DON'T PANIC: What To Do When Your iPhone Takes A Swim
by Joe White
August 8, 2010
Okay, so your iPhone has taken a swim, and has become completely submerged in water. Whether your iDevice's chosen pool has been the kitchen sink, an outdoor puddle, or even your own toilet, one thing you have to remember is this: DON'T PANIC. Because, believe it or not, there is a fairly good chance you can bring your iPhone back to the land of the living after following a few easy steps.
So, after gallantly retrieving your iPhone (and kudos to you, if it did fall down the toilet), be sure not to turn it on. No matter how much you want to hold down the power button and see the white Apple logo smile back at you, don't - because if your handset's still wet inside (which it will be), switching it on will be like sending it to the electric chair. So don't.
Instead, head to the nearest store and grab yourself a bottle of alcohol. Using a tissue or cloth, wash the phone off with the alcohol. This will remove any minerals etc. that shouldn't be there.
Next, get yourself an airtight container (plastic, probably), and fill it up halfway with uncooked rice. Once you've created a bed of rice, sit your iPhone in the middle, and then continue to fill the container until the phone is completely submerged. Replace the lid, and forget about it for a couple of days.
Hopefully, after two or three days have passed, your iPhone will switch back on. If it doesn't, plug it into iTunes and see if that helps. When this happened to me, it took a plug-in to bring the phone back to life. I had to restore the phone - and even during the restore process, the handset died. If this happens, leave the iPhone alone for an hour, then try again. Once you've managed a full restore, you should be good to go.
This happened to an iPhone in our household (which took a three-second plunge down the toilet), and it's working fine now. If you follow these steps, keep calm, and don't switch on your iPhone initially, you're probably going to be okay.
And, if you have an iPhone you've brought back from the dead, be sure to let us know about it in the comments box below!
