By : Daniel Middleton /
Dropping your iPhone in water can often leave you with a sinking feeling. It can take a while for a phone to dry out completely, often leaving you without a device. But there is no need to panic if you have dropped your iPhone in water and need a repair as we have put together a full guide to show you several tips to deal with water damage and what to do next.
If you give everything in this guide a try, but you’re still having issues, it might be time to book in a repair with iSmash.
Finding out if your iPhone has water damage is simple, just look for your water damage indicator. Depending on your model, it will be in a different place. You can find the exact location of the indicators on each iPhone model on the Apple website
The water damage indicator is a little white tab which turns red when it is wet enough to damage your device. If this has turned red, it is likely that your phone has a problem.
If you have dropped your iPhone in water and are wondering what to do, these are the steps you need to follow to recover your phone from potential damage.
Option 1: dismantle your iPhone and leave its interiors to dry (it is important to know that this voids your warranty with the manufacturer.) The leave it to dry for at least 48 hours.
Option 2: Take a safer approach by visiting an authorised technician such as iSmash to recover your iPhone from water damage. We can have it repaired in store in as little as an hour.
There’s a good chance that your water damaged iPhone can be repaired. Once your phone is wet it’s critical not to charge it or try to dry it out by putting it in rice as this can cause further damage to the device. It is much better to simply turn it off and book a repair appointment with iSmash online.
The longer your iPhone is sumberged or exposed to water, the more saturated it will become and the more likely it is that it will suffer permenent damage. If you do drop your iPhone in water, try to retrieve it as quickly as possible.
There are a few ways to tell if your phone is water damaged:
it is not recommended to leave your iPhone in a bag of rice: there is no evidence that this will actually dry the phone. There’s a good chance that dust and grit will make it inside your phone and do the same damage that water would]
If your iPhone has any water in it at all when you turn it on, it could cause the phone to short circuit. Wait for at least 48 hours, however, 72 hours is better. And, if you can, wait a week, this way there’s going to be an even higher chance that all of the water will be gone and a higher chance that the phone can be fixed sooner.
1. My iPhone won’t turn on
If your iPhone won’t turn on after coming into contact with water, it can be one of two things; either the iPhone has short-circuited, or the water has damaged or corroded some internal components and compromised the circuit. Both can be irreversible if the phone isn’t looked at by an iSmash technician.
There are a couple of tests you can do to check if your iPhone actually won’t turn on, or if there is another issue.
2. My iPhone won’t charge
If your iPhone won’t charge after dropping it in water, there is probably a problem with your charging port, especially if that was the main place that water entered the phone. The charging port is one of the few places that has exposed electrical components, so there is a lot of potential for corrosion. If you've eliminated water damage as a problem there may be an issue with your iPhone battery, which we can also help you to replace.
The first thing you should do to make sure you don’t damage your iPhone charging port further is to make sure the charging port is completely dry before you plug your phone in. Plugging your phone in when there is water in the charging port will definitely lead to corrosion or a short circuit.
3. My iPhone screen is water damaged
You can tell if your screen has been damaged by water if there are lines or dark spots under the glass. It is difficult to say whether this damage is going to be permanent or if it will lead to other complications, so the best thing to do is turn it off and leave it to dry for as long as possible.
However, there is no guarantee that circuit under the water damaged iPhone screen isn’t going to corrode over time, and the screen will stop working. The only way to guarantee this is to have a certified iSmash technician look beneath the screen and repair any damaged parts.
4. My iPhone's speaker doesn’t work
It is difficult to determine whether your iPhone's speaker has been compromised by water because there are often bigger issues that will stop you from noticing. As with every water-related issue, leave your iPhone to dry for as long as possible. If you manage to turn your phone back on again, backup your data before you try to test the speaker out.
If there is water in your speaker, using it could cause the phone to short. If you’ve turned your iPhone back on after letting it dry for as long as you can, try and play a ringtone or some music through your speaker. This will allow you to identify if there is an issue, however, it should be one of the last things to check in order to avoid your phone shorting and causing more damage.
It is possible to get your data back if you have been backing your iPhone up to your computer. If not, then it is more difficult.
If you have been backing it up, you can easily retrieve your data on a new or fixed iPhone by doing the following:
If you haven’t backed up your phone to your computer, you will need to download a third-party data retrieval tool, and this can have a cost attached. If your phone is water damaged, and you want to retrieve your data, it might be worth having the phone fixed by a certified technician, solving both your problems.
There are a lot of independent phone shops that could help, but they won’t offer you a warranty and you will have to pay a high cost for a service that you can’t guarantee will work.
The solution is to head into an iSmash Service Centre and have one of our certified iPhone technicians repair any issues which are a result of water penetrating your device. We’re so confident in our trained technicians that we will happily offer a 12-month warranty, so you know the phone will be fixed to a high standard.
Find your nearest iSmash store today.
Apple doesn't cover water damage under their warranty and if you have AppleCare+ you will be charged £79 and a possible excess to get a replacement phone. Alternatively, at iSmash, we charge £20 to run liquid damage diagnostics test which can take up to 48 hours.
Following our analysis, one of our certified iPhone repair technicians will be able to identify exactly where the issue is and whether it can be fixed or a refurbished replacement is the way to go.
Whatever action you take immediately after water coming into contact with your phone, it will only ever delay the breakdown of the iPhone’s circuit. It may take weeks or months, but eventually, internal corrosion will cause the water damaged iPhone to break. The best course of action is to have it checked over by a trained and certified iSmash repair technician.
