You just dropped your beloved iPhone into the pool! Now what? Today we’ll take a look at the best way to ensure that this isn’t the end of your device.
In addition to outlining which recovery methods work best, we’ll also tell you some very important actions to avoid if you don’t want to ruin your phone while trying to save it!
A Lesson Learned the Hard Way
Like anyone with a modicum of sanity living in the arid desert of Phoenix Arizona, I own a swimming pool. I also own an iPod Touch. You can see where this is going. One day, as I was diligently brushing the walls of my pool, a friend stopped by. Being the polite guy that I am, I turned my back to the pool to engage in discussion.
The problem of course with turning your back on a swimming pool is that you forget that it’s there, which means when you take a step back, your friend has cause to roll on the ground with laughter as you fall helplessly through the air in slow motion with one thought on your mind: My iPod is in my pocket! Splash.
I was drenched, completely submerged. As I scrambled out of the water I handed my phone to my friend to dry off, he managed to suppress his laughter for long enough to comply. At this point, we have an all too familiar situation on our hands. This is no mere $20 mp3 player. This is a significant purchase that has possibly seen its last Words With Friends session.
In this situation there is a right and wrong way to react. Before we get into the steps that you should take, let’s look at one important thing not to do!
Don’t Turn Your Device On
This may sound like an obvious piece of advice, but trust me, it’s not. In fact, when as I climbed out of the pool having already handed my iPod to my friend, I found that this is exactly what he did. He quickly dried off the outside of the device with his shirt and then naturally wanted to see if everything still worked and tried to use it.
This is a fantastic way to fry your device permanently. Granted, it’s likely already on standby and not truly off, but you’re still only going to heighten the risk of permanent damage if you try to increase the electronic activity.
Fortunately, in the end, this action didn’t spell disaster for my iPod Touch, but you might not be so lucky.
Drying Out the Device
As soon as you recover your device from its watery grave, the first step is to get all of the water out that you can. This goes beyond wiping the device off to even gently shaking it to try to free any trapped water inside.
Be Wary of Heat
From here one of the most common ideas is to grab a hair dryer. The problem with this method is that you can do as much damage as you repair. We know that water and electronics don’t mix, but it turns out heat and electronics have a similar relationship.
I’ve talked to and read about people that have successfully saved their iOS devices with a hairdryer, so it can in fact work. However, I don’t recommend it. If you’re convinced that this is the way to go, just be sure to use a low heat setting and take frequent breaks to allow the sensitive components in the phone to cool down.
Silica Packets: Do Not Eat!
You know those packets that come in everything from shirt pockets to guitar cases? These handy little guys are always equipped with a life-saving warning: “Do not eat!” This message doesn’t really help us in this situation but the packets are actually quite useful. As you know, they’re designed to absorb moisture, which means they offer a great method for sucking the water out of your wet device.
Silica packets are awesome for saving wet electronics
What you want to do is fill a plastic bag or tupperware container with silica packets like in the image above and then toss in your iPhone. Next, seal the container and let it sit for a lot longer that you want it to. At the very least, let it go over night. If you’re cautious, 24-48 hours is a safer bet.
During this time, resist the urge to take your phone out and turn it on to see what happens. There will still be some condensation hanging around inside and you therefore have the same circuit frying risk as before. Patience is the key!
Rice: A More Practical Solution
In theory, a bag full of silica packets is awesome, but who really has twenty of those things lying around? If I tear my house completely apart I might be able to find two if I’m having a really lucky day.
When my iPod Touch went for a dip, I was too busy being angry at myself to fix the thing. Luckily, my wife jumped in and took over the situation. Being the resourceful woman that she is, she put my iPhone in a bag and filled it with rice. I was born with an overactive sense of skepticism so I saw my wife’s actions as pure nonsense and started planning my trip to the Apple Store for a replacement.
Rice is a great substitute for silica packets
It turns out though that my wife’s black magic is actually a fairly common practice with wet electronics. The rice acts exactly like the silica packets and absorbs the moisture. In fact, this trick worked like a charm and in 24 hours I threw my iPod on a charger and it came to life. That was well over a year ago and the device still works!
The reason that rice is a less ideal solution than the packets is that it’s much messier. Rice might take the water out of your device, but it can fill it with dust. Still, unless you’re a strange hoarder who happens to have mounds of silica, rice can be a very effective solution.
Conclusion
To sum up, as soon as your iPhone gets wet, resist the urge to turn it on. Next, dry it off as best as you can, avoid heating it up unnecessarily and reach for the silica packets. If you don’t have any, fill a bag with rice, throw in your iPhone and seal it for around 24 hours.
Despite many stories of successful revivals, you’ll likely find that an iPhone that has been completely submerged in water will never be quite the same. Even if it still works, there will be noticeable quirks in how the responsiveness of the buttons, the audio quality, how well it takes a charge, etc. Ultimately, if you didn’t kill it, you’ve definitely brought it much closer to death than it was before.
It’s important to note that Apple has sensors in place that can tell if your phone has gotten wet, so don’t stroll into the Apple Store and claim that the thing just stopped working unexpectedly. Be honest and tell them what happened. You probably won’t get a free phone but Apple should offer you a discounted replacement (often refurbished).
If you’ve ever gotten your iPhone or iPod wet, tell us your story below. What method did you use to dry it out? Would you recommend that to others? Did Apple work with you on getting a replacement? We want to know!
Photo Credits: Scott Brown and Lisa Norwood.
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You just dropped your beloved iPhone into the pool! Now what? Today we'll take a look at the best way to ensure that ...
You just dropped your beloved iPhone into the pool! Now what? Today we'll take a look at the best way to ensure that ...
Dry rice works amazingly well for drying out gadgets. It got my sister’s point and shoot camera working again after it fell down a waterfall (literally). I was very skeptical, but it worked wonders. Glad it got your iPod Touch back!
I drop my Iphone accidentally in the toilet and that was a nightmare. Immediately the phone went out of wack. Took it out and shook it gently to take the excess water and called my daughter she said to put in the sun and rice. Of course, I didn’t have rice because I was at work. Put the phone in the car on top my dashboard for about one hour upside down to protect the screen. Went and got the phone out the car, I saw some moisture on the screen but it wouldn’t turn on. when I got home took a bag of rice and put the phone in there, immediately the phone turned on but it wouldn’t do anything else. I let the phone stay in the bag for a little while but I keep taking it out to see if it works and kept calling people by it self. So I put it back in the rice and let it stay overnight and it worked the next morning. I don’t know for how long it’s going to work but it works for now.
Haha this worked!!!! LOLOLOL Left my iphone in bag with open bottle of Evian….switched and flickered off with a red flashing light next to earpiece – was crying I was so upset – wouldn’t switch on – put `it in plastic tub covered in rice with a sylicon gel sachet out a show box – FOR 1 DAY -1 day later plugged phone in and it powered up as normal LOL. A-M-A-Z-E-D try it it worked for me LOLOLOLOL
Rice is a life saver. I’ve brought a Nike+ receiver, and iPod shuffle and a tv remote back to life from water/juice spills. A friend brought an iPhone 3G back to life after a swim in the river. The key is also to not turn it out…agreed!
Thanks for the tips. Looks like I need to go out and stock up on some rice!
You KILLED me with your story! So funny!
Thanks for the advices! I’ll try it in the next time I’m making a suicidal run into the sea with the device in my pocket
Oh boy, the old rice myth. Hello, you have to boil rice for 20 minutes to get it tok hold water, it doesn’t just suck it up like a sponge. But the myth continues!
Interesting! I had never thought of this but I bet you’re right that it’s more effective that way. Just plain old uncooked rice did in fact work for me but this might be a better way to go.
But how do you know it “worked”, and that putting it in the cupboard wouldn’t have had the same effect? Next time, just leave in a dry place with airflow and see if it dries up just as fast (or faster). Although I hope you don’t have to
Hey Noah
I takes 20 min’s in boiling water to make rice eatable, and in that amount of time they absorb 166% of their own volume/size in water.
If you leave rice in a moist environment, they will absorb moisture – so like the ricegrains will keep the salt in saltshakers “shakeable”, it will also be able to absorb moisture from your eletronic device.
your wrong i’m pleased to say.
my son dropped his iphone down the toilet, 48 hours in a tub full of rice brought it back to life!
You’re wrong about the rice, it can absorb without boiling mate. My old guitar got some water damage dring a cyclone and I sed rice to absorb some of the moisture from the wood. Due to the amount of moisture the rice actually swelled a little bit (and stuck to a few parts of the guitar) which indicates that the rice did help but absording moisture.
Rice does work, just letting you know. My sister has used it for her touch screen phone, and I have used it now today for my ipod touch. Thank you very much.
Actually the rice method does work. If you leave an electronic in rice for like a week (occasionally changing the rice) it will dry them out. The product may never work the way it did before, but this is certainly no myth.
One way to find out I will perform an experiment. I will take four dishes, two with one cup of rice; one covered one uncovered. Then two with no rice; one cover and one uncovered. Four equal amounts of water. Then watch and see if there is any d efferent in evaporation rate.
Very good tips! Didnt know that but I’m gonna have to remember this. Going on holiday to a tropical place so theres gonna be swimming pools there to drop my iPhone in
One thing tho, I imagine you wont be so lucky when you drop it in a sea? I mean, the salt will remain once the water is gone. How much damage will that do?
Re seawater, a very old trick with cameras (as in film cameras – this goes WAY back) was to as soon as possible (if not immediately) submerge the camera in a bucket of plain water and keep it there until you could get the camera to a repair shop. I’d suggest with an iPhone a quick dip in plain water might at least flush the salt. Then go through the rice dryer…
Loved this article. Thanks for the tips, I’ve lost many an iPod to pools.
If I had known then what I know now. I tool fell into a swimming pool with my iPhone 3GS in my pocket. By the time I got out the phone was soaked. I did try to turn it on, but nothing. I was in Florida so stuck it in the garage which is very hot to dry off. I tried turning it on a few times and it did come to life about 48hours later. However for the next few months it seemed to just shut down without warning, and the battery seemed to drain very quickly. In the end I took it to my local store in the UK. I did not know about the water sensors so just explained about the battery drain, they took out a little tool, looked in the headphone socket and declared the phone water damaged and dead. I had no insurance, or extended warranty, however they did off a refurbed replacement for £130. A new iPhone costs about £500 in the UK, so quite a bargain. I took the refurb, and I still use it now. I thought it was really good service to replace it for the price they did.
This story brings back memories. My son, now 16, saved all his birthday money to buy an ipod touch for his birthday. The day of his birthday we went to the local resort for a swim and he jumped in the pool with it in his pocket. He hadn’t even had it 24 hours. He cried for days over that. A month or so later we bought him an iphone on a plan so he is happy now. We did try to fix it by drying it out for two days before turning it on, but no luck. Wish we knew these tricks we could have saved it.
We also could have used this advice a few months ago in Brisbane (flooding and all) but more recently the kids at the local school actually got their phones wet coming home from school when they were drenched in a downpour right at home time
, they had their iphones in their pockets and in their bags…took them into the local Apple store, they were great by the way… replaced the phones.
Nice to know that hope is not always lost. Thanks for the info
A little off track with this one:
I install wireless internet connections in rural areas
One day I was ALMOST done with a job when it began raining, 30 seconds from finish
I did my best to keep my netbook keyboard & screen facing down but it shut down on me
Knocked battery out immediately and pulled the laptop as far a part as I could, blew it out with compressed air and let a fan blow directly on it for entire weekend
Monday AM = dead
Next weekend = dead
Thru it in donation pile for next trip to Goodwill
Months later before leaving for Gwill, plugged in power supply & gave it one last shot and IT WORKED!
Until it slipped out of tool bag while on roof and did a Humpty Dumpty…
My iPhone 3G got vodka and red bull spilt on it on new years eve once. The screen went very dark but you could still use it. I threw it in the airing cupboard for a couple of days and it seemed to sort itself out. It was never the same though. The sound quality wasn’t great and sometimes the screen would flicker. I traded it in for the iPhone 4 =]
Great article. Another silly thing that you may try that a friend showed me is to carry your iPhone in a ziplock bag and use it if you know you’ll be in wet weather. Better to be proactive than panic.
It works like a charm!
haha! This happened to me and unfortunately I learned this the hard way as well. I turned on my device and it never worked again. I also learned the rice trick after it happened. Live and learn!
I drowned my Iphone 3GS not by jumping in a pool but by placing it carefully in my hard eyeglass case on my bedsidetable thinking it would be better protected from getting knocked off in it; unfortunately I also place a glass of water next to the case and sometime during the night knocked the glass over and it filled up the hard case like a mini tub and my iphone sat it it for HOURS! I woke up in the morning reached for my phone and encountered water! Fighting panic I quickly made sure it was completely off then peeled off the silicone case it was in and wiped it dry before popping out the battery and grabbing a gallon baggie and old nylon and a bag of rice. I slipped the iphone into the nylon (to keep the rice from getting stuck in the battery opening) then placed it in the baggie and filled it up with rice and sealed it shut. Then came the hardest part I left it there for 2 days. After that pulled it out popped the battery back in and turned it on and it WORKED!!! It’s been 6 months since the “episode” and I’ve only had a few issues since then mostly with the camera looking like it has a slight soft focus on it when I take pictures and sometimes the “END” call button is slow to respond when pressed but nothing bad enough to make me buy a new one.
How did you take the battery out of an iPhone?
I had the same issue – and even the Verizon tech guy couldn’t tell me (after my Iphone4, 2 weeks old, took a toilet bath). It seemed to come out of it 99% fine, but I am giving it the trice treatment. I saw a video which I’m sure is on YouTube about removing 2 little screws at the bottom of the phone, which allows you to open the back. But it’s a bit complicated to remove the battery, but it IS removable. I am going to see if my phone revives sufficiently; otherwise I have to pay a $199 deductible to get insurance to replace it
( There are independent repair places that may also be cheaper than the deductible. I love the phone. Never ever happened to me before after 20 years of assorted cell phone useage. Weird
Sadly, I just put my brand new iphone 4 through the washing machine. I dried it off ,put it in a bag of rice right away and started Googling to see if there were any other solutions. It looks like the rice is the most common trick out there, even my service provider told me to use rice when I called to activate my old device while I wait these dreaded two days. Who comes up with these ideas?
Wish me luck!
So my ipod fell in the toilet and I tried putting in a bag of rice. I let it in there for about two days and when I took it out and tried charging it, it turned on but the touch screen won’t work. Also, when I look down the headphone thing I see a white, circle. Is that the water indicator? I dont want to take my ipod apart to make sure. Can anyone help on how to get my screen to start working?
The bag of rice trick has worked well for me in the past and I’m now collecting every precious packet of cilia gel, just in case
Thanks for a great article, I’ve shared it with a few friends who have dropped their iPhones in the toilet lol
Exactly one week after I purchase my 3GS iPhone, it fell into the toilet. I had it in a very short pocket on my jacket. When I turned around I realized it was falling. I followed it right in and grabbed it out immediately (clean water, y’all!!). My son happened to be there and came running when I screamed like a banshee. He turned the phone off immediately and pulled out the sim card. He shook out the excess water and I immediately placed it in a bowl of rice, actually, it was Minute Rice. I started researching online and realized there was hope for my phone. I did not touch it for 3 days and nights. I plugged it in, charged it all night and then turned it on the next morning. The phone worked perfectly, however there was still some water under the glass. I know everyone had said not to use heat or a blow dryer or anything like that. So, I turned the phone off again laid the phone on top of the rice and used my piano lamp. I put it about 8 to 10 inches from the phone and left for work. That night before bed, I turned it on and the water was gone. Took it to work the next day but it shut off within a couple of hours. I took it home and this time I stood it upright in the rice with the back side facing the lamp. Piano lambs can be twisted around to get direct light. I left it there all night and the next day. The phone was fixed. It worked abosolutely perfect for about three months until I updated to the IOS 4.1. That was ten times worse than the water. lol. Whatever you do, don’t get impatient. Live without your phone for a while like I did. iPhones are a lot more resillient than you think and i absolutely love mine.
I dropped my phone into bathtub, and I took it out right after it fall. and it was playing music. then I turn it off. and put in dry rice like everybody else. after about 8 hours, I turned it on. and it is working, but just now and than it will restart itself. it just happened this morning. I will let you guys know how it goes.
Kayaking today I dumped myself, dog and iPhone in the river. iPhone is sitting in a bag of rice now, hope it works, not sure if I’m covered through AT&T. Damn!
Same thing happened to me while kayaking. My iphone was in a ziploc, but there was still moisture. I shut it off, and stupidly tried to turn it on later figuring that it was in the ziploc so it probably didn’t get too wet (just moisture). I have it in a ziploc with silicon packs (yes, I do save them). I am trying hard to be patient and hope to leave it in there …for …… a week.
SO, I didn’t touch it for a week. When I finally charged i,t it popped on and and worked fairly well for about 3 days. Then I saw a screen flash problem and it would randomly stop and shut down, then restart. Sent it in to apple for the $199 water damage replacement plan. They’ve been good. Sadly the replacement has a hardware problem which I did not cause, but they are sending another one. On another note. My old IPod nano also got soaked. It had water under the screen. I left it in a ziploc bag with the anti moisture packs that are used to ship items to you. Yes, I collect them. I let it the entire month without touching it, and it works perfectly!
I was talking on my phone while in the pool like I always do and never drop my iphone (3gs)….
but i dropped it today and snatched it out of the water and took the case off and tried my best to dry it off. My friend told me to blow dry it; so I did each end for a while and my phone was still on. It wouldn’t shut off after it got wet. The screen works. I can still do everything right now, but it keeps vibrating and the screen shuts off. I went online after all that and discovered this article. The phone is in a bag of rice. Im going to leave it in the bag for 2 days. I hope this rice thing works for my phone.
If you need silica packs go to a local pharmacy and ask them for some. I got a whole ziplock bag full of them.. perfect! Also take the SIM card out from the top to allow for better absorption.
Hi all,
I have a question to ask for those who’s iPhone fell in water; Did it get warm after the fall? Am asking coz mine just fell in water and it is getting too hot even to handle…
I got in a horrible car accident and my ipod got a little wet from rolling into a ditch and having a trailer land on top of me. I’m not sure where the water came from but the Ipod didn’t get that wet, it was on and playing when it got wet, and I remember it staying on while it was wet. and on Thursday it wasn’t working, I haven’t tried to turn it on since the accident and its been in a cool, dark and dry place since Thursday and I’m scared to try to turn it back on, I have about 70 GB of music on there and not all of it is backed up. I could are less about the actual ipod I will just cry if I can’t have all of my music back. That’s all I want. Are there any tips or tricks other than the rice and letting it dry? Or is my music doomed??
Not sure if this works with the touch Ipods. But I washed my 120 GB Ipod once. I placed it in Isopropyl Alcohol and placed it on a very low heat source. In theory, alcohol replaces/repels the water, low heat source evaporates the alcohol. Allow plenty of time, 1-2 days for total evaporation, and only a very low heat source.
Charged it after 36hrs, it turned on immediately and haven’t had any problems since. Hope this helps.
One day, my friends and I decided to take a trip to the quarry. All my friends decided to go for a swim but I didn’t feel like it. So I sat there watching them having fun, jumping off the cliffs so I decided I might as well go join. I run, dive off the cliff and as soon as I hit the water it clicked into my head that “omg I didn’t take my iPhone out of my pocket.” I reach down and surely there it is. Good thing I decided to go swimming… Anyway later when I got home I took off the back of the phone and stuck it in a bag of rice for about a day. I plug it into the charger and bam! It starts charging. I have had absolutely noo problems with anything on the phone except the battery does not hold a charge nearly as long as it did before. I will have it fully charged when I go to bed and 7 hours later, it lost about 40% of it’s battery life, when I used to get just about 2 full days of use on one charge. I have since replaced the battery thinking that was the problem, but nope, battery still drains even when I’m not using it. I still havn’t done a restore, so hopefully when I’m back from the cottage I restore it to an older back-up, and it fixes the problem.
Last night I’d placed my iPod touch on the arm of the couch and it slipped off.
Directly into my cup of water. It was only in there for a few seconds before I realized it and it stayed on. I took the case off and cleaned off the water. The screen didn’t seem to have any water under it and it was working for a while after I’d dried it off. It glitched some times though and eventually the only thing that was happening was the sound kept going down until it was completely off and I’d turn it back up but it would just keep going down. I felt safer in this area as I’d encountered that glitch before and the first time it had just started happening with no known cause. I turned it off when I realized the touch screen wasn’t working and turned it back on. It told me to connect to iTunes and I was freaking out. I connected it and iTunes told me it couldn’t read what was on my iPod so it reset all of the original settings for me. It would turn on, but the screen still wasn’t working. I held down the sleep/wake button and the home button for about ten seconds to reset it and put it in rice overnight. This morning I tried to turn it on and it won’t even turn on so I put it back in rice and I’ll probably keep it there all day. I wouldn’t be so worried if there weren’t cracks in the screen, which had never affected it’s working ability before but since they got wet water probably seeped in. I don’t want to take the screen off because I don’t want it to break up and fall apart. I don’t know what I’m gonna do :0 I’ll probably have to go the store and get a new iPod, but I hope it starts to work again. I can live with a few little glitches.
Just an aside, instead of silica packets from electronics, you can also find crystal kitty litter (about $6 for 4lbs) which is essentially the same stuff.
I soaked my phone for more than one min at the bottom of a pool before it could be retrieved. I blew off the water with an air compressor and blew the air into the headphone jack and water ran out the speakers at the other end.
Went to Home Depot and bought some “Moisture Rid” which is used to dry out areas that tend to mildew (closets etc) For three dollars I got the smallest package, dumped the Calcium chloride crystals into a tupperware bowl, put down a paper towel and laid my Iphone on the towel. Snapped the Tupperware lid shut and left the bowl shut in an oven with the interior light on for 24 hours.
Works perfect.
My iphone was in the water a good 5 minutes as I forgot to leave it ashore before swimming. I turned it on after exiting the water, saw the icons light, then go black. (uh-oh)
I first shook the phone several times and saw water fly from presumably the speaker holes and then the charging hole. I did not do the rice thing. I had a large strong fan blowing in my garage, the temperature was probably about 85 degrees. After removing the SIM card on which I could see moisture–just laid that out to dry in a safe place, no wiping of that (SIM removal is an easy process, Google iphone SIM Card Removal) I placed the Iphone in such position that a strong breeze from the fan blew into the empty SIM card slot all night. Once the SIM card slot is open, air can pass from one end of the phone and out the other end. The first thing I noticed in the evening was the water haze had disappeared from inside the camera lense. The next day about noon, before an intended trip to the ATT store to see about a new phone, I turned the previously wet phone on. (I had the previous day after reading postings here, turned the phone completely off with the 10 second pressing of both startup buttons.) After a few seconds the Apple logo appeared and a few seconds later my icons could be accessed. The only lingering effect that I have thus far noted is a slight mottling effect caused by the water on the view screen, so that photos have some mottling now when viewed. Otherwise, all apps, phone features, texting etc. seem to be working as previous to the drowning of the phone. The fan method–that I haven’t seen listed anywhere–saved my phone and it took less than 24 hours to do so!
I droped my fone in a bucket of mop water and it stoped working soi put it in rice for two days it turned on but the touch on the screen dont work please helppp meeee !!!!!!!!!
Well guys dont ever ever ever leave your phone on the floor when ur child is nappy-less and wees on your iphone! because no company will touch it! and it is now BUSTED! no rice can help! GUTTED! new phone to buy now
(((
I was at work and had my iphone in my back pocket (somewhere I usually never carry it), I went into the restroom and well… It took a dive into the toilet.
I quickly dried it off, started shaking the water out, and held it under the hand dryer. I then googled wet iphones and help… It said use compressed air on the top and bottom, which I did. It also said use rice. I ahd none available at the time. It said the silica gel packs, so I went searching all over my work, found 6 and threw them and the phone into a plastic baggie. I also looked up moisture absorbers and found something called damprid. So, I opened that back and put my baggie into there. It comes on now, but I turned it off to allow more time… We’ll see tomorrow how it is, if my efforts pay off.
I bought my iphone 4 and had it in an otter box from day 1. It was in excellent condition until it fell off the back of my commode and into the toilet (clean water
thank God). It took about 5 seconds to fish it out. I hit the home button and it came on. I immediately ripped off the otter box components and shook out all the water. I tested it again and it was black screen from there on out. I remembered reading a post that talked about putting a wet iphone in the freezer. I hesitated, but did it. I later got on the internet and found this forum and read everyone’s posts. After freezing it 45 minutes, I decided to pull it out before my glass broke. I took compressed air and blew all excess water out. I turned my home thermostat to fan (not a/c or heat) and put the phone on the floor register and let it sit for several hours to dry out completely. I tried turning it on several times after that and nothing. Finally, I put it in a bag of rice and let it sit for about 15 hours. I tried turning it on the following day (after about 15 hours) and still nothing. I called technicians who work on damaged iphones and the lady told me to plug it up and then try powering it on-in case the battery was fried. I did and it immediately came on! Nothing was wrong with the battery. I’ve only had it going a couple of hours, but at this point, it actually works better than it did prior to getting wet! It moves through websites quicker than before and is more responsive. The lady did inform me that it typically takes 24-48 hours for the rice to work and to just be patient. I just happened to work quicker for me. Thanks for the advice with the rice guys. I really think it works. -Marcus
yesterday morning i was getting ready for class, dropped my iphone 4 in the toilet. i had one of the otterbox defender series cases on it which is water resistant, but not water proof. i quickly grabbed my phone and removed the case and dried off my phone. when it was dry everything was working except the speaker when music played. i turned it off and put it in a bag full of rice. so far its been in there for 36 hours so i really hope its fine when i take it out!
Tonight I dropped my ipod touch in the toilet. Got it out as fast I could and put it in a jar filled with rice. Now I’m going to wait for a week. My fingers are crossed. Hope it works.
So, It’s been 18 days and it’s still working like nothing happened.
I left it in rice for 2 days, and then I bought a package of moisture absorb agents. Left my ipod in a jar along with those for 24 hours and opened it… ta-daa! It works just as normal since then.
just recently, about 2 weeks ago i went to the movies with some friends and after the movie we went into the toilets and my iPhone 3G was in my back pocket and it fell right into the toilet i was panicking and yelling out that my phone fell in and that i wasnt joking and like five second after it fell in i could see the screen was on in the toilet haha and i kind of hesitated for a bit and then grabbed it out of the toilet and slid it under the toilet stalls to my friend and she took off the case and started to put it under the hand dryers because the ladies in the toilets were telling her to and when i finally got out of the toilet we ran all around the shopping centre trying to find the apple store but we ended up going to optus haha and they took out the sim card and everything and then we went to the phone repairs and there was two girls in the line and they said to put it in rice for a whole two weeks (even though most people say only two days) and we tried it and my phone pretty much worked like how it did before i dropped it. But my iPhone was jailbroken and it was very slow and kept freezing, so i restored it and now i have trouble with dragging things like the slider on the homescreen and it really annoys me..my dad says its working just fine and that im just impatient lol but he said he recons it will work fine later on…hope it does :s
Can you tell me what exactly happens if we switch on the iphone immediately after it gets wet? Can we still try the ‘rice-thing’?
My wife just dropped her new iPhone 4 in the toilet while we were at a restaurant. She brought it out cursing and still drying it off. I told her to immediately turn it off. It turned off and then it showed the apple sign and turned right back on?! I took it from her and tried to turn it off several times myself and it would just do the same thing and turn right back on by itself… I even tried to do a hard reset by holding down both buttons. Still just turned back on. So I texted her phone to see if it still worked. The message went right through and she received it. My sister told me about the rice thing so we went and bought some. I took out the sim card and noticed that now it wouldn’t turn on. I have it in a bowl of rice right now and we are gonna leave it there for the weekend. I am really afraid that it fried itself by not turning off when I kept trying to get it to. I guess we will see Monday…
IT WORKED! I put it in rice for the last 2 nights and then plugged it in. At first nothing. I thought for sure it was dead. I left it plugged in and left te room. I never heard the chirp of when it turned back on so I assumed it was dead. After about 15 minutes I told my wife that her phone was dead and we were just gonna have to get her a new one. I walked back in the room where it was and unplugged it. The thing just turned right on and said it had less than 20% battery life! I am so amazed! I plugged it back in and let it charge all the way. My wife has been playing around with it for the last hour and there seems to be absolutely no problems at all. Audio works great, buttons and apps all work correctly, and it holds the charge just fine! Rice…. Who woulda thought. And I gotta hand it to the iPhones too. They are built pretty dang well to withstand water and still work!
OMG! Mine doesn’t power off either and is sitting in rice. I’m praying it will work. I’ll give it a couple of days. Grrr!
same thing happened to mine
did it work then?
i was drunk one night, last night to be exact and after i was done my bowl of apple pie i threw up in the bowl. i woke up to see my phone submerged within my vomit… i have yet to see if my phone is alive or not.
just dropped my iphone in the shitter… sitting in a rice bowl with a fan on it. hope it gets the water out. not sure what to do about the poop
I just dropped my new Iphone 4S in the pool, its in rice now….hope this works…… will find out today.
PLEASE REPLY ME!!!!!!!!
So here is the story, I accidently dropped my ipod touch into a toilet. IT was been there barely 3 to 5 seconds. Then I wiped out all the water and then i blew in to the speaker and water came out. (I did not use hairdryer) then i checked to make sure everything was okay and everything except the audio won’t play. The ringer tone was working somehow but the songs and camera shutter sounds, lock sounds etc did not worked. So i plugged in my earphone and it worked.( I turned of and turned on and used some apps
hope its fine) So I searched on how to fix it and repair it then i found this website about an 10 minutes later i think. there was no rice nor package of silica. I was afraid to tell my mom so i ran to the store and got rice and now my ipod touch is in the rice. I don’t what will happen hope it works.
But another problem i was exaggerated at that time so i pushed my ipod touch into the rice strongly and then there is this piece of rice stuck inside the headphone jack. (Pain in the Ass). I haven’t tried any dangerous things yet, i only tried sucking it up but its still there. (its really close now)
So I cross my finger and hope it will work.
So any suggestions on how to pull out the rice out???
Now few minutes ago i checked it and pulled out one rice and then there was 3 more and i removed 2 of them but the last one broke into many species!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!! I can’t pull it out! I REALLY LOVE MY iPOD TOUCH 4Gn and im crying any suggestions please? please help me, my headphone jack was perfectly fine before this happened and now i’m so scared please help me!
er….vaccum cleaner/hoover
I dropped my iPod touch in a boiling hot cup of tea last night. Have had it I. A bag of rice since. Really hope it’ll work but haven’t tried to charge it yet
I guess I’m out of luck. I’m at my dorm, it’s 1 AM, and I have no car and no way of contacting anyone to drive me anywhere with my phone off. Granted my phone just dipped the bottom speaker into the tub for a few seconds at most, this was the second time in a row. The first time it was fine, but now the speaker on the bottom is a bit fuzzy. No rice. No silica. Sigh… I have it off for now. Hopefully it’ll resolve itself. I’m scared to turn it on…
I used a product called DryNow or Dry Now that I got at a hardware store in LA. It’s marketed for cell wet cell phones but worked really well. Open the bag, drop the ipod in and waited a day or two. Hope this is helpful.
Crap. I just dropped my iPod in a river. Tried to turn it on, shook it, and dried it with a hairdryer. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making a visit to the Apple store soon
Surprisingly it works! My iPod is working perfectly fine I left it in rice for about 30 hours after dropping it in toilet!!!!!
I really recommend rice for those who are having trouble with water damaged iphone, ipod etc.
Remember the longer you left it in rice the better it absorbs more water~~ (more than 24 hours)
I came home from the gym last night to find that my 5year old son dropped my ipod touch in the sink while washing his hands. I can’t be too mad, especially since he was washing his hands. My teenage daughter said she dryed it immediately, so I put it in a bag of rice last night, I am going to go home tonight and hope a pray it comes on when I plug it into my computer. Wish me luck!!
I dropped my Iphone4 in a cup of water for probably less than a second, and it wanted to power off so I let it. Then I turned it back on. Everything seemed to wok fine except the speakers. My music wouldn’t play along with not being able to hear anyone on the phone, though they could hear me. I could still hear my phone ring though. So i put it in a bag of rice, i was going to leave it in there til the next morning but after reading this, probably a day or two
umm my ipod got wet, i tried to dry it with with cold air then, then tried to charge it… do u think that fried it? i have it in rice right now , but is it to late?
I have just dropped my iphone down the loo i am praying the rice works
((
Hey, can i contact you? the same thing happened to me and i want someone that experienced this
GOOD LUCK FOR YOU AND FOR ME!
YEY it worked I am so relieved and yep you can email me gspsrule@gmail.com
Rice Rocks lol
Tomarrow is my birthday and my parents are getting the new iphones so I get my moms iphone 4. Tonight driving home from last minute shopping i put her phone in the cup holder as i always do but i forgot that there was a cup of water there! YA i put my future phone in a cup of water!!!! I feel so stupid! So i now have it in a bag on brown rice! i hope it will work.
omg my ipod works again i washed it on a full 40 cycle the other week with all my work cloths by accident , i thought it would of killed it off, put it on the radiator over night and left it in the kitchen draw for a few days then tried charging it up but wasnt doing anything, so put it back in the draw and thought id give it another week or so, two weeks later i thought id just try syncing it on the laptop and shock horror its charging up and im listening to it again, cannot believe it, its a miracle, only down fall is the screen is grey now but hey its playing music and thats all thats counts
so dont give up hope if youve got yours wet too, give it a few weeks and try it yourself again …………. good luck…………..
My toddler threw the iphone 4 in the toilet. I googled the situation and found the rice trick, which i implemented immediately. The next day I went to a crafts store and picked up some silica gel used for drying flowers and put it in that for 3 more days. So far its working again without problems. Whew!
So, I was drinking last night at a party, had my phone and ipod touch in my back pocket. Went to the bathroom and before I sat down basically my ipod fell in there (luckily not my phone because this one the touch screen messes up with even humidity.. ugh). I checked it to see if the screen worked (it never turned off) and it did, so I thought I was good. Well today I wanted to see something on my ipod and when I tried to turn the volume up it said “headphones” but there was none in it. So I freaked out of course, but I knew my sister used rice for her phone, so I put it in a bag of rice for like 4 hours maybe, and it works.
It wouldnt have been that bad, just would have to only listen through the headphones, but I wanted to try it. Rice or silica packets are the best.
Same with my spanking new iphone 4S. Bro dropped in kettle.im like WTF!!!!! i yanked it out and started playing music 2 see if speakers work and said *headphones*. i put vol up and down and up and down until teh speakers start workin, then left it in rice after extreme radiating(heater) and it has been like about 14 hours. Wish me luck
even tho ur comment was from ages ago
I had a pantec c3 and I accidentally washed it inthe washing machine and then without knowing it sent it through the dryer as well. It came out in peices with the face plate off and the battery out. I took it out of the dryer and put it together and it worked fine.
OK, so… earlier this year… I dropped my 4th gen Ipod 32gb in the ocean… So nice! So, I freaked…. I was so upset.. And I said ocean….so SALT WATER, which I have read is the worse! Someone with me told me about the rice, so after trying to suck the water out of any open place on the ipod, I ran back to my place (10 feet max) I actually was freaking out trying to turn it off and on a few time. I ended up plugging it in, and it told me to plug into itunes, and it made me restore default which I was so upset about.. anyways.. so… I had it in a bowl of rice… Plugged in.. To my computer (Wow I was stupid). I never googled anything about it… Or did anything. At first when it started working again.. the volume was acting crazy.. Up and down on it’s own. But then it seriously worked perfectly fine… Needless to say I have thrown it when I was mad, so now it’s cracked and shattered and even gotten wet again (sweat from workouts) and still working.
Since that device was so **cked up.. i decided to get an iPhone 4… (not the s). I have had it since the 7th of Nov.. and last night (11-29) I dropped it in the toilet. Yup. FML… Being now experience.. I grabbed it within seconds, ripped off the case, started drying it off, took a vacuum to the holes, and dipped it in rice. Me, being curious I tried to turn it on.. it worked, I even plugged it in.. It kept saying “Slide to power off” I would press the home screen.. Then it was fine..then turning it on again, it started to flicker than powered off. And later read that I should NOT turn it on, or plug it in…(DUH).. So i took it off the charger.. Sealed it in a bag of rice.. and went to sleep with lots of hope. This morning I woke up, took it out of the bag.. Luckily it turned on, I messed around for 15 seconds, loud speakers worked, but I tried to listen to a vm and it was really quiet…. I threw it back in the bag and brought it to work with me, where I was able to get some silica packets and they have been in with those most of the day… I just tested it again, and I was able to call someone and hear them.. And the buttons seem to be working just fine.. I still.. Put it back in the bag, sealed it, and I will wait til tonight.. Or even tomorrow morning to try to continue using it as normal..
I will check in to let you know what happens. I think it will be fine… Really is a preciously horrible moment when this happens though… Money down the drain.
I accidentally dropped one of my old phones in a toilet. (and by old i mean, well lets just say it was around the year 2004). it was one of those candy bar style w/ b&w screen basic phones that were common then. I reluctantly fished it out and it was dripping wet. I immediately took it completely apart, which consisted of removing the antenna, batt door and battery. I dont remember if I tried to turn it on first. not knowing what to do with it I decided to blow dry it….. amazingly, after about 30 mins of blow drying, I put it back together and it worked fine….. the screen was kinda screwed up but i was still able to use it for a year until my contract was up.
Alright last night a friend and I were riding on the back of a motorbike. The driver’s road negotiating skills were apparently not a worthy adversary to the derelict roads in the part of Nairobi we were in and the overloaded bike. We all fell over into a massive puddle of mud and water. I immediately thought about my iPhone4, took it out of my pocket, cleaned it off and started yelling at the guy. So that was about twelve hours ago. I was just able to put it in a bag of rice. I have turned it on and Ive been using it. Now everything seems to be okay but there are speaker issues. I can’t hear a phone ring on the other end of the line nor can I hear the person’s voice when I call someone. The iPod has no audio coming out. But if I put a call on speakerphone I can hear the other person and they can hear me. Also if I plug in headphones I can listen to music and make phone calls with out issues. Strange, right? Any thoughts on how I can get full speaker performance?
Thanks a lot. Great article and great comments.
I did an ‘endo into My pool with the phone in My back pocket. Pulled it out of My pocket and laid it onto some cardboard and went about removing My clothes and drying Myself off—I was freezing, being winter I had been fully dressed.
About an hour later I noted that there was a case that held water encasing the phone–a phone I had been using for less than a week.
I removed the case and noticed that the led light was on. For the next 15 hours the light remained on. Went to the retail store on Friday and the clerk said He would “work on it” over the weekend and I should return on Monday.
Insurance claim paperwork or whatever and Tuesday has come and gone and no new phone, another $160.00 plus the $100.00 last week and no phone for five days now—
I went to this web site and a few others and ‘am trying the rice trick now. What happened:
The phone ate the battery with that light–at the phone store they only got to the screen where there is this plug in thing and no further–They gave My phone back to Me on Monday and said I would have to mail it back (not the store??) when I got the new (?) phone.
I hooked the phone up to My Apple computer (they were using a windows machine at the store) and I felt as thought My problem was solved the thing began to function. Wal La !!
Not so fast the screen was not responsive. My alarm went off this Morning–and kept on going off (for 6 hours) as I could not “swipe” it off. Later I received a call and could not take it. The phone seems “o.k.”; but the screen does not work.
I put the phone in a bag of rice about 7 Hours ago; now I will get to bed and see what is up when 24 Hours have passed. Gary.
I wish i knew this before i put it under a lamp for an hour.
Going through the post I have clearly realized why people of all walks of life have taken the web as the best source of information and knowledge. Really it’s a ver helpful piece of writing. Thanks! Mad Hornets
I had dropped my ipod in the toilet and right away i dried it up. It didnt work or anything and i then put it in the charger that didnt help either. Right now i put it in a bucket of rice and it still isnt working.:(
I dropped mine in the toilet eeewww. I’m not going in to the details. I text my husband the bad news turned it off and heated up the dryer. With clothes in it of corse who has a dryer with nothing in it. Turned it off and put the phone under the hot clothes and left it there. DO NOT turn the dryer back on with your phone in it!! DO NOT turn dryer back on. Leave it there till it cools off. Heat the clothes back up and repeat. DO NOT try and turn on the device. Just keep doing this. I was using my phone by that that night. I would in hind sight say be strong try for the next day. Also never let it get to hot and let it cool down in between!! I’ve also used the sun before. You know as humans we have no patience. If you live in Texas you shouldn’t have any problems trying to find heat in unconventional ways. Good luck!! 2 toilets, one washer and way to many close calls!! Hey if your strong and I know you are put the phone in rice after that and sleep on it. Patience grasshopper you’ll still get you text tomorrow!
About three months ago, shortly before discovering long pockets going all the way along your jacket are useless, I ran to tell everyone about my ungodly experience. After letting it sit on my heater for about an hour I decided it must be healed and proceeded to turn it on at which it turned on showed a startup thing ive never seen before and then shut down hopefully not for ever. Then I went on turning it on and on and on and on, plugged it in and turned it on ect. It’s now three months later and I’ve learnt the beauty of rice, i’m hoping my phone will turn back on and i can watch my vidio game moments again. For some reason I think its well and truly dead. Heres hoping i guess.
Was feeding my cat and dropped my iTouch (4g) into the cat’s water bowl. Was only in there for 3 seconds. I turned it on and checked to see that my apps were working. Went and plugged it in for charge and realized I had music playing. The volume was up all the way but no sound was coming from it. Called my mom and she told me to throw it in some rice. I unplugged it and put it in a ziploc bag of brown rice. It is soaking now. I had accidentally washed my brand new shuffle with some clothes and washed it for like 10 minutes. I remembered and pulled it out and turned it on. Wouldn’t work what-so-ever so I soaked it in rice. Wouldn’t work the next day. Went and bought my iTouch and my shuffle works, but the volume doesn’t. Hoping I can save my iTouch, but figure I’m screwed because I charged it and turned it on. Planning on soaking it for a few days, but preparing myself for another trip to the store. Any helpful tips or comments will be welcomed!
Its all good. Battery dies faster, but I’m always charging it, so it doesn’t matter.
Take it to apple store and they will run test. If cant be fixed they will replace for 149.00
I got a iphone 4s for Christmas, and today is only Dec. 2th. My 2.5 year old son just “hid” it in a jug of juice. Praying this works.
I mean the 28th
My Ipod touch is semi working after dropping it in water early this morning, but the Home button doesn’t want to work now. What can I do about it?
so, i went thru all this madness with my 3g (toilet>rice>blowdryer on cool>gin n tonic for daddy) and wanted to know the condition of my sim card. i placed it in my girlfriend’s 3g and it worked, so i knew that part was ok. here’s my quandry: once i put HER sim card back in HER phone, she started receiving MY texts. any ideas?
I just got my new iphone 4s and one day later today i put on the defender case.
I was getting out of the tub and picked up my phone and droped it in the tub for a few seconds and picked it up in a panic. I took off the case and dryed it and the screen just kept flashing and it woul not turn off.
I immediatly put it in rice and silla bags and put it in a zip lock bag and wrapped it in a warm towel from the dryer and then
I checked my phone and it was turned back on with messages and the screen staryed going crazy and i tried to turn it off but im not aure it it went off. Its completely black mow and back on the warm towel and eice and silla beads on rhe zip lock bag.
I am praying my phone will work. When i gor the messages after it turned its self back on looked fine and speakers were fien till it went crZy and turned back off.
Someone please tel me if this will work or if i fried it?? And how long i ahould leave it inder my pillow wrapped in the towel and in a bag of rice with the silla beads? Please i am panicing!!!!
I checked my phone today and it works like new. No damage at all after sealing it in the rice and silla beads in ziplock bag over night.
My phone works as if nothing happened!!
Thank you so much for this site!!
My phone works, i so excited my new iphone 4s is back in action wooooo hooooo!!!!!
I had a cup of diet mountain dew in my lap today and my iPhone on the coffee table next to me. My two year old grabbed for my phone. Me trying to stop her from playing with it grabbed it from her and then dropped it in the dew. My Phone is now in the bag of Rice and I pray that it comes back to life again. It has been sucking not having my iPhone today. I hope that apple can do something for it. Its like once you have a smart phone you can’t go back to a regular phone again.
My brother had his 3-week old iPhone 4S in his hand when he decided to come tackle me from behind. We were in the bathroom and the force of him bumping into me, forced the phone out of his hand and PLOP into the toilet.
We took it out immediately, and since we’ve NEVER experienced a situation like this, we did what all noobs would probably do….we tested the music. It was scratchy.
We then tried to turn off the phone, which was unsuccessful! (Can someone tell me if this is hopeless and the phone won’t ever turn off???)
Basically I thought we were doomed, but then I looked up the rice trick. We stuck the phone a ziploc bag filled with uncooked rice for 24 hours, and we just took it out and checked EVERYTHING (well…we think, at least) – camera, flash, music, headphones, speaker, calling, receiving calls, the whole nine yards. STILL, the phone is unable to TURN OFF.
HELP! Everything else works fine, but I’ve heard of people thinking their phones are working fine and then having issues afterwards…..Never thought in a million years this would happen to us!
ALSO!!! –
I’ve heard about those gosh darn water sensors.
The one under the dock is red, but the one in the headphone jack is still white…does that mean that the internal ones are still white?
If so, we might have a chance to exchange it for FREE at the apple store.
Hi
. I dropped my iphone in a bucket of water
Im very grateful 4 finding ur info so tnku
And it stayed there for five mins before i realised :/
It never went off, nothings wrong with it except for the speakers
Is it possible for apple authorised technicians to fix the speakers or replace them?
Because i heard iphones cant be opened :S i still have my guarantee
Much appreciated
Lianne bonello
I just dropped my 1 month old 4s into a toilet. I was able to retrieve it in about 1 second but there is now a water glaze over the lens. I have followed hesse instructions to the letter (using the rice) and will update the situation later.
One more thing- I turned it on before reading this and I tested major functions. The only thing wrong so far is that youtube is stuck on headphones and the sound from it won’t work without them. All other sounds are fine. Otherwise, it seems like it is fine (bar the water glaze.) Is about 45 seconds of frantic testing enough to damage it?
My Sister dropped Her’s In A bowl Of milk… I feel kinda sad for her because it worked… And I wasn’t there But The sound is gone.. It’s like the speakers were blown out because she turned it on.. Other wise it works fine I think. You can still listen to music with earbuds. It’s just a shame a Christmas present like a 200$ Ipod is now a mute with out speakers. I’ll try The Rice thing since it’s the only reasonable thing to do right now. although I doubt the speakers can be fixed…
hey, my iphone4 went for a swim afew days ago and its the first time ive ever gotten anything wet so i had NO clue what 2 do so i just thought “shes dead ohh well” but i also live in a very remote area so a trip to the iphone store mean a 6hr drive n 2 plane flights.. ive only just put it in rice 5 hrs ago after doing abit of research on it, just wondering if anyone has been in my situation and what their out come was? i havnt put it on charge or tried 2 turn it on yet. i was useing it at the time and the screen was lit up when when i pulled it out i watched it go pitch black instantly, unlike the usual fade out thing it does so i knew it was buggered.. any hint or tips? or should i ring my phone company and lodge an insurance claim?
i used rice but it got stick in the headphone hole thingy! how do i get it out! and….. i turned my ipod on and i can hardly see anything on it1 its really dark! can i fix this? and should i take it back to get a new one?
My story is that I am currently drying my iphone in a bowl of rice.Hearing these stories have eased my worries.But I dropped mine in a toilet.Yeah.At least its not as bad as dropping it in a pool.Keeping the case or cover on it,I would have had a better chance at saving it,I hope that this method works.If it doesnt,dont hesitate to come to my funeral.
Well i have tried this method on my ipod touch and i wont work , what am i doing wrong ? please help !
I spilt my cereal on my iPod touch a while bak and I did the rice thing. When I took it out of the bag a day later, it worked but the top bottom didnt work and a couple days later the home button quit working
Last night was a NIGHTMARE for me, I dropped my iPod in my bath water. Besides the fact of it already being at 5% I didn’t care and decided to have it on the side to listen to my tunes the next thing I know my iPod flops right in along with one ear bud I literally screamed for my life and as I was trying to get it out it flops yet again! I quickly got it out and tried to cut it off ( bad idea) the next thing I did was get a bowl and rice no, I wasn’t having that for dinner! It actually worked! the next day it came on and everything but I could tell there was a huge problem and that was the button on the top and my home button they don’t work for some reason. So there you have it. a working/non-working iPod it’s a third generation my boyfriend had gave to me little does he know I’m looking into getting the latest 4th generation and in White! Pow!!
OMFG PLZZZZ HELP!!! Ok, I was at the beach when I tripped over and my phone got wet! 2 minutes later it buzzed. I left it in a bag or rice and silicone bags for 4 days. I have this radio alarm that recharges Apple devices, I plugged it in there and it turned on! It was a miracle, until it said I NEEDED TO PLUG IT ONTO ITUNES. I attached it to the chord and the computer straight away and held the home and top button at the same time but it wouldnt turn on!!!!!!! For some strange reason it would turn on in my alarm charger but not the Apple chord!!! WHAT DO I DO?????
My girlfriend bought me an iphone and activated under her name. The phone got wet and we broke up. long story short i got a new phone under my name and after a month or so i was able to fix my old phone with the rice method and all my contacts and pictures are still there and i can access them. How do I save all these in my computer?. This phone was originally set up in my exgirfriend’s computer under her name, etc. Please help!
Best thing you can do is take the phone apart. Rice does not always work reason being is that the phone isn’t wide open like a guitar or a salt shaker. So what people have said before doesn’t really apply. I have had people bring me phones before, lots of them, and they said they had it in rice for days. Yes most of them tried to turn it on first but when i would open up the phone it would have corrosion all in it. Rice will absorb water but it’s not a miracle worker.
My poor IPod Shuffle-Touch just had an unfortunate dip in the sink. It waited until I was reaching to turn the water off after doing the dishes to fall and land directly under the flow of warm water…And my reflexes failed me and it sat there a few seconds before I realized where it was.
Now, as tragic as this is, it still works and kept playing. I stuck it in rice regardless, to dry out it’s charge area.
What ill timing. But at least I had music to accompany my chores.
I use my ipod for PE at school while I’m working out and I put it in my sweatpant pocket and I got home, wasn’t thinking at all about it because I usually put it back in my purse, not in my pocket! So I got home and threw my clothes in the wash before work. Later on that night I was trying to find my ipod and gave up but remembered I had to put my clothes in the dryer. SO. I saw my sweats and as I was about to put them in the dryer it clicked that my ipod was in the pocket. I unzipped the pocket and it was there. I WANTED TO CRY
I’ve had it for 3 years and it still looks brand new. I tried the dried rice thing and it did not work at all..I let my headphones dry too and they still work PERFECT. It would be the cheaper thing that still works <.< It is now 2 months later, and it STILL doesn't work. <y boyfried got it for me and still doesn't know it doesn't work. FML.
This saved my phone! Thank you! Its not 100% but im happy! The only thing is the cable won’t fit into the bottom anymore?! It will on one side but its sticking out the other ..My boyfriend got his wet not so long ago and his did the same thing. Has anyone else had the same problem?!
I used to wrap my iPhone 3G in a thin layer of plastic wrap, the touch screen still works, although it was a pain to charge. But I kept it safe (^-^)
I never thought it would happen, but as I watched my iPhone sink to the bottom of the toilet, the thought of loosing my contacts and info were to much. Then it came to me, we’ve got insurance. Whew, what a blessing. Still trying to dry it out with rice just to see if it works.
Same with my spanking new iphone 4S. Bro dropped in kettle.im like WTF!!!!! i yanked it out and started playing music 2 see if speakers work and said *headphones*. i put vol up and down and up and down until teh speakers start workin, then left it in rice after extreme radiating(heater) and it has been like about 14 hours. Wish me luck
and as soon as it works imma jailbreak using Greenpois0n Absinthe
Hmm well I’m luckier than some of the people on here… my iphone was in my school bag and my water bottle busted I guess and got it wet…not too wet but enough to freak me out. It;s working but the camera light is still on and I might need to reload the software but I think it’ll survive lol I’m still going to try the rice method if not I’m going to try to get a new one or something cause I’ve only had it for 3 months… lol
i drop my itouch in the toilet yesterday lunch. i took it out immediately and make it as dry as i can. and i heard my fd said out in the rice can make it reborn so when i back to home i put my itouch in a bag of rice and kept overnight. now i just took it out and it still couldn’t turn on. i plug my charger in but still cant on!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what can i do????!!!!!
My iPhone fell topside down into a partial cup of coffee. The speaker was immediately non-functional. Per the advice on this webpage I turned the phone off & through it in a bag of rice for 36 hours. It worked! I as soon as the phone powered up it started chirping notifying me of missed calls, emails, & such. This advice seriously saved my life! Thank you those who were kind enough to share it. : D
hmmm, today during a university lecture the main pocket of my satchel bag had my water bottle and it spilt! i was nervous because i thought my phone was in that pocket but i was pretty happy when i saw that it was in the back pocket.. my hard case was wet and the screen was a bit wet on the outside! the phone wouldnt light up and it just didnt turn on. my friends and i lightly shook the phone several times in an attempt to get rid of the water. 2 hrs later i got home and soaked it in rice.
Has anyone been in the same situation, like soaking it hours after? & did it work?
im pretty sad! I want to recover my text messages, some photos and contacts!
Has sentimental value to me!
helpppp!
OMG!!! Rice makes miracles!!!! Ok so my story isn’t very different from everyone else’s but here it goes. Usually I always let my 3 year old daughter play with my iPhone, so this particular day (Monday night) we were taking a shower and she got out first so she graved my phone and started playing, when I got out we dried up our selves, got dress, brushed and got ready to go to bed. It turns out that was laundry day too so soon after I picked up all the towels and dirty cloth and just threw it in the washer machine and I was going to wait till the morning to wash so I could pick up my husbands dirty cloth in the morning. Well as I said next morning around 4 am I turn on the washer and the funny thing is that usually I always choose the 30 min cycle but because I was going back to sleep I let it do all the 55 min cycle…:-( “So I will put it to dry in the later morning,” I said so my poor iPhone was in there and I did hear that there was like something hitting the washer but I thought it’s probably the buttons on a jacket or something. RIGHT IT WAS MY IPHONE!!! Later morning around 8:30 my daughter wakes me up and so I start searching for my cell phone and nothing so I said “ill find it later.” I went to the washer to put the cloth to dry and there it was my phone it was soaking wet I cursed my self over and over and almost wanted to cry!!! Anyways I did everything we are not supposed to do everything to re killed it I’m telling you I tried sooooo hard to save it which to anyone that knows would probably say I really tried to re killed it as if it wasn’t enough to be washed for 55 min and be sitting there for hours with out being dried up. So I tried turning it on a million times and plugged it in to the power cord (to fry it) got my blow drier to dry it up finely after and hour of going trough hell trying to save it turn on I was so happy. So I tried calling people I called my husband he didn’t answer and then I called my cousin to tell her my story and she answer I was about to tell her my story when all of a sudden I herd a spark a really loud one like the one I herd in transformers movie once when the little robots exploded and got killed yeah that was my phone and it shut down. NO!!!!!!! I yelled screamed and to me it was dead dead and I was going to be dead once I told my husband too. So it wasn’t after I thought I had killed my phone that I started searching in the internet and every time I read DO NOT TURN IT ON or DO NOT BLOW DRIE IT!!! I regretted everything I did with my phone then I found this page and read about the rice so in my last effort to save it I put it in rice. I was constantly checking it to see if it worked but no luck. So I had to tell my husband my sad suicidal story and he just looked at me in disbelief of what I had done. So he just said “well you are not getting a phone soon we have to wait till I get paid and maybe ill get you another” so I begged him to get me a new one, and I told him that we could just lie about it and so on. LIE YEAH RIGHT!!! I read about the water thing on the iPhones good luck with that. So I never gave up in my last effort to save my precious phone I let it sit on rice for the night I even dreamed that it came back alive and I was very happy but when I woke up about two hours ago I said its not going to work I killed it its dead. NO IT’S NOT DEAD!!! To my surprise it TURN ON YEY!!! I can still see water inside the screen so I put it back in the rice and it will stay there for a few more hours but I am soooo exited and happy that i had to share my story i definitely recommend the rice thing to everyone I think that when you buy and iPhone or iPod touch and such they should have the rice tip as part of the phones instructions on how to save your phone!!!
Thanks for the tip and I am going to enjoy my phone to death literally I don’t want it to die LOL.
my white iPhone 3g fell into a bucket of water the water was very little but enough for my phone to get wet. i instantly picked it up and dried it off it was on my phone said to put it in some rice so i put it in a bag of rice he then removed it from there and put it in a can of rice several minutes past by i took it from the can and picked it up to answer a call and i couldn’t hear the person on the other end unless i put it on speaker phone then i tried to get on facebook i couldn’t scroll down i tried to call someone my screen was clicking on several other things
My mom just bought a new LG blue ray dvd player n when she was at work i was on my laptop i forgot that there was a cup of water down there i hit the remote it fell in the cup after 1 hour i know that it was in the water
..i blowdried slapped all the ways to get the water out ..So then i found this article oh GOD plz fix the remote if i dont fix it ill have to pay $60 ….HELP me..:(..
HOPE IT WORKS!!
You can buy the dessicant sacks, the big ones, from gun stores and gun supply sites online. These work much better than rice. I put three in a ziplock plastic bag with my phone, took them out a day later, put them in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes, then back in the ziplock for another 3 days. The longer you can wait the better. Plugged it in first BEFORE turning it on, and Voila….good phone.
Hi Guys,
I just dropped my Iphone 3gs into water tub, its not working at all,
so i have put it under rice bag, hope it works out,,,
i dnt knw if there will be problems in functioning after that,
well i bought that from my 1 months salary of 1st job,
However, it has taught me a lesson…….i wont forget….
thanks for the info guys….
cheers.
adi
Ok so I got my second ipod touch this year for Christmas after someone stole my other one at school………well i have had it for like two months and today i dropped it into the toilet. It did not stay in there very long at all, I was using the bathroom and I had it in my hoodie pocket……..well it fell out…..and i freaked out! I reached into the toilet and i dried it off with a towel, then I blew into the headphone hole and the charger hole. I was still not sure it was dry so I rolled up some paper towel and shoved it into the holes. I was so scared…….but then I felt kinda relieved because it was still working and I tried playing music….just like most peoples on here it would not play it. The volume said “headphones” and i tried them, they worked fine. Then I tried a few more things and looked up what i should do. So I found out i should turn it off and put it in rice…..thats exactly what I did! I really hope it works still….I don’t have the money for another one! I am going to leave it in there for a few days………the thing is I am lost without it! I listen to it on the bus and at home, I have turned it on a few more times to check and it still works. I have not plugged it in or blow-dried it and I am not going to. I HOPE IT STILL WORKS RIGHT!!!! Pray for me please!
OK…..so it’s been in the rice and bag for like 14 hours. I wan’t to get it out soooooo bad…but i CAN’T because i don’t want it to mess up! I really really hope it works!!
After my 3rd gen ipod nano got stolen I started using my 1st gen ipod nano that had been sitting in a drawer since 2006. It was already a little bit abused, someone had stepped on it creating a gap (sort of like a fold) between the metalic and the plastic part, plus it had been badly scratched (like all 1st gen ipod nanos that sat 1 min out of a case).
Long story short, my 1st gen ipod got washed in the pocket of my jeans one day after… so within a matter of 2 days I lost 2 ipods… Given its condition, the electronics got it really bad, so I put it back in the drawer, not being able to revive it, and forgot about it. About a year later I decided to connect it to USB charger… after about 30 mins… tada! It started working as if nothing had ever happened. The only thing I noticed is that the screen would create a rainbow-like effect sometimes, other than that everything worked perfectly… and we’re talking about an abused, 6+ year old ipod.
A few months earlier I got an email from Apple saying that they would replace all 1st gen ipod nanos with new ones, and so they did. So I exchanged a 1st gen ipod nano in bad condition with a new (probably refurbished) 6th gen nano. Fair trade!
I dropped my Iphone 3G in the toilet last night. It fell out of my pocket, and right in the drink. It still turns on and works great, but won’t charge the battery. It is now in a dry rice bath, and hopefully any moisture will be removed. I hope the only damage is to the battery, which can be replaced for less than $20….We’ll see tomorrow.
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I put my iphone 3GS in the window above the washing up bowl to get signal, then it slpped in the washing up bowl for hardly a minute i grabbed it! it was still working infact everything was still working apart from the screen was really dark maybe the bulb has gone? apart from that my iphone works fine! nothing wrong with the buttons or anything. if this happens to you please consider sending it to a phone shop to be repaired? they can repair it! ): comment below please!!
I”m not very happy! ( i am a dog ) i left my bone outside for hardly a hour whilst i was having a power nap. i went back outside and there was a massive crack down the middle of it and half the marrow gone! i confronted my sister gigny who is a cat she said i havent touched it i asked casper the other cat he didnt touch it i went upstaris asked brian the hamster he said he has not touched it so i dont know who has touched my bone i will be considering jermy cyle! – thank you ( i am a dog )
IT WAS ME HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
MY iPod works!! I LOVE RICE!!
my iphone fell in water while hooked up to my charger do you think the rice trick would work ?????? and if not how should i fix it ????