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Repair information and guides for the Apple iPhone 5s that was announced on September 10, 2013. Model: A1533, A1453, A1457, A1528, A1530, A1518

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iPhone Water Damage Salt Water

i went swimming by accident to the ocean with my iphone, I knowdest that the phone was in my pocket about 30 seconds after i got into the water. (SALT WATER) i took the phone out as soon as i found out and while i ran to get rice, the screen turned off, the phone got really hot, and the phone was vibrating. i put it in rice for almost 3 days and now, a week later. if i try to charge my phone the phone will get warm (like when charging it) but nothing will come on the screen or anything

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%#*@ bruh. i have similar situation. i brought my iphone 7 in water twice in a week this morning was the most recent time. when i took it out, it took me bout 2 secs to realise i had brought it with me in my pocket, took it out, then dried it. still works tho, thank god.

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davidtoister, this is just to reiterate what Ged has already mentioned. Consider this a supplement only. First off skip the rice. It is absolutely useless. It will not help you fix your phone. All it does it provides a false sense of security. It will not clean your phone, it will not prevent corrosion.

Second, stop continuing to try to charge, sync or otherwise use your phone. This potentially can make a bad situation worse.

Salt Water will get your components to corrode very severely. The very first step I would take is to disassemble your phone. Use these guides to disassemble your phone. Take a careful and close look at all components and connectors. Truly assess the damage. Look for major corrosion, evaluate the pins in the connectors etc,. Take a look at all connectors as well as cable ends. After that I would suggest that you clean it a couple of times in sterile water, not drinking water (that might have helped right after it got submerged in the salt water). Use a soft brush and clean it very, very thouroughly with the sterile water. With the amount of corrosion that I envision, you will have to remove all the EMI shields. Once you got the gross contamination cleaned, use 90%+ isopropyl alcohol and clean your parts some more. For a proper cleaning, use this guide. It was written for a Apple iPhone 3G but it is still pertinent to your phone as well. I can not stress the importance of a good cleaning enough, so do it over and over while replacing the alcohol after each cleaning. Do not use compressed air for the cleaning since that can drive liquid as well as corrosion particles into areas that will cause trouble later on. Do not use drinking water, if you need to use water, use sterile water. Also, you do not need to leave it to dry for a day. Isopropyl alcohol in the higher concentration will evaporate quickly and dissipate the water. The importance here is the cleaning. Like Ged pointed out, if you can get it professionally cleaned Do not forget to replace the battery. This is a must and not an option. It will fail if you do not take care of it now. Keep in mind that water damage is the hardest to troubleshoot and to repair. Hope this helps, good luck.

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This is a A* answer right here.

I know I didn't go in to much detail, but if I was going to, this is how I would have done it!

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I totally agree. It's always more helpful to others when someone explains how and why to clean after water damage and not just one or the other. Both you guys give very helpful answers and I too would have said the same as both GED and Old Turkey. Great advice here.

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You've wasted your time putting it in rice, rice does nothing!

Salt water is extremely corrosive, you might have stood a chance if you had disassembled the phone and cleaned it with isypropyl alcohol straight away, or took it to a repair shop to clean it.

Giving it has been a week or so now, there is probably not much chance, you can try take it to a repair shop that cleans it professionally with an ultrasonic cleaner etc.

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yes exactly do not try the rice it just dries the minerals onto the motherboard

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This is just an FYI. All of that work is useless in my opinion. Especially after saltwater.

If you don't desolder the soldered on shields on an iPhone 5s, you've done nothing. Dropping the board in alcohol can help if you do it while the phone is still wet, but corrosion happens instantly in salt water. You may as well just put it in rice and pray.

This is a picture (one of thousands I have just like it) that show you what your board looks like under the soldered on shields AFTER "professional" ultrasonic cleaning.

Water damage recovery must be done immediately after the exposure while the phone is still wet, and then is still a crapshoot.

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davidtoister will be eternally grateful.
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