waterlogged iPhone recovers after being left in the sun

[Bruce.A.McHenry]

After swimming ten laps, I was distressed to find my iPhone in my swim trunks pocket. It had been totally soaked and would not turn on at all.

I left it on top of a power supply overnight. Then, with the volume switch down, I angled it to face the sun with the black back side. It got quite hot in the southern California sun for a few hours.

I turned it on and saw the Apple logo. It did not boot completely so I put it back in the sun for another hour. It still did not boot.

That evening I was going to give it an denatured alcohol bath but first turned it on. The Apply logo came on again and after a what seemed like a fairly long wait, it started!

There were watermarks behind the screen but these went away completely after a couple of days.

It seems perfectly normal now. Phew!

keywords: wet, water, soggy

 

[kajitox]

After swimming ten laps, I was distressed to find my iPhone in my swim trunks pocket. It had been totally soaked and would not turn on at all.

I left it on top of a power supply overnight. Then, with the volume switch down, I angled it to face the sun with the black back side. It got quite hot in the southern California sun for a few hours.

I turned it on and saw the Apple logo. It did not boot completely so I put it back in the sun for another hour. It still did not boot.

That evening I was going to give it an denatured alcohol bath but first turned it on. The Apply logo came on again and after a what seemed like a fairly long wait, it started!

There were watermarks behind the screen but these went away completely after a couple of days.

It seems perfectly normal now. Phew!

keywords: wet, water, soggy

I've found this is typical of electronics, however remember that in many phones (not sure about the iPhone) there are little water-sensitive stickers that will turn pink on now that they've been exposed to water. So be careful sending it in to Apple if you need repairs.

 

[Flhusky]

I've found this is typical of electronics, however remember that in many phones (not sure about the iPhone) there are little water-sensitive stickers that will turn pink on now that they've been exposed to water. So be careful sending it in to Apple if you need repairs.

In the iPhones case this holds true x2
1 is @ the bottom of the headphone jack(you can see it with a flashlight), the other is in the phone only visible by dis-assembly.

There are many threads else where on MacRumors where people have successfully revived water logged phones with similar methods.

Seems the most popular is;
plain white rice in a iZiplock bag left on the dash of the car for a couple days
Baking in an oven wrapped in a towel (NOT at 350 for 45 mins either)
Silica Gel (desiccant) packs in the above mentioned iZiplock bag left in a very warm spot.
Hair Dryer then any of the above mentioned methods.

 

[reliantj]

i wonder if there are replacement 'water damage indicators'.
i'm pretty sure that the indicators are standard materials for
other industries.

maybe if you were desperate enough you'd be able to buy
some and replace the pink'ed ones in your phone before
repair/replacement?

 

[wackymacky]

In the iPhones case this holds true x2
1 is @ the bottom of the headphone jack(you can see it with a flashlight), the other is in the phone only visible by dis-assembly.

There are many threads else where on MacRumors where people have successfully revived water logged phones with similar methods.

Seems the most popular is;
plain white rice in a iZiplock bag left on the dash of the car for a couple days
Baking in an oven wrapped in a towel (NOT at 350 for 45 mins either)
Silica Gel (desiccant) packs in the above mentioned iZiplock bag left in a very warm spot.
Hair Dryer then any of the above mentioned methods.

All of which will play havic with your battery life

I'm sure that Apple would be able to tell by a visual inspection without the water indicator stickers if a phone has been waterlogged due to small areas of corrosion etc despite the phone being dried out.

 

[skye12]

Cell phones often work for awhile after being dried out. However,
corrosion is the problem now. They usually don't keep working for
very long.

 

[kajitox]

All of which will play havic with your battery life

I'm sure that Apple would be able to tell by a visual inspection without the water indicator stickers if a phone has been waterlogged due to small areas of corrosion etc despite the phone being dried out.

Either way, I wouldn't send it in to Apple since you run the likely risk of them either a) charging you a huge fee to fix it or b) charging you a huge fee to send it back to you.

 

[reliantj]

if you were messed up enough, you'd be able to sell it some unknowing sap for a pretty penny.

then just buy another =/

if that happened to me, i'd be pissed as hell though...

 

[kajitox]

if you were messed up enough, you'd be able to sell it some unknowing sap for a pretty penny.

then just buy another =/

if that happened to me, i'd be pissed as hell though...

Horrible.

 

[Flhusky]

if you were messed up enough, you'd be able to sell it some unknowing sap for a pretty penny.

then just buy another =/

if that happened to me, i'd be pissed as hell though...

That would soooo screw your Karma up
But in todays world ethics are nil with most/some of the younger generation so

 

[jedinaz]

help

can somebody help me my iphone 3gs was in a bag when a water bottle spilled on it i can turn it on only when it is charged it says i need to restore but i plug it into the mac and it does not appear on my itunes and i have the latest itunes software

 

[kage021]

Complete recovery

2 weeks ago, my new pup pee'd on my bed. In my haste to strip the sheets unknowingly, my iphone got tangled and went into the washing machine. It was 10 minutes before I realised and when I hit the stop button, the washing machine was full of water, Iphone at the bottom, soaked through.

The first thing I did was type 'waterlogged iPhone' into google and low and behold This post came up. I read through, set up a hair dryer blowing directly into the bottom for 20 minutes, I then wrapped my phone in a towel and stuck it into the oven on 100 degree's for 2.5 hours. and then took it to my parents house and stuck it over the ducked heating vent for 24 hours. I then plugged it into the charger. It started and everything worked perfectly, but the screen lights did not respond. The screen was very dull and hard to see. I got into touch with Apple who told me it would cost 250 bucks to get a new one.

I started playing with the volume thingy on the side making the phone vibrate continuously. Then a week and a half after my phone took a dip. I bumped the home button and the screen flashed a dull green.

I then kept flicking the volume button and had the phone continuously vibrating I also started hitting the screen lock key, the lights flicked on periodically, but seemed to get 'tired' and some times the lights wouldn't flicker. I left my phone rest for a few hours then hit the lights, they stayed on longer and longer until eventually they worked properly.

Iphone has made a full recovery! And I've saved myself 250 bucks!!

 

[plugus maximus]

My iPhone has just fallen in the toilet!! Doh!

No poo or wee contact was made thankfully!

It's now on a constant heat source (my laser printer) to try and dry out, after a huge amount of vigorous shaking. I too have a dark screen, almost unviewable.

Hopefully it will come back to life as per kage021's post.

It would be good to know it kage021's phone is still working.

 

[vincenz]

My iPhone has just fallen in the toilet!! Doh!

No poo or wee contact was made thankfully!

It's now on a constant heat source (my laser printer) to try and dry out, after a huge amount of vigorous shaking. I too have a dark screen, almost unviewable.

Hopefully it will come back to life as per kage021's post.

It would be good to know it kage021's phone is still working.

A laser printer might not be enough. Try using a blow dryer and then sticking it for a few days in a bucket of rice.