We have heard it all… My kid threw it into the toilet, my friend pushed me into the pool, it was raining and it fell into a puddle, the waitress knocked my water over … Regardless the story, its the same sad ending… one wet phone and one panicked person.
Whatever you do, resist ALL temptation to see if you “got lucky” by turning it on and tapping the screen. You are on borrowed time my friend. So what do you do? Can rice fix a water damaged iphone?
The short answer? NO.
The long answer? Absopositively not.
Why?
Back in the day when cell phones had antennas and push button numbers, there was ample nooks and crannies for water to get in and out of. If you still have one of these ancient artifacts then yes rice can fix a wet phone. But it just does NOT work for an iPhone.
Why not?
An iphone is a MUCH more sophisticated bit of technology. Once water gets in, the engineering of the device is so tight it must be taken apart to make sure all moisture is removed. If you attempt to use the phone with water still inside, you can fry the circuitry and lose everything with no possibility of recovery.
What should I do if my phone got wet?
Do:
- Unplug the device if it was plugged in.
- Shut it down completely, immediately.
- Wipe off any water from the device.
- Borrow a friend’s phone to contact an iphone repair company (such as ourselves)
- Bring the device to us as soon as possible.
Do NOT
- Do not attempt to use the phone, even if just for a quick phone call. This pushes electric currents through the phone that contact the water and fry certain portions of the device. Once the electronics are fried, there is nothing that can be done to save a device.
- Do not try to dry the phone out in a bed of rice
- Do not attempt to charge the phone.
I can’t count the number of water damaged phones that we would have been able to revive if the owner hadn’t attempted the rice trick and used the device afterwards.
And yes, sometimes a phone can be so water damaged that we cannot bring it back, though I would like to brag that we revived one that did a lap in a swimming pool once!
The chances for recovery depend on the amount of time in the water and if you tried to use the device. If you leave the work to professionals, you will increase your chances of a full recovery.
