Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Red light to the left of the receiver of the iPhone 5?

M

malc34

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2012
9
0
Hello.

I had my iPhone 5 replaced at the weekend for a speaker issue, and I noticed today when using the replacement phone in a dark room I can see a glowing red light to the left of the receiver. I did a search, of course, which brought up results concerning the iPhone 4 and that it's the proximity sensor and not something to worry about. But I also saw this "eHow" article that says it's because the phone's been exposed to water:
http://www.ehow.com/info_8704998_red-light-iphone-mean.html

Earlier today I was using the phone when it started raining, so I quickly wiped it against my sweater and put it in my inside jacket pocket. I didn't think that would be enough to cause any damage to the phone and the phone is working just fine, but now I'm a bit worried, having not noticed the light before (I use my iPhone in bed before I go to sleep a lot).

Is the eHow article just wrong or do I have a reason to be worried? I don't want my warranty to be invalidated after just three or four weeks...

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S. Sorry if this is a dumb question.
 
malc34 said:
Hello.

I had my iPhone 5 replaced at the weekend for a speaker issue, and I noticed today when using the replacement phone in a dark room I can see a glowing red light to the left of the receiver. I did a search, of course, which brought up results concerning the iPhone 4 and that it's the proximity sensor and not something to worry about. But I also saw this "eHow" article that says it's because the phone's been exposed to water:
http://www.ehow.com/info_8704998_red-light-iphone-mean.html

Earlier today I was using the phone when it started raining, so I quickly wiped it against my sweater and put it in my inside jacket pocket. I didn't think that would be enough to cause any damage to the phone and the phone is working just fine, but now I'm a bit worried, having not noticed the light before (I use my iPhone in bed before I go to sleep a lot).

Is the eHow article just wrong or do I have a reason to be worried? I don't want my warranty to be invalidated after just three or four weeks...

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S. Sorry if this is a dumb question.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be water damage, I have used my phone in the rain tons of times. Sounds like something else.
 
tymaster50 said:
is this only on the black model? I turned off the light and i didn't see it on the white.
Click to expand...

I have the black model, at first I thought it might have been light leakage from the display but remembered that one of the sensors on my kinect unit exhibits the same behaviour so chalked it down to normal behaviour. Interesting it doesn't appear on the white model though.
 
The red light to the left of the speaker on the face of the phone is the proximity sensor. It should glow red and is completely normal.

eHow seems to be talking about the dot in the headphone jack, which indicates water damage if red. It should be white if the phone hasn't been exposed to water.
 
It's the proximity sensor. Put your finger over it when using the phone and the screen will go off. Nothing to worry about.
 
If you have a camcorder that has a "night vision" mode, look at your iPhone through it. That faint glow from the prox sensor will blaze like the sun. It's an IR emitter.
 
tymaster50 said:
is this only on the black model? I turned off the light and i didn't see it on the white.
Click to expand...


I have a white model IPhone SE and I still see it in the dark... I've checked numerous websites and apparently it's just a proximity sensor However 1 or 2 websites said it was due to water damage, however I don't see how that is possible as I have never spilt anything on the phone or never got it overly wet... I'd just say it's nothing to worry about but at first I thaught someone was recording me so got really freaked out haha
 
Thatxgirl said:
I have a white model IPhone SE and I still see it in the dark... I've checked numerous websites and apparently it's just a proximity sensor However 1 or 2 websites said it was due to water damage, however I don't see how that is possible as I have never spilt anything on the phone or never got it overly wet... I'd just say it's nothing to worry about but at first I thaught someone was recording me so got really freaked out haha
Click to expand...

5 year old thread.

The red light still gets people talking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back