iphone was in water, now in rice: what to do now?

Elmer_Lang

Elmer_Lang

Well-known member
Hi--Sorry, maybe a bit off topic but curious if anyone has suggestions...

My iphone was in water for about 10 minutes. It was on. Now it's in a bag of rice. My warranty is past. I belatedly took out the sim card it looks fine. Tho Apple will replace for $199 I'm th inking of sending it to one of the repair places I see on the web, like ifixyouri, ubreakifix. Any recommendations, experiences, tips?

Thanks!
 
What kind of water was it in? Was it clean water, dirty, salty?

If it was in clean water, it may be ok. The phones run on low voltage and may survive a clear water event even when on.

Since it was on, you have nothing to lose by trying home remedies before sending it off. We've had success on the forum with a camera that had moisture on the inside and it came back to life.

Keep it in a warm, dry area, the warmer, the better. 100 - 110F would be ideal. A slow breeze across it will help drive the moisture out. Since it is such a sealed up box, its difficult to drive the moisture out. If you're brave, try to disassemble it as much as you can to help get at the moisture. Put it near/on a heater vent. but check the temperature. I wouldn't let it get hotter than 120F. Do that for a few days.

Then turn it on. If it doesn't come back to life, then send it out for repair.
 
Uh oh was it fresh or salt water? Rust never sleeps Elmer. Put the repair money in a bag and give it to Apple, you'll be back on the air faster too.

Cheers.
 
Yeah, don't send the phone in to one of those online repair places. It was in water...it's probably a substantial repair. If you try to do it on the cheap, better to just try to purchased a used one than to send it in to one of those places.
 
Above advice. I'd leave it to dry out, maybe even up to a week. Rust (due to salt water) won't necessarily disable the phone and probably not imo. I've worked in very salty air enviroments before. Steel (and Chrome) will rust out quickly but electronics and aluminum don't seem to. Good luck.
 
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Dropped an Olympus evolt 510 camera in a creek several years back. Was completely submerged for about 5 minutes until I found it. Pulled the battery, card and lens. Placed it next to a dehumidifier and forgot about it. A month latter I reassembled everything and it has worked fine since.
 
Elmers was ON and in salt? water for 10mins.

If he can get it working and he relies on his phone, email, text etc and will wonder every time it drops a call or can't connect for some reason,
then I'd try trading it in for a new one, with a guarantee. In the current climate, Apple would probably do it.

Cheers.
 
A few years ago, a friend of mine had just bought a then top of the line Blackberry for about $700. She was doing some messy work around the house and had the phone in the pocket of her overalls, when it rang. She pulled it out of her pocket, it slipped out of her hand, did two or three nice pirouettes in the air and splashed down directly in an open 5-gallon bucket of white paint.

The patient did not survive.

- Greg
 
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