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Repair information and guides for the iPhone 6S released by Apple on September 25, 2015. Models: A1688, A1633

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iPhone That Had Water Damage Backlight Issues

So about a month ago, I was doing my hair. As I was doing my hair, I accidently hit my phone into the sink and took it out as fast as I could. The screen started flashing. I restarted it, and checked the camera. The camera picked up fog with lines. I kept using it that night, but every minute it would shut off. Being the teenager I am, I was still on it and used it for the next day. After school, I put the phone in a bag of rice and kept it there for 24 hours. I then took it out and it kept doing the same thing it did before. About a week later I continued to use it, flashing on and off. We then took a trip to Arizona. On the plane, it shut off completely and would not turn on. But I used my sister's phone to shine a flashlight on it to check and see if it was still alive. I could see the apps on the home screen and everything just fine. Oh, and I forgot the flashlight to the back camera does not operate. So, what should I do? And do you think I can save it?

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Two things are already going against you. First the rice, always skip the rice. It will not prevent corrosion nor will it fix the phone, it is a misleading myth. It is the equivalent of not doing anything. Second the waiting for a few days. Bad idea since corrosion will start immediately. It would have been safer staying in the water.

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

The very first step I would take is to disassemble your phone. Use this teardown to help you 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. You absolutely must remove all the EMI shields. If you do not remove the shields, you are not cleaning the board. 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. It would of course be best to 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. After that reassemble your phone and re-evaluate. For as long as you have not cleaned your board and replaced the battery, everything is just a guess. Keep in mind that water damage is the hardest to troubleshoot and to repair. Your phone issues could be caused by a shorted out LCD or backlight filters on the logic board.

iPhone Image

Guide

Repairing iPhone Liquid Damage

Difficulty:

Difficult

—

1 - 2 hours
iPhone 6s Image

Guide

iPhone 6s Teardown

Difficulty:

Moderate

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2 Comments:

I am having trouble with the EMI shield. My internet search capabilities are limited apparently because no one on the internet has removed them on the 6s. I tied my typical method with hot air and picks but was too afraid to go higher with heat when they didn't budge. Is there anything special with the 6s shields that I am missing?

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The iphone 6/6s shields should not need heat, just peel them off like a sticker.

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