Summer has already on its way, and you could be on the poolside or near the water anytime. Everything feels fun until your iPhone decided to take a dip in the water, too.
The next thing you do is almost predictable—panicking. You find it hard to calm down knowing that your iPhone could be broken and you could lose all the data you have in it.
Apparently, Apple does not cover water damage in its warranty. In other words, you may need to fix it by yourself or take it to a repair shop. Sure, it will cost you some expenses to repair. At least, you can recollect the data and save it.
See the Unseen, How to Tell if iPhone has Had Water Damage
A quick contact with water or any liquid may or may not break your iPhone. It depends on how much water gets inside the phone.
Now, you may be curious whether your iPhone is still working or not. Either way, do not turn on your iPhone. Any activity on it will cause a short circuit on the components and it will be likely to cause permanent damage.
So, even when your iPhone is still switched on, try to turn it off as quick as possible. It is better that you keep it off for the next few days. Next, you may need to remove the SIM card out.
Before you decide whether you can fix the iPhone by yourself or bringing it to a repair shop, you may first take a look at its Liquid Contact Indicator (LCI).
The LCI also works as an indicator for Apple. Since they don’t provide warranty for iPhone water damage, you won’t be able to fraud the damage because of the LCI. This is why you need to make sure about the LCI color before you claim the warranty to Apple.
Finding the iPhone Water Damage Indicator
iPhone is one of the few smartphones that have a Liquid Contact Indicator (LCI). It activates when the water touches the circuit board and threatens the phone.
If the iPhone gets damage from water, the LCI will turn on with bright red light. If there is no damage on the circuit board, the light will glow white or silver.
Each iPhone series has a different location for the LCI. On iPhone 5 and above, the LCI is placed on the right side of the phone. As for iPhone 5 and below, you can find the LCI on the bottom side of the phone.
Don’t worry for a false alarm; the LCI will only flash red if the components actually get in contact with water. Humidity and change in temperature will not affect the LCI. However, the size of LCI is very small.
To see it, you will need a magnifier or see it under a bright light.
First Aid: How to fix an iPhone with Water Damage
Though drying it with a hairdryer seems logical, do not attempt to do it. Otherwise, dry off the iPhone with a cloth or towel. The principal with drying the iPhone is to locate it in an absorbing environment.
In this case, you can use rice or silica gel. If you don’t have any of it, you can put the iPhone on top of a towel and place it in a well-ventilated place.
Silica gel usually comes in a pack, and you will mostly find them in product packages. However, you can also buy it from a medical store, wholesale supplier, or even gun supply store.
It comes in different sizes of packs. Make sure that you have enough silica gel packs to cover all sides of the iPhone.
Though silica gel pack will absorb water faster than uncooked rice does, you still need to wait for about 48 hours before turning on the iPhone. Some people might find it hard to buy silica gel packs and use rice instead to dry the phone.
Fact or Fiction, Repairing iPhone Water Damage with Rice
Some may not have heard that uncooked rice is a good absorber. In fact, this method has been proven effective for iPhone water damage repair.
To do it, you just need to put the iPhone in a bowl of uncooked rice. Make sure that the iPhone is covered by the rice. You can use container, bowl, or a zipped plastic bag.
Then, you will have to wait for 48 to 72 hours. The rice will slowly absorb the water inside the phone and dry it out. After four or five days, turn it on and see that it’s working again.
However, if the damage is too heavy, the rice trick might not work. You still have to dismantle the iPhone and fix it.
Yet, dismantling the iPhone is never an easy job especially when you have never done anything like it before. It is better that you seek professional help to do it for you.
Instead of opening it up and damaging it, getting someone to do it might be a better idea.
iPhone Water Damage Repair Cost
Well, drying the iPhone using silica gel packs or rice might be a cheaper option than taking it to the repair shop. Other than that, you can also buy a product like Kensington EVAP Rescue Pouch that can dry your phone.
You can buy it from online stores for about $12.99 each pack.
The rescue pouch works by monitoring the humidity of the phone. There are silica gel packs inside the pouch that works as a water absorber.
On the outside, there is an indicator light that tells you when the phone is ready to be switched on. Usually, a rescue pouch can absorb most of the water inside the phone in 6 to 24 hours.
If you are taking your damaged iPhone to the repair shop, you may have to expend around $80 – $100. However, remember that a water damaged iPhone may have defects temporarily or permanently.
It could experience a sudden overheat a couple of months later.
It is recommended that you create a backup data if anything worse happens in the future. You can use cloud data or online storage to make sure all the data is saved. Next time your iPhone is broken, you wouldn’t be panicking about losing it.
