New to the forums, so here is my issue. I bought my daughter a Series 3 42mm watch still in plastic from a person on FB. Watch worked great until my daughter went swimming with it. She said she activated the water lock thing, but after looking at the watch she must have hit it on the edge of the pool deck and cracked the screen, not knowing the screen was cracked, she kept swimming. fast forward 4 hours later of now erratic watch behavior. The watch first displayed the green snake of death. After following youtube videos and letting the watch go as dead as it can, and then trying to re-charge it immediately started getting noticeably hot and the screen just displayed lines as if you are trying to tune in a channel on an old school tv years ago. Obviously, I don't have apple care or any kind of protection. I haven't called Apple yet to see what they say. I figured I would start here and see what kind of suggestions I get from here. I am positive the watch was ok when I opened it out of the box as she paired it with her phone and it was working perfect before the swim. I am preparing her for a total loss and I (depending on what you guys say on here) will most likely throw it on the bay as a broken watch and get what I get for it. Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.
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Need Advice - water damage
- Thread starter figg
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There isn’t anything you can do, especially being that the watch is already damaged showing some type of impact and then of course now water obviously penetrated the OLED display, shorting it out. As you said, you can sell the broken for very little and cut your losses, and consider another used Series 3 Apple Watch on the market.
It's probably a long shot, but it may be worth powering down and putting it in a zip lock bag of rice (dehydrated) or other desiccant to try and draw the moisture out. It certainly can't hurt anything. Sorry about the loss. Tough lesson to learn.
Your watch is a loss, I'm afraid. You can go to the Apple Store and hope for mercy...sometimes they are feeling extra nice.
The water lock button doesn't do anything hardware-wise. Whether it is activated or not will not affect the waterproofness of the watch. What it does is disables the touch screen, as water can inadvertently
tap things. When the water lock is turned off, it expels any water that is in the speaker channel on the side of the watch, but just for acoustics. Eventually, the water in there will work its way out or dry up anyway...the sound just helps it do that.
The water lock button doesn't do anything hardware-wise. Whether it is activated or not will not affect the waterproofness of the watch. What it does is disables the touch screen, as water can inadvertently
tap things. When the water lock is turned off, it expels any water that is in the speaker channel on the side of the watch, but just for acoustics. Eventually, the water in there will work its way out or dry up anyway...the sound just helps it do that.
This is great info guys, I will try the silica packs as I have access to plenty of them. I put them in the headlights I retrofit. I didn't think about using them. Maybe a call or a visit to the apple store after that if nothing works. Thanks again for the info.
I always save those packs for this very reason. Sometimes yes they work, sometimes the damage is to severe. Good luck and keep us posted on what happens, and welcome aboard!
I can confirm the Silica packs worked for a dead old style digital camera I briefly dip in a pool. Left it in the bag for weeks until I needed it. Reinstall batteries, and it worked.
Take it to Apple and be honest about what happened and maybe they will be willing to work with you on the cost of a replacement.
My experience is that (in Australia) Apple will repair or replace a broken watch IF it is covered by Applecare. Like you I didn't have Applecare so the repair would cost several hundred $. In my case the watch had not been in water and I decided to try repairing it with a car windshield crack repair kit. It has worked so far, including swimming but I acknowledge that it may not last long.
In my experience Apple usually help above and beyond their remit. My son smashed his on holiday in a pool. Took it in on the off-chance and they replaced it.
The only time Apple have turned me away is when i stupidly took my Jailbroken iPhone 5 in!
The only time Apple have turned me away is when i stupidly took my Jailbroken iPhone 5 in!
Silica packs work great if dried in the oven first. If even the smallest amount of water got to the OLED screen, it is toast and permanently damaged.