Apple has ‘changed the rules’ regarding iPhone water damage so that now even if the water damage indicator has been tripped, the device may still be under warranty. In the past the indicators would get tripped even though nothing ‘unnatural’ involving liquid was happening. Apple has claimed that the immersion sensors will not change unless submerged in water for 90 seconds, which is not always true and Apple is good about apologizing without apologizing.
The revised policies added a visual inspection for physical signs of water damage to the existing sensor color change. This is likely because of class action lawsuits that state:
As a result of Apple’s improper application of the Liquid-Damage Exclusion, Apple sells with the intent to exclude them from the warranty coverage Apple promises consumers it will provide — even when consumers pay extra for Extended Warranty coverage — simply because their Liquid Submersion Indicator has been triggered, without any attempt by Apple to verify whether the Class Devices actually have been damaged as a result of submersion or immersion in liquid.
It’s nice that Apple is willing to look further into water damage claims, so if your phone has not gotten wet you can plead your case and hopefully it works out.
What to look for:
This is a good example of a phone that would not pass the ‘look’ test. The owner operated with the back glass completely shattered for a couple months. If you crack the phone on your glass and let it be than dirt, liquid and other gunk can seep in, voiding it of passing the look test if the indicator turns red. More importantly maybe is the fact that if the phone is dropped in water, the damage will be much worse and the repair more difficult. In this case the user dropped in a “cup” and for fun we assume its a cup of beer or kryptonite.
Below you can see the phone has a stain in the top middle frame. We wiped most of it off but it is still noticeable.
The motherboard did not get too corroded, so the fact that we forgot to take pics is a good opportunity to list some nice pics as seen on NOKIADNA. This has a ton of corrosion but even just a little corrosion or water marks can be a good indicator of water damage.
Below is the working phone. The key to an wet phone is that you open it up, take out the batter and SIM card. Let it dry. A heat gun or hair dryer can help with caution to possibly causing further damage. If your phone gets wet the main thing is to turn it off and let it dry for 24-48 hours. Always operate on the side of caution with these types of things. After this you can test it out. Regardless of whether it operates or not at this point it’s probably safe to assume the coverage is voided. On the phone below, you can’t tell but the outside speaker is rusted. This person needs to know to get protected.
Check us out for all of your Water Damage repair needs and let us know if you have any questions.
