Water Damaged iPhone? Grab Some Rice!

[iLoveWindows&iPhone]

Hold on guys... I'm gonna go drop my iPhone 4 into the toilet, then put it in a bag of rice....

I'll get back to u on the results!

[tudtran]

That's so stupid

[Shishir G]

lolz. Its just to fool people as if putting in bag of rice will fix the phone. Ofcourse it will not and ifixyouri gave us the next action "send the phone to them". In actual, the whole plan is Action 2.

Actually it does work, rice is known to suck up water, and if you just lay it there like that it surely will suck up the water, theres not a 100% chance it'll be fixed, but the water will get out thats for sure.

[anarchydude]

Anyone else notice he took the SIM out from the top? Looked like he had an iPhone4 with a standard sized SIM.. weird?

[Bluemoldycheeze88]

My bosses daugther did rice trick with her Motorola Razor and It worked expect for the battery needing to be replace because It can't hold a charge.

[Atreides]

Problem with the rice method is it's too slow, allowing the water time to oxidize near capacitive sources and areas with current (remember, even though the phone is turned off, the battery is still live and wired).

I've doused many of my electrical devices with water, coffee, beer, antifreeze (failed water cooling), and so on. The tried a true method for recovery was:

1) Immediate removal of power
2) Anything other than water spills get a good hefty dose of electrical circuit cleaner or pure alcohol bath followed by a bath in distilled water.
3) 100-120 psi of compressed air for 1 - 6 minutes depending on component (i.e. curves, crevices, enclosed structures like radio shields). The more complex the more air.
4) A few minutes with heat gun set to device appropriate temp. For the iPhone I would set to around 140F (60C) being sure to distribute heat evenly around device and into crevices.

Total time to dry in my cases have been around 30 minutes. If the device does not immediately respond when powered, immediately power it down. Start over from step 3. For motherboards and such, it's much easier since the heat gun can be cranked way up to 280F (140C) range...

Anyway, that's what has worked with me. The only component I've not been able to restore yet are Macbook keyboards. I imagine it's because of the sandwich contact design - once the liquid gets in there it's trapped.

[Bluemoldycheeze88]

Anyone else notice he took the SIM out from the top? Looked like he had an iPhone4 with a standard sized SIM.. weird?

It wasnt a iPhone 4 it was a 3g

[vinaygoel2000]

Here's a great recipe for all water logged iPhone 4's:

- first take it out of the liquid emmediately.
- place in bag of rice (2 cups perferred)
- heat wok to 400 degrees
- add iPhone and rice to wok
- cook in wok for approx 10 minutes until golden brown, or until bumper melts.
- dump all in trash
- buy a Droid.

P.S. I wonder what it would be like with Sushi?

Continue Steps here:

- Play with the Droid for a couple of hours
- Throw it in garbage
- Buy another iPhone.

[CyberDad]

Mouth to Mouth for my iPhone.
Thanks.

[iLoveWindows&iPhone]

What I really wanna know is.....can you eat the rice afterwards. iPhone fry rye!!

[zYxMa]

Here's a great recipe for all water logged iPhone 4's:

- first take it out of the liquid emmediately.
- place in bag of rice (2 cups perferred)
- heat wok to 400 degrees
- add iPhone and rice to wok
- cook in wok for approx 10 minutes until golden brown, or until bumper melts.
- dump all in trash
- buy a Droid.

P.S. I wonder what it would be like with Sushi?

Continue Steps here:

- Play with the Droid for a couple of hours
- Throw it in garbage
- Buy another iPhone.

Nice one!

...and thanks for the TIP! When I saw that I was like WTF? But saw people opinions and I think I have nothing to loose if it it happens to me and to try this rice trick

[viligante8]

You could also submerge the iDevice in pure or near pure alcohol/ethanol and the water will evaporate with the alcohol. None of that 70% rubbing alcohol though

[Mes]

^^Yea ... need 95% alcohol (heard ether works even better). Personally, I use alcohol ONLY if the liquid was NOT water --- but then again, I might give this a try next time LOL

[mosesh]

i had an experience of my own like this, but after many days in rice I figured out where the water sensor was. The sensor had be turned red and I know at the apple store they check for this before they give you a new one so i dyed the sensor by taking a ear cleaner and putting a drop of bleach on it then applying it to the sensor, which is inside the headphone jack. There are actually 2 sensors but the other one is within the device and they do not check it. I had no problems at the store and i got a brand new one that day. hope this helps anyone who needs to get around a water damaged idevice.

[ufcsean]

i had an experience of my own like this, but after many days in rice I figured out where the water sensor was. The sensor had be turned red and I know at the apple store they check for this before they give you a new one so i dyed the sensor by taking a ear cleaner and putting a drop of bleach on it then applying it to the sensor, which is inside the headphone jack. There are actually 2 sensors but the other one is within the device and they do not check it. I had no problems at the store and i got a brand new one that day. hope this helps anyone who needs to get around a water damaged idevice.

Slick!

That's a great idea mate, I've never had water damage though! *knocks wood*

[Siron004]

As an actual cell phone tech/IT professional, I feel like it is my duty to clear some things up.
1.) Rice will absorb the moisture out of the phone, its common sense really so those of you who are just so sure that rice cannot possibly do something such as this you are 100% incorrect. its science.
2.) No, the rice wont ALWAYS fix it, but its usually a pretty good chance. However, if you putting the phone in rice for a couple of days solves nothing I wouldnt at all recommend sending these people your phone. The fact of the matter is you CANNOT I repeat can NOT reverse or halt corrosion. Just isn't scientifically possible. So while they claim your phone will be good as new, it wont be.

Slick!

That's a great idea mate, I've never had water damage though! *knocks wood*

Just a heads up, there are 4 water indicators on the iphone. not two. one inside the headphone jack, two on the main board itself, and one on the charging dock. This is assuming your speaking of 2nd and 3rd gens.

[ikkviper]

Sounds like something that the Myth Busters should try....

[jeremymobile]

One of the main issues with water damage is not only the water but the TDS (total disolved solids). As posted earlier in the thread washing it if dropped in say saltwater is important. If you just dry it the disolved solids stay behind and jump contacts shorting it out. If you rinse it with purified or distilled water this will get rid of the TDS. I have done this with many phones and all have worked. Think about when you go to the beach, you swim and dry off but there is still a film or salt on your skin. So you rinse off.........

[jguz]

This actually did work for me!

[JaydeTech]

Hardly news. Uncooked rice absorbs moisture. Hence why restaurants put it in their salt.

Not news to me at least