a warranty matter anyway.DO they just assume that the only way my phone could have rust is if it was water dropped, and then reject my request for replacement even though the problem is unrelated to water?