Dropped my iphone 7 plus into the pool

[jlunardy]

Ok i dropped my iphone 7 plus into the pool today. Instinctively i jumped in and retrieved in, it was submerged in less than 10 sec. Since it was supposed to be ip67, i just laughed it out and wipe it dry. After afew minutes things start to get wierd, the heptic feedback when wonky and the volume control is not working. I tried restarting my phone and its not working, it got stuck on the apple logo after rebooting and the screen when off. Now after removing the sim tray i just let it sit, but my phone get really hot and i have no idea what to do with it.

Any help or advice will be much appreciated

Thanks in advance
Jerry

 

[StarShot]

How deep was the pool before you pulled it out? I think I've read that the water resistant rating is 1 meter or about 37". IT would have to be the shallow end of a poll not to exceed that.

 

[bopajuice]

Shut it off and let it dry out. Put it in a bowl of dry rice.

 

[chscag]

Do you have Apple Care +? Your iPhone 7+ is probably non-serviceable especially since the phone was probably on when you dropped into the pool. With Apple Care +, all you'll have to do is pay a deductible and Apple will replace the phone.

 

[44267547]

Shut it off and let it dry out. Put it in a bowl of dry rice.

Actually, something else proven to work efficiently is using the silica packets that come inside of a shoebox. They are intended to absorb moisture. You can actually purchase them off-line in bundles. Although rice would likely be something easier someone has access to.

 

[Minho]

Sorry guys, rice , silica and other desiccants don't do anything to save the phone. They are not in contact with the water inside the phone. That's where the real damage is being done. As the water evaporates, it leaves mineral deposits that can corrode the logic board and its's components. Also, trying to power on the device while it's still wet is a good way to short out the power rails inside. The only thing to do with water damaged phones is to open them up, remove the logic board and try to displace the water by letting it soak in some pure IPA (>90%), change the battery if it looks swollen and hope for the best. Some repair shops specialize in this kind of damage and properly clean out the logic board in a lab-grade ultrasonic bath with specialized cleaners. If that doesn't work, then it needs to be repaired at the logic board level. Some phones cant be saved...

The longer the phone sits in a bag of rice, the less chance you have of saving it.

 

[C DM]

Sorry guys, rice , silica and other desiccants don't do anything to save the phone. They are not in contact with the water inside the phone. That's where the real damage is being done. As the water evaporates, it leaves mineral deposits that can corrode the logic board and its's components. Also, trying to power on the device while it's still wet is a good way to short out the power rails inside. The only thing to do with water damaged phones is to open them up, remove the logic board and try to displace the water by letting it soak in some pure IPA (>90%), change the battery if it looks swollen and hope for the best. Some repair shops specialize in this kind of damage and properly clean out the logic board in a lab-grade ultrasonic bath with specialized cleaners. If that doesn't work, then it needs to be repaired at the logic board level. Some phones cant be saved...

The longer the phone sits in a bag of rice, the less chance you have of saving it.

The best thing you can do is something along those lines. Those who usually can't or won't be willing to do all of that (which would usually be most or at least plenty) can at least try something easier like silica/rice which would be at least better than nothing.

 

[Minho]

Hey CDM, I respectfully disagree (and as someone who has 1300 times more messages on this forum than me, I truly respect your contributions to this site!).

Letting a phone fester in a bag of rice is not better than nothing because too many people believe it works - "someone on the internet said so" - and they end up leaving their phones in rice for days, sometimes weeks. I agree that most folks won't be inclined to open their phone and remove the logic board to clean it in IPA. I'm just suggesting what should be done if you're a DIY'er. If someone isn't willing to do this, they should seek out a repair shop or professional to do it for them. Apple won't help you at all in these situations...as is their right.

Of course, we have the benefit of living in free countries and everyone can do what they want. But I see water damaged phones every week and the hardest ones to fix/recover data from are those that fell in salt water and those that went on vacation with a bag of rice.

I am a frequent contributor on the iFixit Answers forum and the consensus among the top techs is that rice is a bad idea and the sooner we debunk the concept, the better.