No, this is not a large iPod shuffle.
This is one of the strangest blog posts I’ve ever written, but I’m writing it for two reasons:
- Within the first six months after the first iPod nano was released, three friends of mine reported that they’d accidentally run theirs through the washing machine. (One guy confessed that his had also put his through the dryer before discovering it in the pocket of his jeans.)
- I’ve been known to read ebooks on my iPhone — in the bathtub.
In an ideal world, your iPhone should never be submerged in water, much less washed with soap, rinsed, and spun.
In real life — it happens. More often than you’d think.
Apple has installed water-damage indicators in the iPhone so they’ll know if dunking is the reason that your iPhone isn’t working. (You can find postings all over the Internet that claim the sensors are over-sensitive and can be triggered by high-humidity environments.) But the bottom line is that it’s pretty clear you won’t get far try to jolly the Apple Care folks into thinking that you have no idea what happened to your phone. The good news is that many owners of drowned iPhones report that Apple made it possible for them to purchase replacement iPhones (refurbished models) at a considerable discount.
If you’ve dunked a phone and are determined to administer iPhone first aid at home, read these step-by-step procedures that apparently worked for a woman who washed her boyfriend’s bathrobe with his iPhone in the pocket. Better yet, read the instructions now, before you dunk your phone, so you are aware of the first and most important step: Don’t turn on the iPhone and don’t touch any buttons.
The article has attracted dozens of comments — most of them tales of woe — from others whose iPhones went under in a rather astonishing variety of ways (from motorcycle accidents to martini accidents).
Even if you’ve drowned your iPhone, reading these stories may cheer you up.
Karen Anderson
iPhone 4 Tips 