How to Fix a Wet iPhone
If your iPhone is broken and won’t turn on because you dropped it in water, got it wet in the rain, or spilled your favorite drink on it, don’t worry it may be repairable. The first thing to try is drying it out. Don’t try to turn it on, don’t plug it into anything, that may only increase the damage, or damage another component, or electrocute yourself. Instead, dry it out with a hairdryer for a while, and then spray compressed air into the earphone hole at the top, and the dock-adapter hole at the bottom. If you’re lucky, at this point it will turn itself on automatically!
If this doesn’t work, follow the instructions here to open the base of the iPhone and proceed to dry out your internals. Note that this is a dangerous procedure and will void your warranty. Please don’t open up your iPhone! It’s probably a better idea to just take into the Apple store and let their geniuses figure things out.
(Note: the iPhone can be “reset” by holding the top power button and the circular “home” button at the same time for a while)
| This entry was posted on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 9:27 pm and is tagged with dangerous procedure, iphone, apple store, home button, power button, geniuses, hairdryer, warranty, rain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
22 Responses to “How to Fix a Wet iPhone”
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Take away the “s” from your diagram and you’ve got my strategy: pray. Pray here, and pray there.
I had the same problem as I dropped my iPhone running in from the car during a storm. I let it air dry for a day but still still did not work. I found a good article via iphoneatlas.com and stated air drying wasn’t enough. The article said you had to place the phone in a zip lock bag with silica packets and linked to: http://www.silicagelpackets.com
I ordered a pack with priority mail and let the iphone air dry until I got them (tough 3 days of my life with no iPhone!!!) and as instructions stated I placed the iPhone in the zip lock bag with packets loosely around them. I tried the phone the next day and it worked, thankfully. Hopefully this can help you as well!
Here is how I fixed my wet phone.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=416062563&blogID=435512784
Dear god you are a genius!!! I tried the spray thing a whole day after getting it wet and it turned on while spraying. Thanks a lot I thought I was screwed. You're the man, a cadillac of men and a young adonis.
VACUUM VACUUM VACUUM!!!So far after i vacuumed its workin i really tried my best 2 get the speakers the buttons the sim port the headphone jack and where the 2 sides of the phone meet i did the hair dryer then the vacuum now im gonna leave it in a ziploc with silica packets for 3 days.
I had to jump into a swimming pool to save my son from drowning and my iPhone was in my pocket and it got completely sub-merged in the water.
When I got it home, I used a hair dryer and blew warm dry air into both headphone and data connector sockets for about 10 minutes. I then sat my iPhone on my Apple TV, Screen up, over night. Apple TV runs very hot and the warmth of the Apple TV over night will gently dry out all parts of the iPhone. The following morning I connect it to iTunes and iTune thought it was a brand new phone, but game me the option to restore. I did this and my iPhone is now fully recovered. Working 100%.
Left my iPhone in the rain overnight. In the morning I kept shaking it until no water came out. Then I blew into the holes. Kept it in a dry place and after a day or two it returned to full function. The bluetooth didn't work initially, but I re-paired it and I'm fine now. NOTE: the Apple store knows when it's been in water! There's a piece of paper inside one of the ports that turns red when contacted with water.
My iPhone plunged into the toilet for not more than a 3 or 4 seconds and ive done the rice and silica packets and its still not removed all the water. You can see where a patch sits underneath - almost looks like diagonal scratches - but it is the water. This happened 7 days ago and it is still not able to be used. It powers on fine and asks for my passcode - but since the water is still sitting underneath the number area - it wont respond. I have to wait it out until it is 100% dry - just getting it to that point is taking forever. You people that got your dry so fast are super lucky.
i totally think using the vacuum and sucking out the excess water helped in my case.
did the same as G’s post above. phone wouldn’t unlock - touchpad not reactive. took it to the genius bar - saw both water damage indicators and said they couldn’t do anything. said i could buy a new 3G 16gb iphone for $700. suggested i call a local repair shop who said they’re not touching wet iphones. took it to a repair shop i’ve used in the past for my razr phone and $65 later, my phone is fine!! anyone in northern california with phone problems needs to contact MD Wireless!! genius bar - my ***!
oops I meant it cost $80 - still a HECK of a lot cheaper than $700!!!
oops I meant it cost $80 - still a HECK of a lot cheaper than $700!! and it’s an 8gb 3G.
i dropped my ph in the toilet last night. fully submerged i grabed it out and shook the water out as much as i could then grabbed the vacuum cleaner and tried to draw the rest of the water out. By this stage the ph would not turn off it kept turning itself back on which was weird. The circular button at the bottom would not work at all. i could see water in behind the screen. I put in in a sealed plastic bag of rice for the night. Turned it on and made a tester call and everything works fine. THANK GOODNESS
i dropped my iphone 3G in the toilet last night. I tried to blow dry it and it turned back on. However, the home button isn’t working anymore. any help here? i’m freaking out!
GO TO THE APPLE STORE
THEYLL FIX IT
just dropped my iPhone in the toilet, caught it quickly, but it got wet. Weird thing is now: it tells me that this accessory is not made to work with iPhone. Nothing is attached to it! after powering off the unit, it self restarts immidiately. I placed in the zip bag full of rice, and having my fingers crossed…
I am in the exact same position as OM above me. I just accidentally launched my phone into the toilet (you have NEVER seen a person toilet dive as quickly as I did). It was only in there for all of about 2 - 3 seconds. It started doing some funky stuff, turning on…off…vibrating randomly, lines across the screen, white screen, etc. Now it’s off. Won’t turn on at all. Is sitting immensed in uncooked rice in a baggie. I am effing praying, because that phone is my own personal Jesus.
well i did what was said to do, but it is running ultra slow and i can hardly see the screen which stinks but its on and i got my pictures and everything out of it i needed:)
I dropped my I phone in the toilet for 2 sec. (like most of the people here) then the iPhone started blinking, and after 5 sec. it’s gone, power is off. after thirty minutes of searching how to drain the soaked iphone, I found out that the most common answer is; First, remove the SIM card tray and Vacuum the water out from both ends (SIM card slot and the bottom, a good indication to proceed is when there is no more moisture in the camera lens)when you’re sure that theres no more water inside, you’re ready for the next step. Put a NONCOOKED RICE in a ZipLock Bag and leave your iPhone in there for 24 hours ( I know its tough not to have it with you because your so connected with your device, but I guarantee you it works). After 24 hours plug your iPhone on your computer, your iTune will recognize your iPhone, be patient from this point, wait until your battery is full, then try to turn it on and cross your finger that it will come on, but don’t worry, it will. I tried it three times then the screen came on, thank GOD!
Errrrrrrrrgh! Dropped my iphone on the golf course and couldn’t find it anywhere. It rained, of course (twice) before it was found and returned to me. It turns on, and the top 2/3 of the touchscreen works–bottom third, NOTHING, which means that the keyboard doesn’t fully work and I can’t access important functions…like a full keyboard, etc. It now sits in a baggie with 3 silica packets. Hoping beyond hope…..if it works, I’ll let you all know!!
I dropped my iphone into a portopotty full of excrement. used the right bag overnight and its good! only problem–its slightly blue and smells like poop whenever i make a call
I dropped my iphone in the toilet
it was there for about 6 seconds…I towel-dried it, then used my hair dryer on it..and then I placed it in a rice baggie and just let it sit overnight..Today I connected it to my computer but just a white screen with thin horizontal lines across it comes on..
Does this mean is dead? or should I give it a little more time to dry? HELP!