This article has been last updated on 16th September 2012
After working on it for three or four days, I finally got my iphone in a good, working condition. How? Read below.
What Is Water Damage?
Water damage is when your iphone gets damages internally because of water. If your iphone falls in swimming pool, toilet or anywhere similar, or becomes wet because of water, or water falls on iphone, it is most likely to get water damaged. If water falls only on screen or back, then it is likely not to get water damaged, but if water reaches inside of the phone, then surely it is going to be damaged. In my opinion, water damage is one of the biggest mistakes you could ever do with your iPhone.
Why should I know what to do if my iPhone is water damaged. My iPhone is under warranty and Apple is always there, for me!
If you want to take your water damaged iPhone to the Apple store, then you are free to go. But you are going to return without any result. Because Apple does not cover water damage in their warranty (they call it liquid damage). even if your iphone is in warranty, they will treat it as "out if warranty". They will replace it but with a charge, a very high charge.
I am smart. I am not going to tell Apple about the water damage. Simple!
If you think you are smart and you will not tell Apple about the water damage and they will believe you and replace your iphone for free, then you should re-consider calling yourself smart. Because Apple is smarter. They have put liquid sensors all around your iphone, which indicates that your iphone is liquid damaged. You just give your iphone to some Apple person and within seconds he will tell you that its liquid damaged. How? See the picture below.
Click to enlarge
For representational purpose only. Do Not Redistribute this picture.
In the above picture, you can see two indicators which are turned red or pink. The first one is near the dock connector and the second on is in the headphone jack. So showing smartness and not telling them about water damage won't help.
What kind of damage water could cause to my iPhone, iPod or iPad?
Below is the list of possible damage types :
- Dim or blank screen.
- iPhone randomly reboots itself
- No Wi-Fi
- No cellular signals
- Constant or no vibration
- Loose or non-operating Home button
- Damaged battery, battery discharge very fast
- Not able to do a restore
- "Charging not supported with this accessory" error
- Decreased Speaker/Mic performance etc. etc.
What To Do If Your iPhone Gets Water Damaged?
When your iPhone gets water damaged, you should immediately follow the steps described below.
- Put your iPhone in Airplane Mode
- Yes. You should put your iphone in Airplane Mode asap so any network activity is stopped.
- Switch off your iphone.
- Now the first thing you should do is to switch it off. Don't be too late doing so. Just switch it off first. After switching it off, Do NOT turn it on again. Don't be curious to power it on again to see if your iphone works or not. Just keep it off. I did the same mistake and I paid for it. It will most probably damage the internal parts of the iphone hardware, You are warned okay?
- Remove all covers and case if any, and SIM from your iphone.
- Remove everything that covers your iphone. It can be a back case, a full pocket cover or any other kind of cover. Let your iPhone breathe some fresh air! And also remove the SIM out of it.
- Clean your iPhone
- Clean your iPhone firmly with a soft, clean cloth. Also shake it a bit here and there and try jerking out water out of it s much as you can.
- Put your iPhone away in a moisture-free place.
- Now what you should do is to put your iphone in a warm, moisture-less place. It can be a cupboard or a drawer. Put it anywhere but not in open place or somewhere it is moistened. When putting it away, put it in standing position- in the direction you usually hold your phone when using it. But for how much time you will ask. Well, I suggest you put it away for at least two days.
OK. After two days or for whatever time you have put away your iphone, take it out and do the following.
- Assemble and clean your iphone components with a clean, soft cloth.
- If your think the water damage was big, like it fell in swimming pool or something, you need to open it up and clean water from inside too before turning it on or charging. If you think water damage was small, like just a few drops went inside your iphone, you may not need to assemble and clean it. Just shake it hard and remaining water may just come out. Also use the below heat method for this.
- I don't want to assemble my iPhone. I want to dry out water just without it.
- If you think you can't open it up, or don't want to do so, use a hair dryer for drying out your iPhone. Turn on hair dryer on medium heat, and blow air through the SIM tray area for some time. After that blow air through the dock connector area. Do this more than twice. Make sure you don't blow too hot air or it may damage internal parts. So be careful. After blowing air for sometime, turn off hair dryer and let your iPhone come to normal temperature.
- You can also use room heater for drying out your iPhone. Turn on room heater and put your iPhone on top of it for sometime. Keep checking your iPhone if it is getting too hot. If so, lower down temperature on room heater and do it again.
- Now Power on your iPhone.
- Ok now power on your iphone. Does it boot properly? It should. When it boots completely (when you see the lock screen) go to Settings first and turn off the Airplane Mode.
- If your iPhone could successfully boot to lockscreen, first thing you should do is to connect it to your computer and see if iTunes detects it. If it does, then sync it/take backup first. Then follow the next.
- Put SIM back in your iPhone.
- Whether the Wi-Fi works or not, you should now put the SIM back in your iPhone and see if the network comes up. If you receive the network and can make and receive calls, its good.
- Test every functionality of your iphone.
- Now it's time to check all functions of your iphone. Check if you see the display properly. When your iphone gets water damaged, it is likely to cause some problems with the display.
- Check the Home button works properly. It is also the soft target for water damaged iphones. You may feel that home button is a little loose. Open any application and press Home button. Does it work properly? You may see that sometimes pressing the home button only once makes two presses of it. If it works somewhat properly, then check other functions.
- Check the Wi fi. Turn on the Wi-Fi. It should turn on. If it shows something different text over there then it means your iphone is not yet recovered of the water damage.
- Check the vibrator. To do that, turn the ringer switch on the left off and on. While turning ringer off, it should vibrate. If it doesn't, then go to Sounds in Settings. Toggle the Vibrate off and on.
- My iPhone screen is very dim or blank after water damage.
- This is very normal after water damage. You could see the things on screen only if you put your iphone across light. You should try increasing and decreasing the brightness. If it doesn't work, consider replacing your iPhone's LCD.
- My iPhone screen is glowing white after water damage.
- This problem is same as above. Try assembling your iPhone. And re-attach the LCD cable and the brightness proximity censor cable to the main-board. If it does not help, you need to replace your iPhone's LCD.
- I am not getting Wi-fi signals/Wi-fi option is not working after water damage.
- This is because the Wi-fi radio or it's connection with the main board is damaged. In most cases, it will start working as normal. Try hard-booting by pressing and holding Power and Home button together until your iphone reboots. If it does not help, try restoring your iphone. If this does not help either, make sure all cables are connected to the main-board properly and there's no water/dust around the chips on main-board. One last thing you can do is to reset network settings. You will not lose any data on your phone, just your network settings will be reset. To do so, Go to Settings - General - Reset and select Reset Network Settings
- I am not getting carrier signals/I get No Service after water damage.
- This is also same problem as above. Try removing and inserting our SIM back. Also try changing the SIM. If this does not work, assemble your iphone and make sure the antenna cable is not damaged and is connected to the main board properly.
- My iPhone is randomly/constantly vibrating after water damage.
- Water has caused damage to vibrator or its connection with main board. Assemble it and re attach the vibrator cable. Keep your iphone powered off for a few days and check it back. Consider removing or replacing the vibrator as a last resort.
- My Home button is feeling loose after water damage.
- This normally happens in most cases. It may be just fine after a few days. Or you may need to replace it.
- My iphone is randomly displaying "Charging not supported with this accessory" error, even if I am not charging it/When I try to charge my iPhone, it says charging is not supported with this accessory.
- It means either your iphone's battery is damaged or it has still got water around its connector. It is also possible your dock connector is damaged by water. Try re-attaching the battery and dock connector. If no luck, replace your battery.
- I am not able to restore my iPhone after water damage/It says unsupported hardware when I try to restore.
- Your battery is damaged and you need to replace it.
- My iPhone randomly reboots after water damage.
- Same as above, your iphone's battery is damaged and it will not support newer version of iOS. Try restoring to an older version (3.1.3 etc). If you are unable to do so (obvious if you have not saved shsh, advantage of jailbreaking buddy!), you will have to replace your iphone's battery.
- The weirdest thing to do with your iphone.
- Yes you read that right, the weirdest. If you put your iphone in a bag full of rice, its weird isn't it. This is exactly what your are going to do now. If you search on the internet that what to do if your iphone gets water damaged, you will surely come across this rice thing.You will find some youtube videos telling you to put your iphone in a bag of uncooked rice for at least two days. And this is what I did too! When my Wi Fi didn't work at all even after trying everything mentioned above, I "actually" took rice, fill a plastic zipper bag with them and put my iphone in it. What? I can't believe I really did that. They say that rice absorbs the moisture out of your iphone. I don't know if that really works but I did that. You should try that too if you want. If you do this, then be careful while removing it from the rice bag. Because rice may stuck inside the headphone jack and the usb connector. If you see rice inside any of them, then take a pin and take them out carefully.
- I've put my iPhone even in rice too. Now what? You will ask. Now its time to check everything again. See the Wi fi started working, or you see the brightness on the screen or any other issue you might be having.
