Dropped iPhone in the bath!

Draeger · 7 Jul 2014 at 13:58

The missus was trying to get our 3 year old ready for his bath last night and he was playing up a bit (too many Smarties from Gran

) - ended up grabbing her iphone 4 when she wasnt looking, she had put it down on a shelf in the bathroom. She plonked him in and about 3 or 4 minutes later found something on the bottom of the bath, her iphone. Fished it out, freaked and threw a wobbly as you do. Amazingly it was still working normally. I hooked it up to my PC and backed up all her photos and contacts and then tried switching it off. But it won't switch off. You hold the power button down until the 'Slide to power off' message appears and once you have done that all it does is shows the Apple emblem and appears to come back on again. Not sure if that's another problem or something caused by the immersion in water.

I had a look online and the general opinion seems to be stick the phone in a bag of rice in a ziplock bag for a day or two. Last night the phone didn't appear to have any damage at all but this morning there is a water stain/mark on the bottom right of the screen which seems to be getting bigger. Will the rice in a bag trick be enough for this or will it need opened up and dried out that way? Still seems to be working ok although I'm not keen on the idea of it being left switched on whilst there is still water in there. Of course, as women know everything she begs to differ and has promptly swanned off to town this afternoon with the phone switched on 'because she needs it' and 'its working ok anyway' :rolleyes:

Ta.

Egon · 7 Jul 2014 at 14:02

It sounds like you have had more luck than my missus. She had her phone in the back pocket of her jeans, she went to the toilet.... well you can guess the rest!

Anyway, she came to me in a bit of a panic, and the phone was already going a bit mental. We switched it off and tried the bag of rice/airing cupboard trick for a couple of days but it didn't help. If we try switching it on now you just get the Apple logo that comes on, goes off, comes on repeatedly like it is stuck in some sort of boot loop.

In the end we just claimed on insurance which has resulted in an upgrade to the 5s for a small excess.

Draeger · 7 Jul 2014 at 14:28

Oops!! Sorry to hear your luck didn't hold!

I'm concerned that although at the moment the phone appears to be working fine that at some point in the next few weeks its going to start playing up. Did your household insurance cover you or did you have separate insurance for the phone?

Egon · 7 Jul 2014 at 14:33

Household insurance, fairly painless and speedy process.

Based on my own experience, I am amazed that your wife's phone is still working, sounds like you have been very lucky to be able to get it all backed up. Was it in a case that might have helped minimize the damage? My wife said it was only submerged for a second or two and that was enough.

If the phone was to die in a month or two could you still claim? I assume you could.

snips86x · 7 Jul 2014 at 14:35

Should have done that OS update

Draeger · 7 Jul 2014 at 15:00

Egon said:
Household insurance, fairly painless and speedy process.

Based on my own experience, I am amazed that your wife's phone is still working, sounds like you have been very lucky to be able to get it all backed up. Was it in a case that might have helped minimize the damage? My wife said it was only submerged for a second or two and that was enough.

If the phone was to die in a month or two could you still claim? I assume you could.

Amazed isn't the word m8, I'm gob smacked that it even switches on let alone works as if nothing has happened to it, bar the water stain on the screen. It wasn't in a case, nope. I suppose it could be claimed on household insurance in a few weeks if it decides not to work anymore. I'm one of those folk who have never in my life claimed on household insurance for anything so it would be new to me.

snips86x said:
Should have done that OS update

LOL.

Egon · 7 Jul 2014 at 15:10

Draeger said:
I'm one of those folk who have never in my life claimed on household insurance for anything so it would be new to me.

Yep, same here, this was my first claim. Then a lad at work said to me "what's the point of insurance if you pay all that money and then don't claim when you need to?" Fair point really, I was too worried about the premium hike come renewal, but if they do that, I'll look elsewhere.

She has 6 months left on contract, plus the upgrade to the 5s more than covered the excess, so I thought why the hell not.

Draeger · 7 Jul 2014 at 15:34

Cheers for the info, I agree - I've been a home owner paying insurance for about 20 years so why not indeed make a claim? What was involved, did they just make a payment to you based upon the value of the phone and you purchased a new 5S?

Cheers.

Egon · 7 Jul 2014 at 15:49

Draeger said:
Cheers for the info, I agree - I've been a home owner paying insurance for about 20 years so why not indeed make a claim? What was involved, did they just make a payment to you based upon the value of the phone and you purchased a new 5S?

Cheers.

I had a read around it first and it seems all insurance companies do things differently. I'm with RSA for my home insurance, they use a company called Be Valued to deal with mobile phone claims.

Be Valued called me to ask how it all happened. They then said they will send a courier to pick up the phone. Courier collected next day. The following day they called to say the phone was beyond economical repair and would I be happy with a 5s replacement (yes please, my wife's phone was just a 5). The then collected the excess over the phone. Once payment was taken we arranged delivery for the new phone at my convenience.

Myshra · 7 Jul 2014 at 15:52

They often do replacement handsets themselves on contents insurance as so many people claim. You would likely get an official refurb (although sometimes it's a direct new, it varies) which would mean a new outer and possibly a re-used inner setup depending on parts availability. If you get a refurb you would have a really really hard time working it out (the trick is the packaging) and it will work fine.

Phones subject to water damage are likely to have screen and electrical issues in the first week. Long term issues are mostly around corrosion due to water ingress affecting the circuits and battery problems. Make sure it does not swell in any direction - at the first sign you must immediately stop using it if it does and do not attempt to charge it any more. Like the wu tang clan, lithium batteries aint nothing to duck wit.

Draeger · 7 Jul 2014 at 16:04

Cheers for the info folks, appreciated.

blueacid · 9 Jul 2014 at 22:43

Myshra said:
Like the wu tang clan, lithium batteries aint nothing to duck wit.

I see what you did there

Columbo · 10 Jul 2014 at 16:59

FYI 2-3 days in rice is no where near enough if it's been fully immersed, I rescued my old S2 but had to leave it for 6 days and it was placed in a warm dry airing cupboard.

Draeger · 10 Jul 2014 at 17:10

Columbo said:
FYI 2-3 days in rice is no where near enough if it's been fully immersed, I rescued my old S2 but had to leave it for 6 days and it was placed in a warm dry airing cupboard.

Seems to have done the trick with this one.

When we put it in, it looked like this:-

That water mark has now completely gone after being in the sealed bag of rice sat in the airing cupboard next to the hot water boiler. Result. :cool:

mattyg · 10 Jul 2014 at 17:19

Just on top of a radiator for 2-3 days is enough (if the said radiator is actually on)and lets any water evaporate

Egon · 10 Jul 2014 at 17:49

Draeger said:
Seems to have done the trick with this one.

When we put it in, it looked like this:-

That water mark has now completely gone after being in the sealed bag of rice sat in the airing cupboard next to the hot water boiler. Result.

Nice one mate. Sounds like you might have had a lucky escape