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Water damaged iPhone 6...so worried about losing data

water_damaged

water_damaged

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2015
4
0
Hey guys,


Last night I dropped my phone in a clean toilet. It didn't have a cover. I immediately picked it up and wiped it off. It was still working so I thought noting of it. Fast forward almost 24 hours later, and the phone screen becomes two shades of dark blue. It changed the second I tried to check some texts after letting it sit on my night stand while I took a nap. This was...2 hours ago I think. I tried turning it off and plugging it into the charger with no luck. It was frozen.

I immediately scoured the internet to try to figure out next best steps. I put the phone in a large bowl of rice. I took it out about 10 minutes later to try to turn it off, the screen lit up with the Apple logo but stalled. I also tried to see if that changes if I connect it to the charger. I left it again for 30 minutes and tried to turn it off. It booted up back to the lock screen and even let me get in. I tried turning it off and it "died", not letting me slide the lock screen to turn it off. It's now sitting in the bowl of rice.


I wanted to know the best next steps. I don't care as much about the phone as much as I do about the photos and text messages that are on it. Ironically I got a text from a number I hadn't yet stored and it began with "I just put two and two together and realized..."/ I didn't even get to read the last part of it before it when to the dark blue screen.

What should I do to maximize it's survival? I was going to wait 48 hours before trying to look at it again...



- Should I take it to a repair shop?
- It's not covered by a warranty (bought it second hand) but I'm willing to pay a LOT to have fixed by Apple. Will they be willing to help?
- Anything else I can do at home to help? Should I put the rice on top of a gentle heat source?
- Will other products like DampRid or anything else help?
 
Gav2k

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
Warm place in rice. Once you can get it to turn on back it up.

Question though do you have iCloud backup turned on?
 
water_damaged

water_damaged

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2015
4
0
Screen Shot 2015-12-27 at 11.17.30 PM.png
Gav2k said:
Warm place in rice. Once you can get it to turn on back it up.

Question though do you have iCloud backup turned on?
Click to expand...

So I'm not sure. I checked into my iCloud account and when to "iCloud Settings" in the top right corner. My phone is listed as a device, and when I click on it, it shows the latest backup was "11:15 AM"

When I go the restore files section on the bottom, nothing is listed except for sessions for the calendars.

This is what the back up storage screen partly looks like (attached screenshot)
 
water_damaged

water_damaged

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2015
4
0
Also how long should I leave it in the rice? I was going to leave it for 48 hours, but I don't know if it's time consuming and I should wait less and resort to other next steps to recover the phone/data.
 
Gav2k

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
If iCloud backup is on you'll have a fairly recent backup so if all else fails you can get another iPhone and restore the backup.
 
John Mcgregor

John Mcgregor

Suspended
Aug 21, 2015
1,257
1,485
Newport
water_damaged said:
Longer than 48 hours?

How long would you recommend?
Click to expand...

48 should suffice, but since you tried to turn it on before drying completely i have no idea what condition it is in. The damage is done when you run the juice through the circuit when the water is not completely gone.
 
N

nebo1ss

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2010
2,909
1,709
water_damaged said:
Hey guys,


Last night I dropped my phone in a clean toilet. It didn't have a cover. I immediately picked it up and wiped it off. It was still working so I thought noting of it. Fast forward almost 24 hours later, and the phone screen becomes two shades of dark blue. It changed the second I tried to check some texts after letting it sit on my night stand while I took a nap. This was...2 hours ago I think. I tried turning it off and plugging it into the charger with no luck. It was frozen.

I immediately scoured the internet to try to figure out next best steps. I put the phone in a large bowl of rice. I took it out about 10 minutes later to try to turn it off, the screen lit up with the Apple logo but stalled. I also tried to see if that changes if I connect it to the charger. I left it again for 30 minutes and tried to turn it off. It booted up back to the lock screen and even let me get in. I tried turning it off and it "died", not letting me slide the lock screen to turn it off. It's now sitting in the bowl of rice.


I wanted to know the best next steps. I don't care as much about the phone as much as I do about the photos and text messages that are on it. Ironically I got a text from a number I hadn't yet stored and it began with "I just put two and two together and realized..."/ I didn't even get to read the last part of it before it when to the dark blue screen.

What should I do to maximize it's survival? I was going to wait 48 hours before trying to look at it again...



- Should I take it to a repair shop?
- It's not covered by a warranty (bought it second hand) but I'm willing to pay a LOT to have fixed by Apple. Will they be willing to help?
- Anything else I can do at home to help? Should I put the rice on top of a gentle heat source?
- Will other products like DampRid or anything else help?
Click to expand...
You need to keep it in rice for at least 24 hours not ten minutes. I just did the same thing and it came out 100 percent after 24 hours.
 
Newtons Apple

Newtons Apple

Suspended
Mar 12, 2014
22,757
15,254
Jacksonville, Florida
I agree that running the phone while wet killed it and chances are good it will not come back. You should have shut it down the second it was pulled from the toilet and put it in rice then.

Time for a new phone.

Sounds like you have a good iCloud update, if so you should get most of your stuff back.
 
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