iPhone Water Damage (speaker works occasionally)

I recently dropped my phone in water and immediately took it out, turned it off, and placed it under a hand dryer for around a minute. I let it sit overnight and in the morning I turned it on and everything was working fine except when I went to play music, the speaker was not working. I of course checked to see that the volume was up and that it was not on silent as well as other settings, but still no sound.


I use my iPhone as my alarm as well so when I checked to see if the alarm was working, it was! It only worked for apple ring tones and ring tones with the .m4r extension. Though the sounds still worked for the alarm, not only does my music not play, but all my alert sounds for texts, mail, and other push notifications are also not working. When not on silent, the phone merely vibrates without sound.


What could be the problem? How can I resolve it?



Thanks Apple Community

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.3

Posted on Nov 3, 2013 12:29 PM

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Posted on Feb 8, 2017 4:11 PM

Hey! I just had the same problem like 10 minutes ago. Dropped phone in water and everything works but the speaker. The alarm will sound but nothing else will like you said. How did you get the speaker to eventually work?

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Nov 3, 2013 12:58 PM in response to cornellian2016

cornellian2016 wrote:


What could be the problem? How can I resolve it?


The problem is it got wet. I dropped an iPhone in water and everything worked perfectly except text tones.


For the future, if you ever get a phone wet again, do not dry it with a hair dryer. This can force liquid deeper into the phone. Dry it off and put it in a container of uncooked rice for 3-4 days. Do not attempt to turn it on or charge it util the 3-4 days have passed. Then, charge it up and turn it on. That will give you your best chance at a working phone. If the phone has fallen into seawater, don't bother, though. It's dead.


Best of luck.

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Nov 4, 2013 11:04 AM in response to cornellian2016

I was looking for a more technical reason as to why the phone kept on saying my headphones were plugged in (i.e. which component was malfunctioning). After a day or two of normal use, it stopped saying my headphones were plugged in and everything started functioning like normal again, including the speaker.

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Feb 27, 2014 2:55 PM in response to cornellian2016

I believe the water caused the headphone socket to short, causing the phone to think headphones were plugged in. Your speakers weren't "working" because the phone was trying to send all audio to the phantom headphones. The error stopped because the water in the headphone socket dried and was no longer shorting.

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Mar 11, 2016 8:53 AM in response to cornellian2016

That's why I went to Samsung Galaxy S7 after one time owning Apple...they are water resistant for 30 minutes. My wife's stupid Iphone 6s mega blah blah is not shot from a quick splash in the tub.


Great planned obsolescence Apple. May the glass weak so they break easy and refuse to do waterproofing so people have to buy more phones.


SS Gorilla glass for more durability, waterproofing so these little life incidences do not eff your your world.


Never again Apple.

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iPhone Water Damage (speaker works occasionally)

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