Tips to fix a Water or Liquid Damaged iPhone

Unexpected slip-offs tend to happen when you can’t even think of them. Even before you can figure out why your butterfingers have ditched you, your iPhone is lying deep into the swimming pool or is completely drowned into a hot cup of coffee. Now that the unexpected has happened, you need to act fast and look for effective ways to fix the liquid or water damaged iPhone. And that’s exactly what we are going to do in this short piece!

But before getting started with tips, let’s first understand what IP rating is and how much protection it can offer to your iPhone against water!

So, What is IP Rating and What It Means for Your iPhone?

IP rating aka Ingress Protection rating refers to the degree of protection against liquids or solids.

• The first iPhone that got the water-resistance rating was iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. With a rating of IP67 under IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard 60529, the device can resist water up to the maximum depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes.
  
• iPhone SE 2020, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus have also got IP67 rating.
  
• iPhone XS, XS Max, and iPhone 11 have a rating of IP68 (maximum depth of 2 meters up to 30 minutes), while iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max have a rating of IP68 (maximum depth of 4 meters up to 30 minutes.)

Why Do You Need to Worry About Protecting Your iPhone from Water Damage, If Your Device is Water-Resistant?

That’s an important point, isn’t it? Well, the above mentioned iPhone models are tested under controlled laboratory conditions, so they may not always perform up to that level in real life, where a lot of external factors are involved, like usage, temparature, type of liquid etc.

Moreover, water-resistance isn’t a permanent condition as its ability to resist damage decreases over time with use. It’s also worth noting that Apple doesn’t take the liability of fixing iPhone water damage under warranty.

So, How Do You Know if Your iPhone is Water or Liquid Damaged?

iPhones (and most iPod devices) come with a Liquid Contact Indicators (LCIs) to let you easily figure out whether your iPhone has been damaged by water or ruined by liquid. The LCI automatically activates when the device contacts water or liquid containing water or even excess moisture. The indicator’s normal colour is white/silver but in case of water damage, it turns fully red.

(Image credit: Apple Support)

Keep in Mind These Dos and Don’ts After Your iPhone has Got Wet

If your iPhone has got wet, the first thing you should do is turn it off immediately. And then use a soft, lint-free cloth (such as a lens cloth) to wipe the water. Also, ensure that your iPhone is completely dry before popping out the SIM tray. Besides, make sure not to plugin any accessory or charge your iPhone for at least 5-6 hours after it has been left to dry.

Drying a wet iPhone with the help of any external heat source or trying to insert any object i.e paper towel or cotton swab into the Lightning port could prove detrimental. So, don’t even think of such unwarranted tricks.

You can also gently tap your iPhone against your hand with the Lightning port facing down to get rid of the excess liquid. Leaving the iPhone in a dry area with some airflow or putting the device in front of a fan could help in drying the device.

Though not so efficient, putting a wet iPhone in a bag of dry rice for hours in order to let the device get dry is quite a popular trick. While we don’t completely rule it out, we won’t put it at the forefront either. So, we would recommend you to give it a shot only when you don’t have other means to dry the smartphone. Keep in mind that the dry rice grains may get stuck in the ports and speaker grills, and you may have a hard time removing it.

Go to a Trusted iPhone Repair Center

Just in case your iPhone is not working even after it has been dried out, chances are residue moisture may have got inside. In this case, contact an expert at your nearest iPhone repair centre at the earliest as your device will need to go through specialized water and liquid damage treatment.

Want to talk immediately to an expert techie who has years of experience repairing water-damaged iPhones? Give our team of super techies a call at 8130609004 and experience our Rapid Repair Service.

Read Also – Common iPhone Problems And Solutions