Step 4: Turn It On and Assess The Damage
You’ve left your iPhone alone overnight and it’s time to determine whether or not your iPhone has been damaged.
Before you attempt to do anything else, double-check the outside of your iPhone to make sure it’s still absolutely dry. If there’s any liquid at all, follow the suggestions in Step One to dry the outside of your iPhone without accidentally causing any additional damage.
Next, plug your iPhone into the charger and wait for it to turn on. If your battery is completely dead, it’s normal for your iPhone to take several minutes to turn on. However, you should still see the battery icon appear on the screen.
It will be very apparent if there’s damage to the display, but often times the smaller problems water-damage can cause aren’t that easy to recognize, at least at first. In part two of this series, we’ll talk about how to assess the damage and the best repair options for each of the main components of your iPhone.
If your iPhone is completely dead with a black screen and no signs of life, a last-ditch effort is to try a hard reset. We’re hoping that it’s just the software that’s crashed. It’s a longshot, but it’s worth a try.
To perform a hard reset on your iPhone, hold down both the power button and Home button until the Apple logo appears on the display. Doing a hard reset on an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus is a little bit different. Instead of holding the Home button and power button, press and hold the volume down button and power button at the same time. Release them both after about 20 seconds, or when you see the Apple logo pop up on your iPhone’s screen.
If your iPhone still shows no signs of life, well, that’s what we’ll discuss in this article. Don’t despair: There are plenty of options when it comes to replacing a water-damaged iPhone, and a lot of them probably don’t cost as much as you think.
Wrapping It Up
Why do people do such crazy things when their iPhones get wet? It’s because of the massive amount of misinformation on the internet and the crazy theories we hear from our friends.
Being prepared can be the difference between life and death in an emergency situation, and it’s the same with the life of your iPhone (albeit not as important). I hope this article has given you the confidence that you’ll know exactly what to do if your iPhone ever gets wet. Tell your friends, too. As someone wise once said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
[…] desiccants. But please, whatever you do, don't put your water-resistant iPhone 8 in a bag of rice! Rice can get stuck in the ports of your iPhone 8, which could cause lots of damage to the internal components of your […]
My son’s iphone 6s was put in a bag of rice for several weeks after he jumped into a pool with it in his swim trunks pocket. Should we attempt to turn it on, or should we try using a dessicant? This happened a month ago. Thank you for your advice.
We have just realized that the touch screen has separated from the body of the phone. Can this be repaired?
Normally, I’d suggest going to an Apple Store with this — but definitely contact Apple support. If there’s no damage to the screen (like a crack), it may be covered under warranty.
My son’s iphone 6S was in his swim trunk’s pocket when he jumped in a pool a month ago. Unfortunately, the phone was put in a bag of rice for several weeks. What should we do now? Should we try to turn it on or does it make sense to try using dessicants at this point? Thank you for your advice.
Ok so can you please help me i have an iphone 6s and i had my noodles spilled all over the floor and my iphone was there and i cleaned the wet stuff in it and blew threw my phone charger place it doesnt want to charge tho anf its been in the charger all night its still on 1%
hi can you help me
my phone got moisture from the noodle agt the same time the top cover is wet aslong as the front camera thingy and beside the camera is wet too and i think it gets water inside
my phone starts to lag and having straight lines what should i do pls help its been 13 hrs since my phone got wet helpp me pls
Would gauze work too?
Step 3 is not clear to me, do I leave the cell phone on the counter with the dessicant on top of it or do I put the cell phone in the bag with the dessicant.
Alex Seto, Courtney Seto, Max Seto, Katie Seto
if I have to click forward again and again to read a story , I stop on the first page
There’s a little bit of water on the inside top corner of my screen. I don’t have a ziplock and stuff what do I do?
Where are parts 2 and 3 of this article?
I just dropped my I phone 5s in water yesterday. I actually put in in minute rice overnight and now I completely regret doing that. Everything works fine except I’m not able to use Touch ID anymore because it apparently has water damage. I regret not reading this first. Sadly the warranty just expired about five months ago so I don’t have the money to replace the phone. Probably just going to wait another few years and get another iPhone. I can’t pay around $250 for them just to replace my phone.
Hi! I dropped my iPhone in water yesterday evening, did the rice thing, and now, I’m regrettably reading your site. The phone is turning on just fine, I am able to get messages, and it makes sounds. Does this mean that ive nothing to worry about in terms of getting it fixed and paying money for that or a new phone?? It is an iPhone 6
I recently got an iPhone 6 and it was working fine but yesterday i couldn’t abort a call so I turned my phone off . After that I couldn’t turn it on. And also the phone showed no signs when I charged it. On holding the home button and wake button my phone finally turned on. But the phone couldn’t connect to any network and only if I connected it manually, the phone showed network for a few minutes and then no service again. And also my wifi was greyed out. I followed the steps you mentioned and it did… Read more »
Where is part 2 and 3 of the My Phone Got Wet article?
Hey Sue,
They’re in the works! Sorry they’re not done yet. Maybe there’s something I can help with in the meantime?
Thanks for reading,
David