How to 101: Recover and Repair a water damaged iPhone

While mobile phones are costly and prized possessions, this does not stop us from occasionally damaging or dropping these through our own carelessness.

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This phenomenon has recently explored by the fascinating Mobile Phones Direct ‘Phone Crash’ resource on the Mobile Phones direct blog, which provides live updates on how many handsets have been dropped, smashed or lost in the previous 24 hours. The number of phones damaged in this time should come as no surprise, although modern handsets are deceptively durable and can usually be restored.

How to restore a water damaged iPhone

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Perhaps the most common issue occurs when a handset is accidentally immersed in water, after it has been dropped in a sink, the bath or God forbid your toilet! Fortunately, there are specific steps that you can take to restore your water damaged handset, including the following: –

Perform Emergency External Drying

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Speed is of the essence when restoring your handset, so start by removing your iPhone from the water and remove it from any electrical socket (if applicable). Then make sure that the handset is switched off before removing it from any accompanying case or protector. You should also remove the battery and the SIM card as best practice, this helps to reduce the risk of water being contained in the handset and negates the threat to interior components. Then dry off any excess water and leave the handset to dry for a moment, ensuring that no residual liquid is left in the device.

Execute deeper-drying Techniques

While external drying is a crucial first step, your initial aim should be to draw as much of the interior liquid as possible. Although it may be initially tempting to use a hairdryer or a similar appliance to achieve this, these tools can potentially damage your iPhone’s internal components and cause irreparable damage. Instead, silica gel provides a safer and far more effective drying agent, and this is usually packaged in sachets and sold with clothing and various electrical components. These sachets (which are most effective when used in bulk), will quickly dry out your iPhone within 48 hours or so.

The Waiting Game

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This is the beginning of a potential long and tedious two day period, as you leave the handset and individual components to dry completely. Once this process is complete, the next step is to reinstall the SIM card and battery before attempting to charge the device or switch it on. Hopefully, you will have acted quickly enough and drawn all residual liquid, so your iPhone should work effectively. If not, you will need to contact your local Apple store and have the handset checked by experts.
Whatever you do, Don’t under any circumstances…

Microwave your phone. While those of us who saw Batman Begins may be tempted to vaporize all that excess water in submission, just like the pesky league of assassins in an attempt to take control of Gotham City, doing so in real life appears to spawn the devil himself… or at least his microwave representative.