6 Things We Can Do To Save A Water Damaged iPhone

“Hey there! I accidentally spilled water on my iPhone 14 Pro yesterday and it won`t turn on anymore. I was pretty sure I retrieved the phone within 10 seconds, yet it’s not working! Is there a way to save and fix water-damaged iPhone?”

If you’ve ever accidentally dropped your phone in water or drenched it in rain, then you’re not alone. From a split cup of coffee or water to dropping it in pools, bathtubs or toilets, your iPhone can be water-damaged due to various reasons.

With new-generation Apple devices, water exposure isn’t an immediate death sentence for your iPhone as it used to be. But it can still create issues in your iPhone, such as:

• Liquid droplets flowing inside the iPhone screen
• Issues in the charging port or the iPhone won’t charge.
• No audio or ruffled audio.
• Blurry images due to moisture in the camera lens.
• The internal part of the device gets corroded.

While the new iPhones have good water resistant capabilities, this doesn’t mean they are totally immune to water. Being electronic devices, water can seriously damage them.

This article shares several best practices that can help you save a water-damaged iPhone. But first, let’s understand how water resistant your iPhone is.

Is my iPhone water resistant?

The water resistance of the smartphones is rated by the “ingress protection” code, also called IP rating.

This rating includes two number: the first number indicates protection against solids, such as dust, whereas the second demonstrate resistance to liquid, mainly water. For example, the iPhone 12 has a rating of IP68, which means it provides six levels of protection from solid and eight levels of protection from liquid.

There are multiple types of IP ratings, but IP67 and IP68 are mainly applied to iPhones.

• IP67  – A device with this rating can withstand being submerged in up to 1 meter of water for a maximum of 30 minutes
• IP68 – iPhone with an IP68 rating can survive submersion in water up to 2 meters for a maximum of 30 minutes

Here’s the list of last few generation iPhone with their IP rating

• iPhone 15/15 Plus/ 15 Pro/ 15 Pro Max – IP68
• iPhone 14/14 Plus/ 14 Pro/ 14 Pro Max – IP68
• iPhone13/ 13 Mini/ 13 Pro / 13 Pro Max – IP68
• iPhone12/ 12 Mini/ 12 Pro / 12 Pro Max – IP68
• iPhone 11/ 11 Pro / 11 Pro Max – IP68
• iPhone XS/ XS Max – IP68
• iPhone X/XR /8/8 Plus /7 /7 Plus/ SE (2^nd generation) – IP67

What Not to Do?

Most iPhones offer certain level of water resistance, but it doesn’t mean an iPhone dropped in swimming pool or a bucket full of water is immune to any damage. Moreover, not every repair step will help you fix water-damaged iPhone; and some can complicate things further. Before, we start on potential steps to save your water-damaged iPhone, let’s first look at some absolute things that worsen the cause and should be avoided at all costs.

1. Don’t turn on your iPhone

Your iPhone will turn off automatically after being dropped in water. However, you should manually turn it off if it doesn’t turn off. Turn your phone on only if you are sure water or moisture content from the exterior and interior is completely dry. Turning on the water-damaged iPhone might cause water to reach inside the device, causing it to malfunction.

2. Plug it in or Use the Charging Port in Any Way

Moreover, don’t charge your iPhone battery as it can result in an electrical short circuit or even combustion, resulting in a fire. No matter how water resistant the iPhone is, it’s better to not plug it in when wet or water-damaged.

3. Don’t use hot air to blow dry your iPhone

Blow-drying your iPhone with hot air can damage your device further. Hot air may heat your iPhone to an unbearable degree, making it unsuitable for device hardware. Also, avoid using a space heater or furnace sidewall exhaust to dry your iPhone.

Steps You Can Take to Potentially Save Your Water-Damaged iPhone

If you drop your iPhone in water, the following methods can save your iPhone from potential damage.

1. Take it out and turn it off immediately

Remove your iPhone from the water right away. Once retrieved, turn it off immediately. If there is any iPhone cover and screen guard to protect your phone, remove them as they might hold moisture. Use a paper towel or cotton cloth to wipe the iPhone’s exterior.

2. Evacuate the SIM card

After drying the iPhone’s exterior, remove the SIM card tray, if not using an e-SIM. Although SIM cards have a watertight seal, getting them out helps. Use a paper towel to dry the SIM card and the tray.

3. Dry your iPhone

While Apple recommends simply wiping the iPhone dry or tapping excess water out of the ports, we recommend the below-mentioned ways to ensure your iPhone is as dry as possible.

• Place it in a dry place

You need to place the iPhone in a warm and dry place so the water inside the phone can evaporate. Place it in a nearby window with proper sunlight, but do not expose the device to harsh sunlight.

• Place it in uncooked rice

The uncooked rice trick used to be the go-to method to dry any visible liquid in iPhone, as rice absorbs moisture quickly. Place the iPhone in a bag or bowl of rice for a day or two to ensure the water traces inside the phone are absorbed entirely. However, this method is slightly risky, as uncooked rice can push grains and dust in the charging port of your device.

• Dry it with silica gel packets

If the water has seeped into the internal parts of the iPhone, try burying it in a heap of silica gel bags in an airtight container. This helps in absorbing the moisture from the inside of your iPhone. Using silica gel packets is a safer alternative to the uncooked rice method for drying a wet iPhone, as nothing will get clogged in the ports.

• Use a hairdryer (if it has a cool wind setting)

If your hair dryer has a cool wind setting, you can use it to dry wet iPhone. While drying the iPhone, keep the hair dryer in low mode and keep your iPhone at a distance so that air blowing doesn’t cause any damage.

Or, you can keep your iPhone under a cool air fan to dry it.

4. Disassemble the phone and let it air dry

If drying the iPhone via uncooked rice method or silica gel packet doesn’t work, consider dismantling it as your last resort. You can use DIY repair tips to open the device to dry it out or go to any trusted tech expert.

Caution: We wouldn’t recommend dismantling the iPhone using DIY tips as it may worsen the problem.

Dismantle your iPhone carefully, air dry its interior, and assemble it back after a few hours. Also, if the Liquid Contact Indicators inside the iPhone have already detected water damage, opening the phone invalidates your warranty coverage.

5. Check if your warranty is still valid

If all the above efforts fail to fix the iPhone from water damage, you must check if the device’s warranty is still valid. If it is, call your manufacturer and request a repair or replacement. If it is invalid, visit an Apple Genius bar to repair your cell phone.

6. Take the phone to an approved repair shop

The longer you wait to take your iPhone to an Apple Genius bar, the more damage it incurs. If you cannot dry the wet iPhone by following the manual methods mentioned above, rush to an Apple Genius bar to get it repaired and minimize the chances of further damage.

How To Find Out If Your iPhone Has Water Damage?

Liquid Contact Indicator, or LCI, is the new way to determine whether or not your iPhone is exposed to water damage. An LCI is generally of white or silver color; however, when it comes in contact with water or other liquid, it turns red.

See the table to learn where the indicators are planted in your respective iPhone, depending upon its model.

How To Recover Data From Water-Damaged iPhone?

Once you have powered on your water-damaged iPhone after drying, it is possible to recover data from it. There are two ways to recover lost data from water-damaged iPhones: backup services or professional iPhone data recovery software .

Let’s see various scenarios where you can recover data from a water-damaged iPhone:

iPhone won’t turn on

If your iPhone won’t turn on even after drying the wet iPhone using the tips mentioned above, it has short-circuited or water has eroded some of its internal components. In such a situation, use any backup service to recover your iPhone data.

If you have enabled iCloud backup on your iPhone, you can easily restore your data. You can visit the official iCloud website and log into your account to save the lost data on your computer. Or, set up your new iPhone using the existing iCloud credentials to restore the data of your previous iPhone.

iPhone starts but data is lost

If you turn your iPhone back on again, but its data is lost, try setting up your phone with existing iCloud account to recover the data. However, if you haven’t enabled iCloud backup, it is recommended that you use reliable iPhone data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone. This software recovers deleted/lost photos, videos, audio, messages, voice memos, calendars etc. from iPhone, iPad, iTunes, and iCloud backup files.

The software supports recovery in all data loss scenarios like water-damaged devices, accidental deletion, failed iOS updates, iPhone stuck in recovery mode, etc. This iPhone recovery software is compatible with all variants of iPad and iPhone, including the series of iPhone 15/14/13/12/11 and below.

Conclusion

We hope you fix the water-damaged iPhone after following the above suggestion. However, it would be best if you were extra careful to protect your iPhone from any type of water damage. Here are some best practices you must follow:

• Use a waterproof case to provide an additional layer of protection to your iPhone against water.
• Keep your iPhone away from sinks, bathrooms, toilets, etc.
• Be mindful in rainy conditions, and put your phone in a waterproof bag or safe pocket.
• Refrain from touching your iPhone with wet hands.
• Take regular data backups, as it is handy in data loss situations.

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FAQs

What do I do if my iPhone speaker doesn’t work after falling into water?

If there is water in your iPhone speaker, it may not work. In such a situation, try drying your iPhone and turning it on to take a backup of your data before testing the speaker. You can even visit Apple Genius Bar to get the help of a tech expert to fix your iPhone.

How To Recover Data From Lost or Stolen iPhone In Easy Steps

Summary: Lost your iPhone and now worried about your precious data on it? This post shares how efficiently Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone can recover lost data from a lost or stolen iPhone using iCloud Backup.

When we lose our phone, then the only thing we worry about is the valuable data stored on it. To recover all our critical data (contacts, messages, photos, videos, voice memo, etc.) all we need to do is restore them either from iTunes or iCloud backup. What if due to some unknown reasons, we are unable to access the backup? Well, in such cases we can still recover our files from the backup via Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone software.

Apple is known for its flagship features and, one of them being able to automatically backup the iPhone data. ICloud and iTunes automatically back up iPhone data and updates it whenever you sync it to your Mac. The advantage of these backup systems is that you can recover your data when your iOS device is lost or stolen.

Speaking of which, a friend of mine lost his iPhone and was looking for ways to restore his critical data. As he had saved the information by backing it up, all he had to do was transfer the information to the new iOS device. However, as luck would have it, he was unable to access the backup files either.

To get rid of the deadlock, he decided to look for a third-party application which can recover iPhone data, and after some analysis, he opted for iPhone Data Recovery Software  by Stellar.

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone (Ultimate Solution to Recover iPhone Data)

If your backup is accessible, you can recover data from the backup files. If you cannot access the backup files, then you need a third-party iPhone Data Recovery Software to recover data from your lost or stolen iPhone.

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone provides you with 2 options to recover iPhone data i.e. either from iTunes backup files or iCloud backup files. It is easy to use and deploys a robust scanning algorithm so as to recover as much data as possible.

Irrespective of how you lost your iPhone data, you can get back your data in two Recovery modes namely:

1. from iTunes Backup
2. from iCloud Backup

Let’s look at each —

Recovery Mode 1: iTunes Backup Files

You can recover iPhone data if you have synchronised your iPhone with iTunes earlier. To recover data from iTunes Backup files, follow these steps:

i. Run Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone and select “Recover from iTunes Backup” tab

Figure 1 illustrates the main screen of the software

ii. The software displays the list of all iTunes backup files. Select the required backup file to recover

Figure 2 illustrates the entire list of the backup files

iii. From the Tree view, select the supported file categories which will list all the items under that category head.

iv. Preview the selected backup files and save the files

Figure 3 represents the preview of the files

**Note: You can preview the existing and deleted files. Moreover, type the keyword or filename in the search box to search for a particular file.

v. Click the Save button to recover the file.

Recovery Mode 2: iCloud Backup files

You can restore your iPhone data from iCloud Backup files as well. Follow the steps given below:

i. Install and Run Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone and select “Recover from iCloud Backup” tab.

Figure 5 represents the home screen of the software

ii. Next, enter the Apple ID and Password and sign in to iCloud.

Figure 6 illustrates the credential page

iii. After entering the necessary credentials, the software displays the list of all the backup files. Select the required files and press the Scan button

Figure 7 Represents the list of all files

iv. Preview the selected files and press the Save button which you can save to the desired location.

Figure 8 illustrates the preview of the files

The Process is over!!

What does Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone offers?

• Supports latest iOS 17, 16 15, 14, 13, 12 and below
• Recovers data from iTunes/iCloud Backup files
• Supports multiple device connections
• Data recovery from encrypted iTunes Backup files
• Provides option to import files to iPhones

Concluding Note

Simplicity is one of the several major aspects that are frequently sought by users. On that note, the interface of Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone software is quite simple and intuitive, and users can quickly and accurately recover iPhone data. With that said, do make it necessary to regularly backup your iPhone data.

The 5 Best Methods to Track a Lost or Stolen iPhone

Summary: Lost your iPhone? Don’t worry, here we tell you how to track lost or stolen iPhone using various techniques. Also, learn how to erase your iPhone data permanently to prevent it from reaching in wrong hands or misuse, using Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone.

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Q. I cannot live without my iPhone. It was stolen yesterday and can’t recall where I lost it. It has been switched off. Can I track the location of my iPhone? Is there any way to track lost iPhones?

A. Don’t panic. Log in to ‘Find My iPhone’ via iCloud.com and set it to ‘Lost Mode’. To know what else you can do now to track the iPhone location, read this post.

Losing an iPhone (and for that matter any smartphone) is tormenting. Besides the upfront costs, there’s an incredible amount of personal data at stake. Today, smartphones not only store personal photos, videos, and music libraries but might also contain an incredible amount of sensitive information in the form of browsing history, social data, app traces, etc. So the apprehension of exploitation and misuse of the data stored in a stolen or lost iPhone is but real.

So, as soon as you discover that your iPhone has been stolen or lost, first, try to track the location of your missing device and lock it.

How to track a lost or stolen iPhone?

Try out the following methods

1. Use Find My iPhone
2. Track through Apple’s Family Sharing
3. Use Google Timeline
4. Try Google Photos
5. Use location-tracking apps

Method 1: Use Find My iPhone

If Find My iPhone is enabled on your stolen iPhone, you can do the following:

• Locate your mobile phone
• Protect your iPhone data by choosing Lost Mode or erasing the data remotely

How to use Find My iPhone when the phone is missing

• Sign in to icloud.com on your computer.
• Click on the Find My iPhone link at the bottom.
• On the Find My iPhone’s map interface, select your lost iPhone via the All Devices drop-down menu. The app starts tracking your iPhone location on the map.

As you see the location of your device you can choose to do the following

• Play sound (if your iPhone is nearby, you can trace it with sound)
• Activate ‘Lost Mode’ (this locks your device and still tracks it)

What does Lost Mode do to your device?

• Remotely locks your device
• Displays a message with your phone number on the missing iPhone’s Lock Screen
• Keeps track of your device location.
• Erase iPhone remotely (with this action you won’t be able to track your iPhone but data is prevented from slipping into the wrong hands)

How to erase iPhone data remotely?

Choosing to erase the iPhone remotely deletes the complete data from it.

Note: Always remember to copy important photos, videos, music, and other data on iCloud backup before remotely erasing the iPhone.

Use a trusted and safe data recovery solution such as Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone to restore lost files from iCloud. The software allows the recovery of specific data rather than recovering the entire data.

Method 2: Track iPhone through Family Sharing

If you have set up Family Sharing, use it to track your iPhone. Family Sharing helps the members to know each one’s device location. Ask another member in the Family Sharing group to trace your iPhone via the Find My iPhone app. The member can also sign into iCloud.com to locate the missing iPhone.

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Is your missing iPhone switched off or offline?

If the missing iPhone is switched off or showing offline in Family Sharing, you can still activate Lost Mode or remotely erase its data via Find My iPhone.
Note: The iPhone’s last known location remains only for one day. In case your device is offline for over 24 hours, you cannot trace its last location.

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What to do when ‘Find My iPhone’ is NOT enabled or the missing iPhone is offline for more than one day?

• Change your Apple ID passwords to prevent anyone from accessing your data.
• Change your social media and other Internet account passwords like Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
• Report the device as missing to the authorities.
• Report your network carrier to disable the services like calls, messages, or data use.

Method 3: Use Google Timeline to find lost iPhone

If you have turned on Location Services and Location History on your iPhone, Google’s Timeline will record all the locations of your device.

When an iPhone goes missing, access the location information on a map and find the last location. Remember, Google Timeline records the location only when the iPhone is switched on with an internet connection.

How to see the last location of a lost iPhone in Google Timeline

• Visit <com/maps/timeline> on your computer.
• Sign in to your Google account.
• Click Today or select Date.
• Scroll down to see the last reported location of your iPhone.

Along with the location, note the time when your phone was last connected to Google. Taking clues from the location and time information, you can find your lost iPhone. If needed, take the help of cops.

Method 4: Take location clue from Google Photos

If anyone has captured a photo from your lost iPhone and you have the Google Photos location-sharing option enabled, then luck is on your side.

Visit <photos.google.com/>. Check, if any new photos were uploaded and view their upload location.

Method 5: Location tracking apps

If you have installed any location-tracking app such as GPS Location Tracker, CocoSpy Cell Phone Tracker, or iTrack on your missing device, use it to track the lost or stolen iPhone. These apps share the real-time location of your device on your computer or other connected devices.

Conclusion

Apple’s Find My iPhone feature is the best way to track the location of a stolen or missing device. If Find My iPhone is not enabled you can try Google Timeline or Google Photos. Other than these methods, third-party apps can also help track a lost iPhone, but only if you have installed them before the phone was lost.

Nevertheless, ensure that you copy the iCloud backup of the stolen iPhone before taking any of the above steps.

A smarter way is to filter out the data that you want to keep, with the help of Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone.

Is this post helpful? Share your experience in the comments below, how you managed to track and get back your stolen iPhone.

Recover Lost Photos during Transfer from iPhone to PC or Mac

Summary: Lost your precious photos during the transfer from iPhone to computer? Learn 4 ways to recover photos lost during transfer. These methods are applicable to all variants of iPhone and iPad or in short all iOS devices.

Transferring photos from iPhone 15, 14/13/12/X/8/7 to PC or Mac system is a simple task that can often get skewed causing serious photo loss situations. If you have also lost your valuable photos during one such event of photos transfer, then here’s a guide to get back photos lost during the transfer.

Photo loss while transferring from iPhone to a computer is a common problem faced by many. You try to transfer your photos from your iPhone to your computer and select the location to save them.

But when you check the drive folder in the system, to your shock the photos are not there! And if this is a ‘cut and paste’ transfer from iPhone, it’s a big jolt for you.

But do not worry, thankfully, data recovery technology is always there to recover lost photos in any situation.

There can be several reasons for the loss of photos during transfer, such as below:

• Sudden power failure during the transfer of photos
• Disconnecting iPhone from the PC/Mac while transferring photos
• Lack of enough space in the drive to save the photos
• Corruption of the drive in which you saved the photos
• Virus in the system
• Anti-virus on your PC/Mac scans and detects viruses in the photo resulting in photo loss

How to Recover Photos Lost during Transfer from iPhone 15, 14/13/12/11/X/8/7 to PC/Mac?

Typically, if you have not deleted the required photos from your iPhone, try transferring them again from the device to the PC or Mac. If already deleted then, try the below methods to recover the photos lost during transfer from iPhone 15, 14/13/12/11/X/8/7 to PC or Mac.

Solution 1: Search for missing photos in the PC/Mac hard drive

It might be possible you transferred the iPhone photos to the PC but forgot the location where you saved them. Try once searching the complete hard drive for your photos.

1. Click on My PC or My Computer
2. Type the command kind:=picture into the search box and press Enter
3. The list of images will be displayed
4. Right-click on the required photos from the search results, and click Open File Location to view where they are saved

For MAC follow the below steps:

1. Open the Finder and go to your home directory
2. Go to the Pictures folder
3. Right-click on Photos Library.photoslibrary and select Show Package Contents
4. Open the folder Masters to find the images in the Photos app. The Masters folder comprises the photos by date in subfolders. You can open the folders of the relevant dates to find your pictures.

Solution 2: Recover lost transferred photos from iTunes Backup

If you have synced your iPhone to iTunes, you can recover lost photos from this Apple’s backup utility.

Drawback: You cannot selectively pick the lost photos during the file transfer, rather complete data of iTunes is saved on your PC/Mac.

| Note: In Mac, the iTunes backup is stored in Library > Application Support > MobileSync > Backup.
In Windows 7, 8, 10, & 11 the iTunes backup is stored in Users > username > AppData > Roaming > Apple Computer > MobileSync > Backup.

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Solution 3: Recover Lost Photos from iCloud

If you have iCloud backup of the iOS device, you can recover photos lost during transfer through the cloud facility.

Drawbacks: You cannot directly restore iCloud backup photos on your PC or Mac. It is saved only to an iOS device.
You have to reset your iPhone X/8/7 to factory settings to restore the iCloud backup on it.

How to recover data from iCloud Backup on a computer

1. Take the backup of your iPhone data on iTunes
2. Reset your iPhone to factory settings
3. Go to the Apps & Data screen of your iPhone by pressing the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds and following the onscreen instructions
4. Under Apps & Data, click on Restore from iCloud Backup
5. Sign in to iCloud by entering your Apple ID
6. Select Choose Backup and pick the relevant one from the list of backups
7. Tap After completion of the process, the iPhone restarts and recovers complete data including photos, apps, videos, etc.
8. Select the required photos from the recovered data and transfer them again to your PC or Mac from iPhone

Tip: For selective recovery of lost photos from iCloud/iTunes use Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone . It recovers missing Photos from Camera Roll and Photo Stream in iCloud/iTunes/iPhone. You can preview, select and save only the desired photos at your preferred location.

Solution 4: Use the Best Photo Recovery Software

When no backup, take the help of a third-party photo recovery tool. This is regarded as the easiest way to recover lost photos during the transfer from iPhone 15, 14/13/12/11/XR/XS/X/8/7 to PC/Mac. Use a risk-free application – Stellar Photo Recovery to recover your lost photos from your PC or Mac

The do-it-yourself software recovers all types of media files lost due to deletion, corruption, virus infection or accidental formatting, etc.

How to recover lost photos using Stellar Photo Recovery?

1. Launch Stellar Photo Recovery Software.
2. On the home screen of the software – ‘Select What to Recover’. Click Next.
3. Next, select the location from where you want to recover. Click Scan to start the scanning process
4. A dialog box of ‘Scanning Completed Successfully!’ displays the scan results – the number of files found and the size of the data. In the left pane of the main window, all the recovered data is listed. You can preview them in the right pane.
   Note: If you do not see the required photos in the list, opt for the Deep Scan option at the bottom.
5. Click Recover. You can also choose to recover only the selective files – select the photos that you need, right-click, and click Recover.
6. In the dialog box, specify the location to save the image files. Click Save. All the files get saved at the specified location Click Save. All the files get saved at the specified location.

Conclusion

Backup is the undisputable solution to any kind of photo loss situation. However, if you have not taken your photos backup in iTunes, iCloud, or other storage media, recovery through Stellar Photo Recovery software is the best way to get back photos lost during transfer from iPhone 15, 14/13/12/XS/XR/X/7/8 to PC or Mac.

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