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bjbbeauchamp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2012
3
0
Destin, FL
Hi! I have been trying to find out where the water sensors are on the iPhone 4S. I haven't had too much luck. My daughter took my iPhone when I was looking the other day and got some water on the screen under my otterbox. When I took it out I immediately dried it off and turned it off and put it in some rice. When I took it out all seemed perfect and everything worked great! Well, this week it randomly started rebooting and at first it did it like once or twice a day and by Thursday it was doing it like 10-15 times throughout the day. Super annoying. Anyways I took it to the AT&T store (as we don't have an Apple store anywhere around and the closest place is 5 hours away) and the guy looked at it, plugged it in, and then said the bad news was that I was going to have to restore it and I would loose everything, but could back it up later. I asked about water damage and he said nope, all was great. Well I did what he said and it worked for awhile without rebooting, but today it has done it a ton. Apple said that I should mail it in adn they could fix it, probably some glitch, but after reading several posts about people taking their phones into Apple and coming out with a replacement, it makes me want to drive the 5 hours to take care of it rather than being without a phone for 5-10 days! So I just wanted to know about the sensors so I could see for myself if they were tripped or not before sending it in to Apple as I know they wouldn't give me a new one. I might as well take it to a 3rd party to have it fixed!
 

stevenlangley1

macrumors regular
Jun 9, 2009
183
5
think there are three. One in the headphone jack, one in the connector port and one internally. I've seen the geniuses use lighted magnification tools to look at them, so they're probably fairly small.
 

bjbbeauchamp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2012
3
0
Destin, FL
thanks

Well as far as I can tell the two on the outside aren't tripped! Praying that the one on the inside isn't as well. My friend has the little screwdriver to open it, so I think I will do that before making that drive.
Anyone think it could be a glitch like the At&t guy said or the battery?
Ever since it started doing this the battery doesn't hold a charge as long as it used to...
 

kaitlynami

macrumors newbie
Jul 8, 2010
19
0
Do yourself a favour and don't open it up. Doing so could void the warranty and cause them not to replace it. If the ones you can see from the outside aren't tripped the chances of the internal one being tripped are really low. Don't take the chance.
 

Interstella5555

macrumors 603
Jun 30, 2008
5,219
13
Do yourself a favour and don't open it up. Doing so could void the warranty and cause them not to replace it. If the ones you can see from the outside aren't tripped the chances of the internal one being tripped are really low. Don't take the chance.

Getting it wet voided the warranty, grow up and pay the replacement fee.
 

techguy20

macrumors 6502
Jan 30, 2010
250
0
If the water didn't trigger the outside sensors, I doubt it would have to the inside sensors.

My guess is that the Apple guys will take a look at the outer two, see they are fine, and replace the phone if it clearly has the issue and you explained that you already tried restoring it (assuming you are still within warranty or have AC+).

I would not open it as other posters have also suggested.
 

kaitlynami

macrumors newbie
Jul 8, 2010
19
0
Getting it wet voided the warranty, grow up and pay the replacement fee.

Correct, if the sensors are triggered the OP would have to pay the replacement fee. However, opening it up can further void the warranty so that they won't even offer the replacement fee, the only way to get it replaced would be full price.
 

JediMeister

macrumors 68040
Oct 9, 2008
3,263
5
If you have AppleCare+, the service fee would only be $49. I would not risk opening up the iPhone if you aren't sure you can put it back together without someone knowing you did it.
 

bjbbeauchamp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2012
3
0
Destin, FL
Thanks everyone. I think I am just gonna make the drive b/c I have family up there anyways, so no biggie. It wasn't dunked in water just got water on the screen and I wiped it away immediately. I don't have applecare but my phone is still under warranty and will be until November. I was only going to take the back cover off, not mess with anything and a friend of mine has done it several times, but I just decided after reading all of your posts that if the other two weren't tripped then the inside chance was low, so I will just suck it up and hope they will just hand me a new one;)
My hubby dunked his in coffee and it literally just up and died and he had to pay the $450 for a new and that was two weeks ago so I DO NOT want to have to do that!
Anyone own the Lifeproof case? I have heard great things about it and will def be getting one if they fix or replace my phone so that I won't have to worry about this again b/c with three kids, well it's bound to happen!
 

sulpfiction

macrumors 68040
Aug 16, 2011
3,075
603
Philadelphia Area
Well as far as I can tell the two on the outside aren't tripped! Praying that the one on the inside isn't as well. My friend has the little screwdriver to open it, so I think I will do that before making that drive.
Anyone think it could be a glitch like the At&t guy said or the battery?
Ever since it started doing this the battery doesn't hold a charge as long as it used to...

Even if the internal one was tripped, apple would still most likely replace it as long as the other 2 were still good.
And don't open it up. You have a better chance of voiding ur warranty taking it apart. And I'd bet the sensor inside is just fine. Leave it alone and drive over to apple. I'd say you have a 99% chance they will replace it.
 

solo118

macrumors 65816
May 16, 2011
1,316
170
Its funny, last night my wife dropped her phone in the toilet while getting ready to go out. The headphone jack sensor is still white, but I can not really tell if the one in the charger port has been tripped.

The LED stayed on so I turned the phone off and left it in some rice over night. Today I turned it on and no problems at all. If something happens though I will ensure to take it to Apple. Paying the replacement fee is not that bad of a deal at all. I don't think any other company will allow you to replace a broken phone for a fraction of the price.
 

troy14

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2008
773
130
Las Vegas (Summerlin), NV
Its funny, last night my wife dropped her phone in the toilet while getting ready to go out. The headphone jack sensor is still white, but I can not really tell if the one in the charger port has been tripped.

The LED stayed on so I turned the phone off and left it in some rice over night. Today I turned it on and no problems at all. If something happens though I will ensure to take it to Apple. Paying the replacement fee is not that bad of a deal at all. I don't think any other company will allow you to replace a broken phone for a fraction of the price.

All the people telling you not to open up your phone have clearly never opened up the iPhone before. There isn't really much damage you could do, and there's no way Apple could know if you did open it or not.

That being said, they are correct in assuming that if the headport and dock ones aren't tripped, it is VERY unlikely that the internal one is.
 
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