A certain person I know recently washed her iPhone in the washer machine.  I love this person, but I will preserve her dignity and not mention her name.  That said, despite how smokin’ hot she is, she does occasionally do things that reflect a slip in judgment.  Of course, washing the iPhone was a mistake, and she realized it when it dropped to the floor moving items from the washer to the dryer.

I was travelling at the time I heard about the ‘tragedy’, so when she called from the home phone to explain what happened, I was worried if she already did the big “No! No!” – attempting to turn the phone on to see if it was working.  It was no surprise that she did, so I asked her not to do that anymore.  I recommended to her to store the iPhone in a bowl of rice until I returned to Phoenix to see it for myself.

When I finally got my hands on the phone (one day after the ‘incident’), I took the sim card.  I got a blow dryer out and kept hot air on the phone while I gently shook it.  About 5-10 minutes later, a few drops of water started seeping from the speakers on the lower part of the iPhone.  I did the drying process for about 30 minutes, then put the iPhone into a zip-lock bag of rice.  I left it in there overnight.  The next day, I repeated the drying process again and about 10 more drops of water came out.  This amazed me because now it was 2 days after the ‘incident’.  After about 30 minutes, I put the iPhone in a fresh zip-locked bag of rice and left it in there for 12 hours.

By the time I pulled the iPhone out again, the drying process yielded no drops of water.  I put the sim card back into the phone and plugged it into the wall charger.  Keep in mind I have yet to press any buttons since the owner first tried to turn it on when it fell out of the washer machine.  To my delight, the faint glow of the charge screen appeared.  I left it charged in for several hours.  Finally, I turned the phone on.

The phone was barely functional.  The screen was extraordinarily dim.  After continued use over a day, the phone began to switch back and forth between a dim screen to a bright screen.  All the apps are working, and the phone worked as well.  Although an odd “smudgy” haze appears over 25% of the screen, the iPhone has come back to life.  It is my first recorded miracle :-)

Steps I recommend if you have water damage to your iPhone:

• Upon discovering your iPhone has water damage, DO NOT TURN IT ON.
• Remove the sim card and its little plastic holder (at top of iPhone) and keep in a safe, dry place.
• Immediately dry the iPhone of all external water with a dry cloth.
• Get a blow dryer and keep a steady low heat on the iPhone while gently shaking the iPhone to and fro.  Keep an eye out for any drops of water that seep out – possibly at the bottom of the iPhone near the speakers.  Do this process for at least 20-30 minutes.  This step is known as the DRYING PROCESS.
• When finished, exercise self-control and put the iPhone that you believe to be completely dry from the previous step in a zip-lock bag of dry rice.  Leave in the bag for at least 12 hours.  This step is known as RICE STORAGE.
• Every 12 hours do the DRYING PROCESS.  If *ANY* water seeps from the iPhone during this process, continue to RICE STORAGE when finished drying.
• If during the DRYING PROCESS no water comes out (after 20 minutes or so), you can put the sim card back into the iPhone and plug the phone into a charger.  DO NOT PRESS THE POWER BUTTON to turn it on, just plug it in.
• After a few hours of plugging in the iPhone, disconnect and attempt to use the phone.  If the screen is so dim you can barely see it, at least take a moment to congratulate yourself that there is a dim screen at all.  You have accomplished a mini-miracle.
• Over time, your phone may behave oddly.  You just resurrected it, so cut it some slack.  As in the case of the beautiful woman in the story above, the bright screen may return and flicker out from time to time. 

I hope this post helps someone out there.  As for the cute little lady I helped in this post, she at least has her phone until she gets out of contract – a new Windows Phone 7 in her future perhaps?  After all, she is married to a Microsoft Developer Evangelist.  But I dare not reveal who she is.

Anyway, if this post was helpful, please post your story!