Lately I have been thinking about the products or objects that I use that make my life a little bit easier, are particularly well designed, and that make me smile ’cause they just ‘work’. The two things that sprung to mind were my Hookturn reusable coffee cup and… my iPhone. Perhaps the universe caught wind of my thinking and my growing dependence on my iPhone and decided to test me a little, because this morning, as I was carrying a stack of old newspapers to the recycling pile, I dropped my iPhone in the dog’s water bowl. Bummer!
My phone isn’t insured – I found this out when I dropped the phone in the sink while brushing my teeth and got toothpaste in one of the speakers and when I went to claim was told I didn’t have any insurance – so I have resorted to the interweb to get some ideas on how to fix it. This has clearly happened to A LOT of people (given the surprisingly large volume of information available – just google ‘how to dry wet iphone’), but the number of success stories is at least somewhat reassuring.
So, in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I thought I’d document what I did/should have done (noting that, at this stage, this is not a proven method!).
The most important thing is that you DON’T TOUCH ANY BUTTONS! Resist the temptation to see if it works by turning it on/off, calling someone, opening an app etc.
First step is to remove the case (if your phone has one). Then dry the phone as best you can with a towel. You might want to give it a bit of a shake to get as much water out of it as you can.
Next remove the SIM card (I think the main reason for this is so the phone doesn’t ‘do anything’ (and therefore risk shorting out) if someone calls/texts you. This of course assumes that you phone was/is still ‘on’ following it’s retrieval from the water).
Then put the phone in a zip-lock bag of rice (apparently silica crystals and kitty litter work well too, but rice seems to be more handy). Seal it up. And leave it alone! The rice helps to draw the moisture out of the phone (and perhaps it also makes you less inclined to fiddle with it).
There are mixed opinions on the web about using a hairdryer on your phone. When I removed my phone from it’s case I did use a hairdryer for a few minutes (on a very low heat setting) to remove some of the obvious moisture.
But the key thing seems to be a) rice and b) time. Some people say 2-3 days in the rice are needed if your phone was submerged for a few seconds, 6-7 days if it was longer. So right now my phone is sitting in a bag of rice on the kitchen bench, and that is where it’ll stay for at least a day or two, while I learn a valuable lesson about life without my iphone!
For anyone who has been waiting on the edge of their seat to find out what happened…. I’m pleased to say it worked! Of course I can’t know exactly a) how wet/damaged the phone was to begin with or b) what particular thing(s) worked, but I suspect the keys things are 1) get the phone out of the water as quickly as possible, 2) don’t press any buttons, 3) dry it out as best you can (using what ever mixture of towels, hairdryers and rice is required).