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Hi about 3 days ago I accidentally dropped my device into a toilet. It was in the toilet for about 5 seconds. When I plucked it I tried drying it and opened iTunes to see if its speakers would still work. I didnt know I was supposed to turn it off because Ive never dropped a iPhone in water. It worked but after a few seconds its screen started to glitch and shortly after it turned off. I was about to board a plane so there wasnt much I could do. I opened the phone by taking off the screen and I dried the phne as much as I could. I plugged it into a charger and just heard this sizzling. I took it off a little bit after. I tried turning it on once after and it turned on and then glitched and hasnt turned on since. I was in a city for most of the day so I couldnt take it to where I was staying. I got home about 10 hours later and I put it in some rice. I left it in there for a day and I ried turning it on several times throughout the day. I read that it was bad for the phone so I let it air dry after that. I let it dry for 3 days and today it didnt turn on so I just left it on the charger. I plugged it into my laptop and now it connects to iTunes but wont turn on or charge. What should I do
At this point, you are amazingly lucky it even turns on. You made so many successive mistakes it’s almost funny. You went from water to charging to sizzling to rice then charged it again! You should have stopped at the sizzling sound…that was your cue for seeking help. Now, I don’t say this to make you feel or look bad; my hope is that others will find this and learn from your experience. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way too :>). At this point, it appears you have at least a damaged screen or blown backlight circuit on the logic board. However, if you want to save the phone or recover the data, it really needs to be properly decontaminated. That requires that it be put in an ultrasonic bath with specialized chemicals. This is the only way to displace the water, which can seep underneath the IC’s and cause all kinds of latent issues. You could have tried the following at the outset and you may have had some success: Open your phone and remove the logic board (follow this guide)Inspect the logic board, especially around the connectors and look for corrosion.Inspect both sides of the board. Unfortunately, 80% of the board is covered in shields. That’s usually where the damage is occurring.Put your board in a container with >90% isopropyl alcohol and let it sit for a while.Use a soft brush, like a toothbrush and lightly brush away any corrosion you see.Rinse in alcohol and repeat.Let it air dry for a day.Re-assemble and hope for the best. You should also consider getting a new battery if it has swollen. Resist the temptation to pop it to let the gas out. A compromised Li-ion battery is a fire hazard. If the device appears to power up but behaves erratically, then use a tool like 3uTools to flash the firmware as it may be corrupted. A professional repair shop that does water damage repair may be able to recover your phone or the data. Many shops have a no fix/no fee policy so you don’t have to spend money to find out if the phone is fixable or not.
Maybe open it up, unconnected the screen and reconnect it again.
