So you took a shower together with your iPhone or suddenly dropped it down the toilet. The phone you paid hundreds of dollars (or even about a thousand – if it’s the iPhone 5) for is now all wet, and you’re totally depressed. Is there a way to revive it now? The good news is – yes, there is a chance to save it and make it work again. The bad news is that the chances aren’t very high. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to do everything possible anyway.

So, what should you do to revive a drowned Apple iPhone?

• First of all, don’t panic. Just take your iPhone out if water as soon as you can, and maybe you’ll manage to do it before it is soaking wet.
• Don’t try to take it to the warranty center – drowned phones aren’t a warranty case, and the guys there will know it was drowned (the iPhones have special indicators that turn pink when they contact with water).
• If your phone is off, don’t switch it on. If it’s on, switch it off as soon as possible and remember that you won’t be able to use it for at least 3 days. By the way, you have better chances to save your iPhone if it was off when falling into water.
• Do not even think of plugging your iPhone into a charger – electricity will kill it for good.
• Carefully take out the SIM card (if you have one) and dry it with a towel.
• Do not try to use a vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer to dry your iPhone. According to some sources, it could work with phones with removable batteries, but with the iPhone it’s completely useless, since the moisture will remain inside the device even if it’s dry from the outside.
• If you’ve bought some electronics not so long ago and happen to have a good amount of silica gel at hand, fill a plastic bag with it and put your iPhone there for at least three days. Silica gel absorbs moisture, so it will dry your iPhone even better (and safer!) than the hair dryer.
• If you can’t find any silica gel, you can use uncooked rice instead. You can fill a bowl or a plastic bag with rice and put the iPhone there, again for three days until it’s completely dry.

  

• You can put the SIM card back only after those three days. This is when you can try to turn your iPhone on for the first time and see if it works.

If you’re lucky enough, your phone will be OK after all these manipulations. If you’ve managed to do everything in time, of course!

And finally, if drowning a phone is a bad habit of yours, maybe you shouldn’t risk using an iPhone – just buy a waterproof device instead. Or you can find a waterproof case for your device — that’s also a healthy option.