Panic Stations! Dropped my iPhone 4S down the toilet . . .

Gordon Minard

Panic Stations! Dropped my iPhone 4S down the toilet . . .

Not powering on now! I have had really bad luck with this phone - I have only had it 6 weeks and broke the screen already and, when I got it, the ringer was not working - had to get Apple to repair it!

What do I do? My life revolves around photos, eMail, txts on that phone . . .

I see people on the Internet mentioning putting it in a bag of rice ? ? ? ?

KERSPLAT!

Pretty sure the worst thing to do is try turn it on!! Try a bowl of rice and leave in the hotpress for a few days but to be honest I stumbled across the thread and have no idea, but that's what I'd do.

Zcott

The easiest answer is unfortunately buy a new phone.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Yes put it in a jar of rice. The rice will attract Asians who will repair the phone.

frenchmartini

Same thing happened to me. Tried the rice and airing cupboard and the iPhone did work (sort of) for a while, but it's recovery was very short lived and I had to replace it.

RoyalMarine

Gordon Minard wrote: »

Panic Stations! Dropped my iPhone 4S down the toilet . . .

Not powering on now! I have had really bad luck with this phone - I have only had it 6 weeks and broke the screen already and, when I got it, the ringer was not working - had to get Apple to repair it!

What do I do? My life revolves around photos, eMail, txts on that phone . . .

I see people on the Internet mentioning putting it in a bag of rice ? ? ? ?

If you can get the device working, either another repair with Apple due to liquid damage, or as mentioned drying the device in rice, I strongly suggest you buy a seriously good case.

I have this one http://griffintechnology.com/survivor

Nothing will 100% protect your phone, but this will greatly help.

murpho999

Also sorry to rub it in but you do have everything backed up via iCloud?

That way if you do get a new phone then everything will transfer over.

Emails are on whatever service use's server so no issue there.

Photos can be tougher as they take up more space but you should always have them backed up in some way as electronic devices eventually die anyway.

Dudda

As you know don’t power on the phone but also don't charge it. Leave it off for at least 3 days and if you can resist the urge leave it a week in the hotpress in rice as the rice absorbs the moisture. An even better thing to do is put it in a sealed plastic bag of rice (like sandwich or freezer bag) or glass jar as mentioned above as this further speeds up the absorption of moisture. The hotpress or airing cupboard adds gentle constant heat that helps to slowly evaporate the moisture.

Apple have multiple sensors in their iPhones that detect moisture so they know if you have dropped your phone in water so don't try and pretend to Apple Care it just stopped working.

It’s unlikely the phone will ever be 100% and if you’re lucky enough for it to work again it’s probably going to randomly crash more often, possibly have larger battery drain, hang more in switching apps, etc.

If you do get it working the first thing you should do is make sure you backup contacts, photos and any other information you need from the phone.