iPhone 4s got slightly wet

[Megatomic]

Guys/gals, I was running with my iPhone 4s in my Yurbuds armband and I got caught in a freak rainstorm. The phone didn't get drenched, but it did get wet and it shutdown, or so I thought. When I got home (I hauled ass, believe me) the phone turned itself back on. I entered the code and it was fine, just no volume. Then it got to rebooting itself while I got my baggie of rice set to dry it out. Now the light is on next to the camera and it's unresponsive to the power or home buttons.

How screwed am I? This is a phone that my employer gave me so I'm a bit concerned. My boss knows I run with the phone, he told me as long as I answer when he calls he's ok with me using it for my personal purposes (ensuring their all legit of course). And is there anything aside from soaking it in rice that I can do?

 

[bearxor]

I'd suggest removing the back cover when putting it in with rice. And it's going to take at least a couple of days. I had one similar with no sound from the earpiece and the flash was shorted to on, even after the phone was turned off. It took a few days to dry out.

 

[Megatomic]

Is it relatively easy to remove the back cover? I don't have alot of electronics tools at home anymore.

 

[bearxor]

Assuming it has pentalobe screws, you're going to need a pentalobe screwdriver or a very, very, very tiny jewlers flathead screwdriver. You can get one at a hardware store or something. You just remove the two screws and the cover slides up a little bit and comes off.

 

[Tyranicus]

Assuming it has pentalobe screws, you're going to need a pentalobe screwdriver or a very, very, very tiny jewlers flathead screwdriver. You can get one at a hardware store or something. You just remove the two screws and the cover slides up a little bit and comes off.

I believe every 4S has the pentalobe screws.

 

[Aikouka]

Keep in mind that at worst, you can pay Apple a pretty minor fee ($199 for everything but the iPhone 5) and they'll just give you a new (i.e. refurb) phone. It's $49 under AppleCare, but I'm guessing that you probably don't have that.

 

[Megatomic]

I'm going to talk to my boss about it this morning. We'll see.

 

[Megatomic]

My boss told me to let it dry for a week and we'll check it out then. Glad he wasn't too upset. Honestly, what are the chances that this phone is going to bounce back?

 

[Megatomic]

Ok, two buddies of mine here at work showed me that the liquid damage indicators are not showing liquid damage on my phone. Is that significant in the long run for the health of the phone or for whether or not Apple will fix it if it will not resurrect?

 

[smackababy]

If the damage indicators weren't 'popped' it probably didn't get much water in the internals. This could help with Apple fixing it if anything is wrong because there is sign of water damage (which most warranties won't cover). If you don't have a pentalobe screwdriver, they are like $4 on Amazon for a cheap one that will do the trick. Just pick one up, remove the back and let it sit in rice for awhile. That should soak up any excess moisture.

My GF dropped her 4s in the toilet and it got water under the glass. It cost her $99 to get it fixed and she did not have Apple care.

 

[Megatomic]

Does removing the back cover void the warranty? If it still doesn't work Friday afternoon I may consider doing it.

 

[smackababy]

I am not sure how they would be able to tell. I don't recall them having that gunk on the screws that show it was opened.

 

[Aikouka]

My GF dropped her 4s in the toilet and it got water under the glass. It cost her $99 to get it fixed and she did not have Apple care.

[FONT=&quot]Did she get it fixed or replaced? Because it's the price that I mentioned earlier if it needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, I know from experience after accidentally leaving my iPhone 5 in my robe that subsequently went in the washer. [/FONT]

 

[smackababy]

[FONT=&quot]Did she get it fixed or replaced? Because it's the price that I mentioned earlier if it needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, I know from experience after accidentally leaving my iPhone 5 in my robe that subsequently went in the washer. [/FONT]

I am not sure. I think they fixed it, because all her data was still there, but I suppose they could have just made a backup and put in on a refurb phone. I wasn't there, I just know it cost her $99 but the phone works just fine now with no problems. Wasn't my phone or money, so I wasn't that interested. >_>

Now that I think about it, the phone worked it just had water spots on the screen. For all I know, they could have just opened it up and dried it off. I told her she could open it and try to dry it, but she didn't want to.

 

[Megatomic]

Update: the phone works, the wifi works, the sound works. It does reboot on me for no "apparent" reason though, so I powered it down fully and shoved it back into the rice for another period of drying. I may be ok after all.

 

[Megatomic]

Final update: while the external LCIs were white, the internal LCIs had turned red. I had to buy a refurb to replace my phone. It finally got to the point where it wouldn't turn on at all.

Moral of the story, keep your effing iPhone dry if you value it.

 

[smackababy]

That sucks. Could you at least get a fresh backup? I assume you had one from iTunes, but I was wondering if you tried to pull one (or had the Apple store guys try).

 

[Megatomic]

No, but most of my stuff was easily replaceable. I lost some pics, but they are on facebook so I can get them back again easily enough.