There’s really no way to put this delicately: some of us use the iPhone on the toilet, and we take a certain risk when we do that.
All sorts of electronics are being dropped into the toilet (by accident, of course)! According to a survey done by inc com, 70% of people use their phone while in the bathroom. Another study says that 19% of people have actually dropped their phone into the toilet.
If you are one of those people who uses their iPhone on the toilet, chances are you might eventually drop it into the toilet! Even though newer iPhones are waterproof, dropped iphone in water t is not as simple as just taking it out.Here are a few things to keep in mind if you make the tragic mistake of dropping your iPhone in the toilet.
Contents
What Exactly Is In That Water?
The fact is, that water in your toilet is pretty clean. It is the same water you get from the tap. However, there are many factors that come into play once that water actually sits in there.Brown algae and mineral deposits form within the ceramic bowl. These trap anything that goes into the toilet. This is why you use a brush every once in a while to clean the bowl. Do you really want to put your phone to your face after that?
There can also be a lot of chemicals in there. Have you ever seen that blue water? Well there are a ton of harsh chemicals in there!
Steps to Prevent Water Damage to Your iPhone
Below you will see the sequence of steps to follow for when you dropped iphone in water. One day, it might happen to you. Be prepared, and take a look at what you should do!
Take It Out
This might sound silly, but don’t wait too long after you have dropped it in the toilet. Quickly build up some courage and get it out of there! You might be thinking of what you can use to grab it, but you don’t have time for that, nor anything viable in the bathroom stall you can actually use.
The longer you wait, the worst of your iPhone will be. Remember, the device is still turned! It has electricity running through it. If you wait long enough, the water will make its way into the electronics and cause a short.
Any phone calls or notifications will make it worse! The vibrations create bursts of air, which come out of the device. This gives water a path into your device.
Turn it off
After you manage to take your iPhone out of the toilet bowl, turn It Off! The iPhone will often work after it has been dropped in a toilet, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to keep working. It takes a while for things to short out due to the water and “contaminants” (I’ll leave that part up to your imagination).
What to do: Turn the iPhone off by holding the button on top and then swiping the power off button. Do this immediately.
Do note that newer iPhone models are waterproof up to 3 feet of water. This means if you dropped iphone in toilet, it should not get water damaged. However, these phones are not perfect.The iPhone mostly likely hit the ceramic toilet bowl when you dropped it, which could have caused a crack or a gape to open up.
Clean It
Hopefully, you dropped your iPhone in a relatively clean toilet, but even relatively speaking, that’s pretty gross. You will want to disinfect the entire iPhone before you even start any troubleshooting as you will be handling the iPhone a lot.You can clean the iPhone off with a clean microfiber cloth dipped in rubbing alcohol. Don’t use too much.
You can also use a q-tip and some of the alcohol to clean off the iPhone’s docking port. This is important, as a dirty connector could conduct poorly, resulting in your iPhone having charging issues or correctly transferring data to and from a computer.
Dropped iphone in toilet
Make a Decision
Think of water damage as a virus. It will keep spreading the longer you wait. The water makes its way throughout the electrical components, and slowly between the different connections. Rust and residue begin forming on the different components on the logic board.
So you have to make a quick decision on how you want to proceed. Base this decision on how much this iPhone means to you. If it is just a gadget to you, you can always buy another one.
However, if you have important things saved on the iPhone such as photos, videos, and notes, the situation becomes much more dire. You have two options.
The first option you have is to put the iPhone in some Rice. Most of us have heard of the rice trick for water-damaged electronics by now, and it really works, as rice sucks the water out of stuff.
What you’ll do is clean off any obvious water on the iPhone as well as the aforementioned contaminants and completely cover the device in rice. Leave it there for 48 hours. Don’t try to use it at all during this time, and especially don’t try to charge it.
If the data on your iPhone is important to you, I would not recommend the rice method. The problem with this method is that you are allowing the water on the internal electrical components to be slowly sucked up by the rice. This in turn allows rust to form, not to mention all that gross toilet water will still be on everything in the inside.
So how do you prevent this? This brings us to the second option, which is a bit technical for the average user so proceed with caution. If you want to do this option instead, do skip the rice method altogether.
You will need to open up your iPhone. There are plenty tutorials on how to do this and it isn’t that hard to do.
A good resource is iFixit. Choose your iPhone model, and in there you will find a walk through of how to disassemble your iPhone.Once you have the device opened, take a look at how much water actually got in there. If there is clearly a lot of water in there, you have to take the entire phone apart.
Every connection needs to be fully cleaned with rubbing alcohol. If you can, try to get a electronics cleaner like a CRC Electronics Cleaner. This stuff does a better job then rubbing alcohol and it dries pretty fast.When it comes to repairing water damaged phones, professionals use Ultrasonic Cleaners. These are special tubs that use vibrating sonic waves to clean electrical components. Components are typically placed in a special solutions that helps break down any rust or corrosion caused by water damage.
Source: iMend. com
These machines are not expensive, but it is up to you if you want to take it that far. If you are having issues with your iPhone after water damage and cannot pull any of the data off it, it might be worth to try.
Turn it On
After you have cleaned and dried the device, try to turn It on. Hold the power button to do this. If you’re lucky, the iPhone will power on, but don’t jump for joy yet. There might be software glitches and issues down the line, but you’ve done all you can for now.If the iPhone doesn’t work or if you notice problems later, you can always take it to a iPhone repair company that specializes in water damage. Apple does not cover water damage, even if you have insurance.
Conclusion
Dropping a cell phone into the toilet is one of the worst things that can happen to your iPhone. Just because your phone is less likely to become water damaged, does not make it less disgusting.
Fortunately, after you have put on some gloves to grab it out of the toilet, it is a straight forward fix. The goal is to clean it up just enough so you are not afraid to touch it. Evaluate the severity of the water exposure. Then decide if you wish to throw it in a tub of rice, or take it apart and clean it out.
