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How to save your IPhone if liquid gets inside.

After dropping my brand new IPhone into a bed pan, I googled what to do in hopes of being able to salvage my phone. Because there's so much inaccurate information on what to do in this situation, I've decided to tell you the exact steps I took to get my phone dried out and working again, same as new.

Step 1. TURN OFF YOUR PHONE IMMEDIATELY AND DO NOT POWER IT BACK ON UNTIL THE FINAL STEP HAS BEEN COMPLETED. This is extremely important. Any power to your phone while it is wet will short it out.


Step 2. If you have one, remove your sim card/tray. Let dry.


Step 3. Place the phone in a bag of uncooked rice and leave it there for at least 2 days. Make sure you remove any air from the bag. Rice is used to remove moisture from many things, such as your IPhone. Don't worry about rice getting stuck in the openings of your phone. It can be removed easily. I also added a product in the rice bag called Super Dri Aid Hearing Aid Dehumidifier. These tiny beads are designed to remove moisture fast, and work very well.


Step 4. Day 3, blow dry your phone on HIGH. I did this for an hour using WARM heat. Regardless of what you've read online, heat will not make your phone corrode worse, make the connectors break loose, or do more harm to the phone. It's going to speed up the drying process. RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO POWER ON YOUR PHONE. Again, any power to the phone before it's fully dried can/will short your phone out.


Step 5. Place your phone back into the bag of rice, where it will stay for 2 more days.


Step 6. It's now day 5. IF you have the option of leaving your phone outside in the hot sun, do so for about an hour. Afterwards, place it in a warm shady area where it will spend the full day drying. If you are in a cold climate, or it's not Summertime, wrap a heating blanket or a heating pad around the phone for 1 full day. It's fine if the phone gets hot.


Step 7. Check your phone for rice that may have gotten into any openings. Power your phone on. If your phone powers on but isn't working properly, reset your phone through ITunes. At this time you should have your phone running the same as it did before. Although my phone was working fine, I took it to a repair shop where I insisted they open it up to see if it was fully dried (which it was), and to clean off any corrosion left behind from it being submerged. There was no corrosion, and the 4 sensors that are in the IPhone which are designed to turn from white to pink when the phone is in contact with water were still white, which we didn't understand. That the phone works perfectly after taking this kind of damage really is amazing. I hope this helps others!

Posted on Jul 22, 2011 2:25 PM

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Posted on Jul 22, 2011 4:37 PM

Glad you got it working, but it is not the heat from the hair dryer that is the problem (unless, of course, you have one that gets very hot) it is the fact you are essentially blowing moisture farther into the device, in this case your iPhone. In your case this will probably not be a problem since most of the moisture was gone after leaving it in the baggie with the rice. But it is an unnecessary (in this case) and risky step and should not be used.

22 replies

Nov 10, 2016 9:12 AM in response to deggie

Hello so recently my daughter decided to throw my brand new iPhone 6s Plus in the toilet, and when I got it out it worked perfectly fine ! But I put it in rice just in case, I left it in there over night and when I get it out it worked but there was just a huge clear spot on the screen which probably meant theres still water in there.. But it was still working perfectly fine, then at one point my phone died, and when I go to plug in the charger the apple screen just keeps turning on and off. Should I leave it in the rice for at least a couple of days do you think that will make it work?

How to save your IPhone if liquid gets inside.

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