Daughter + iPhone + Toilet = Me to the Rescue

So my daughter dropped her month old iPhone in the toilet the other night.  I'm not sure of the particulars of how this event took place, nor do I really want to know.  What I was glad to find out was that it was at the very least, a clean bowl.  Naturally I find this out after she's dropped in my hands and I ask why the $600 phone she bought is water logged.

So without even taking an extra breath, she finished the explination and follows it with a "can you fix it?  Because it's not turning back on."

Can I fix it?  That is one hell of a loaded question.  Read on for the details and the conclusion.

So there I am, holding a $600, 8gb iPhone thats just been baptised by the iToilet and for just a few moments, all I can think of are the thousands of times I've told her to leave the damn lid of the toilet down.  I'm not mad though, I didn't pay for the phone.  She did.  Let me also explain that she is my step-daughter, so by nature, I'm public enemy #1 as I am the rule maker and enforcer.  So I don't get too many chances to be Super-Dad.

I snapped out of replay of the toilet lid speaches and hauled iButt down to the Techography Op's Center.  I fired off a few quick Google searches on how the hell to crack the phone open so I could make an attempt to save it.  I even did some searched about dropping the phone in a toilet.  You would be amazed at how commong this act seems to be.  However, of the may thread on forums I found, none had a positive outcome.  So I pressed on for a tear down.  Found a nice step by step on taking the S.S. Toilet-Phone apart.  Gathered the tools I would need.

1. Jewel screwdriver set

2. Lint free towelett

3. No-Flash contact cleaner (This wasn't on the step by step, I knew a fair ammount about electronics and no geek should be without this stuff)

I then followed the instructions and cracked the phone open.  First off, let me state that for as tightly put together as those phone are, Apple could have at least made them water proof.  I had to use the smallest screwdriver in the set to get between the phones face and removeable back plate.  What a pain in the ass.  I didn't have time for pictures so I will link the site I followed which will give you much better pics then I could have taken at the time.

One the back plate was off, I set to drying things off with the towelett.  Now this was just for the obvious water drops of which there were plenty.  Once that was done I sprayed all the exlectronics with the contacts cleaner to further displace any water that might have been remaining.  I sprayed everything, the circuit board, the headphone jack, simcard slot, charger port, you name it, I hosed it down.  I then set it by a small fan and let it air out for about 1 hour.

Total time at that point was right about 2 hours.  I'll tell you now that the entire process of cracking open an iPhone is a frustraiting challenge.  Trying to work with such small pieces when you have ham sized hands is a real task.  Trying to pull things apart without accidently ripping something in two or bending the hell out of it.  Well, I did bend the back plate a bit, but it's made from aluminium, so what the hell do you expect.

Ok, so back to it right.  I check it after an hour and can't find a trace of water.  Figureing I've done what I can do, I put it all back together.  I think hit the button at the top and got exactly what I thought I would.  Nothing.  So admitted defeat and left it on my desk. Meanwhile, I had sent my daughter out for the night as I dind't want her around while I ripped her phone apart, nor did I want to deal with the, "is it fixed? Will it ever work?" line of questions that would have accompanied her presence.  She came home at 2am (which is her curfew as she is 18) and asked if I had any luck.

I told her it wasn't looking good, but it had been a few hours since I checked and that she should got get it off my desk and give it a shot.  To all of our surprise, once back upstairs, she hit the power button and the screen displayed a low battery message.  However, there was some evidence of water on the LCD display itself, which I didn't get into for fear of damaging it.  She powered it off quickly and asked if she should charge it.  I told her no, and to let it sit for a few more days just to be sure it dry's out before we attempt anything else.  She was a bit dissapointed, but did as asked.

So fast forward to tonight, it's been 2 days and I checked the screen in the light to see if I could still see the water marks in the LCD.  I didn't see anything so I hit the power button.  I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a low battery message in my life save for the first time it displayed.  I handed it back to my daughter and told her to toss it on the charger.  We waited 3 hours and then came the moment of truth.  She power it up, everything looked perfect.  She checked it out, all her information was intact.  The final test.  She called my cell phone, and everything worked perfect.

There seems to be no curently evident damage to the phone.  Now, in the next few days and weeks, time will tell.  Hopefully everything will stay in working condition, but I won't be surprised if something does fail.  For now, I'm happy and feel that I got damn lucky.

So let this be a lesson to all you iPhone users out there.  If it gets wet, it's not a done deal.  If you act quickly, it very well might stand a chance.  Give it lots of time to try out even after you get all of the water out of it.  An if nothing else, if you learn nothing else from this, take this much with you.  Keep the phone out of the bathroom.  From the searches results I found, these phones love to just jump into toilets.  It's almost as though they are commiting iSuicide.  I just hope that if this does happen to you, that you end up as lucky as I did.

An now the links.

1. Video of tear down - www.youtube.com/watch

2. Step by step - www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone