Plop! There goes your iPhone into water. You reach into wherever it landed, pull it out, and…PANIC. Oh no, it’s all over.
Wait…
It’s not over until it’s over. You may be able to save your iPhone with the rice trick.
First Step: DO NOT Turn Your iPhone On
Under no circumstances should you turn your iPhone on. This could be devastating for your iPhone, and in turn, you.
I know it will be difficult to fight the urge to find out if your iPhone really is dead, but as soon as you turn it on, you may short out the circuits, and that could kill it.
Simply wipe the outside of your precious iPhone with a towel, shirt, or whatever you can get your hands on.
Second Step: Get the Water Out
Shake the iPhone, so you can get as much of the water out of it as possible. Now, be careful. You don’t want to shake it so much that it flies out of your hand and shatters in thousands of pieces. Shake it vigorously with a really good handle on it.
Third Step: Start the Drying Process – The Rice Trick!
Rice has super absorbing powers. Find a plastic bag with some sort of closure on it such as a Ziploc bag (the freezer size). Fill the bag with rice, and stick your iPhone inside. Give it a good 24 hours or longer if you want to make double sure that it’s dry.
After 24 hours, take the iPhone out, and take a deep breath. This is the moment of truth. Plug your iPhone in and turn it on. Hopefully, it will startup just as it did before it decided to take a dive.
Fight the Urge to Use a Hair Dryer
You already know not to turn your phone on. There’s one more thing you should not do, no matter who tells you to do it.
The rice trick is what works the best if the iPhone is recoverable at all. You may hear of some people who used their hair dryer to dry their phone. It’s not the best way though. You could end up messing up the electronics inside with the heat. Yes, some people have successfully saved their phone using this trick, but it was mostly luck.
How iResQ Helps with iPhone Water Damage
If you take your iPhone out of the rice, and you’re not able to turn it on, iResQ may be able to help. Many times, our technicians can remove the damaged parts of the iPhone, and replace it with brand new ones. However, in some instances, the logic board becomes corroded. This is the most important circuit board for the phone. While it can be replaced, when you add in all of the other parts that need replacing, it may end up costing you quite a bit of money.
There’s no way to know though until a technician looks at it. It’s a good thing we offer a free diagnostic for iPhones. You can send in your phone, and our technicians will tell you whether it can be saved or if you’ll be shopping for a new phone.
Images courtesy of digitalart & thanunkorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net