My iPhone speaker survives toilet water. Here's how.

I wish I had a better story involving wild sex, drugs, or fighting off a home invasion about how my beloved iPhone 4 ended up in a toilet this morning. 

Actually...I'd put the phone on some magazines that were headed to the recycling bin. Forgetting where the phone was after, um, I'd done my (stand-up) business, I grabbed the magazines from a counter and heard a highly disturbing splash as the phone hit the water.

Moving as fast as my semi-awake 63 year-old self does that early in the day, I had the phone out of the toilet in just a few seconds.

Luckily, it was snugly enclosed in both an Incipio semi-rigid "bumper" case, and an utrasuede/leather Waterfield slip-in case (highly recommended for slip-in afficionados; great case). So after toweling off the mildly wet iPhone, I decided to turn the phone on and see if it was going to explode in a shower of sparks.

Nope.

I was pleased to see that the phone worked fine. Seemingly. Except when I fired up my Solitaire app and started to play a game. It worked, but absent the clicking sounds that accompany a card turn. Shit! I thought.

Which turned to double and triple Shit! when I found that You Tube videos played, but with no sound. And I could make a phone call to my wife where she could hear me, but I couldn't hear her through the usual phone speaker -- only when I changed to speakerphone. With earbuds, sound could be heard fine through the headphone jack.

That led me to a panic-stricken Google search.

Where I found "How to fix the iPhone speaker problem (water damage)." The simple advice was to strip some cotton off of the end of q-tips, insert them into the headphone jack, rotate, and remove. I did this several times, with no success (other than getting the headphone jack really clean).

I also read the comments on that post, plus the accompanying You Tube video.

These led me to a couple of other attempted fixes: inserting a credit card in the charging slot at the other end of the phone from the headphone jack, and blow-drying the headphone jack. I also blow-dried the charging slot for good measure.

I don't know what worked, one, some, or all of these fixes. Regardless, after the last blow-drying my iPhone had recovered it's soundability. Bliss! I kept playing my "Brazilian Girls" album to confirm that everything was back to normal. 

So give these tips a try if your own iPhone gets wet and refuses to speak to you. The q-tip approach makes sense.

Some commenters on the post surmised that water (a short?) makes the iPhone think headphones are being used, so the external speaker is turned off. I seemed to see a brief message to this effect ("headphones") appear when I started to play "Brazilian Girls" before the phone was back to normal.

If you use a blow dryer, be judicious and don't run it too long.

I left my iPhone on a counter with the dryer on high pointing at it from about six inches way. When I checked back after a few minutes the metal phone casing was really hot. When I tried to turn on the phone, I got a "too hot to use; allow to cool" sort of message. After I waited a while, the iPhone worked normally, so maybe it was the final blow-drying that did it. 

Just don't overdo it, or you might have a bigger problem than a speakerless phone -- a cooked phone.

Comments

[tucson]

Last summer I was in the Rockies sitting by a cold, blue, beautiful high altitude lake frequented by tourist hikers.

Which explained the behavior of a tame, incredibly cute, chipmunk-like creature that hopped on my knee looking for its share of the energy bar I was eating.

As I was reinforcing the creature's greedy dependence on humans for sustenance by hand feeding it, my cellphone slid off my lap into the lake.

I have never moved so fast (no doubt the chipmunk thing went flying with almond in mouth). I grabbed the phone out of the water and immediately opened the back and took out the battery and dried everything as best I could.

Then I blew on the exposed contacts, etc. like I was stoking a fire and then left the phone in the sun to dry out for awile.

It still worked!

Which was a good thing. I needed the phone on that trip.

[Gil Johnson]

As klutzy as I am, I have yet to need to deal with a waterlogged phone. However, my friends who have swear by this simple method:

Embed the device in a bag of uncooked white rice for about a day. The rice will absorb the moisture from the phone.

Don't know if it works with brown rice.

[Jake]

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

[I Bow To You]

i love you i love you i love you i love you

the blow dryer worked and i love you so much

[Alaina C]

OMG I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH IT WORKRD:)))) thank you soooo much!! it was the q-tip! :)))) THANKS A BUNCHHH

[Sara D.]

Thank you, thank you! I had the unvortunate disaster of spilling a cup of water on my phone ad had this same problem. Thankfully after your tips (I think it was the hair dryer mainly) it is back to working order. Thank you again!

[Ally]

Thank you so much!! The Q-tips do the trick.. you just have to do it over & over & over again. Took like 15 Q-tips but I got it :)

[Chelsea]

You are so great!!! Thank you so much!!!! One question! If your sound is working but when I push the buttons on the side of the phone, it says sound is still blank! Any way to fix it?? Thanks! Oh! And if anyone knows how to get water from out of the screen!

[Sherrie]

It worked!! The blow dryer helped a lot with the buttons working, but the speaker was still broken. The Q-tip did the trick for that! Yay!! Thank you so much!

[Heather]

i tried the qtip and the credit card to no avail. Then I tried squeezing the bottom right corner by the speaker for 20 seconds and voila! IT works again. I think it may be a combo of the credit card and the squeeze. I splashed water on it the other day and the water hit the bottom half of the phone. Thanks!

[carol]

best frekin tip ever!!!!!!!! u savedddd my iPhones sound life!!!!! thank u thank uuuuu!

[John]

thank you so much for your assistance!!!You just saved my IPhone4!!!THANKS!!!!

[Ann Rajoo]

the q-tip worked wonders!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH :)

[Lexi]

I know it's just my phone, but I feel like you just saved my life. Hahaha thanks so much!

[Capt. Awesome]

I don't know which one worked but I did both the q-tip and the blow dryer and my speakers work. So thank you, your awesome, and stay golden pony boy!

[J]

Qtip worked in two seconds!!!! Thank you so much, you saved my phone and saved me $200!!!!

[Jerry]

Thank you So much, its working again. Great to find usefull information.

[LGJ]

Bloody LEGEND!! My iPhone and I cannot thank-you enough; the hairdryer worked a treat :D :D :D

[Chase]

OH MY LORD THANK YOU i did the same thing you did and the hair dryer did just the trick.

[Clarice]

Oh my gosh! This post also helped me! I am so grateful to have found it!!! I was so disappointed in myself for breaking my phone. I feel much better now! Guess I wont be putting it back on the same ledge again! Thank you very much again! Oh and for me, it was most definitely the hair dryer!

[[email protected]]

EXACT same thing happened to me (the toiler plunge and subsequent speaker mute) and the q-tips alone worked for me. Thanks Mr. Oregon!

[Ilma]

Thank you so much, xmas fm on now and I can hear it! fantastic. Ilma, Canada

[lisa m]

Your tips worked!!! Thank you soo much!!

[Marcy]

OMG Thank you sooooo much! IT WORKED!!! My two year old dumped water on my phone.

[gvd]

Oh my god thank you so much! The Blowdryer worked like a charm!

[Philip]

Thanks for the tip, mine was completely submerged in the sink briefly this morning - no sound and the ringer and microphone weren't much good either. I rolled up some tissues into pointy bits and dried out the headphone jack. Then let the breeze blow on it a bit and now seems OK.

[Mercy]

Thank you!!! My phone fell in the dogs bathe water (guess they paid me back!) and I could only hear iTunes or phone calls with my head set😱. I used q-tips and a blow dryer....voila! It's back! Now if the camera would start working I would be an even happier camper!😁

[Jaime]

After having my phone in rice all night I turned it on to find the sound didn't work. I followed what you said and my phone is working great from what I can tell so far. The only odd thing is I got a notification that I was sent a message but cannot open it. I am not sure but that is much better than it was. Was probably a small glitch that will work itself out. I am so relieved, I only got this phone 2 days ago and thought I had ruined it already.

[Cinkia]

Hi there - just read your post on iphone getting wet...my husbands phone was pretty much the same after getting wet - I could hear him but he couldn't hear anything and it was distorted on speaker. I followed your tips and guessed that a q-tip was a cotton bud as we call them in Australia, a very small amount of blow drying and voila - its working!!!! Felt the need to express my thanks for your advice.... I'd heard the rice and blowdryer methods but not the cotton bud :-)

[Niki]

Cotton buds really worked (Q tips), with the aid of some heat. You saved me £418.00, thank you. And thank you for taking the time out to blog this!

[Dana]

Thank you so much! Worked like a charm on my iPhone 5!

[Jay]

Thank You!!! Even though other sites said stay away from heat, all the comments on this blog convinced me to try it. Sound was back after wiping the headphone jack and 5 minutes! Iphone 4s

[Sheena]

Omg!!! This worked like a charm!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!

[Lord]

OMFG Thanks so much! It worked!!! I used the cotton buds tip.

[G]

Daughter's 3 month old Iphone 5 had the same fate as yours last night. It is off and sitting in rice in a closed container for 2 days with SIM card removed. I will keep this link in mind if we run into problems. I plan to put up a small sign that says "No phones in the bathroom" immediately. Thanks for the tips!

[Leah]

Omg you have actually saved my life I've been in a Bad mood all day because of dropping it in a puddle and the sound didn't work but the cotton bud worked (what we call a q tip in England) thankyou so much! You have saved me so much money! All I needed was the cotton bud ripped the end slightly and twirled it round and it worked! Thankyou so much! You've saved my life!

[Goose]

Yo this worked perfectly!

[Hadashi]

Looks like you earned yourself a bunch of good karma from writing this article ;-)

[Rachael]

Thank you so much! I used the trick with the blow dryer. I put it on the "cool" setting and let it run about six inches away for 15 minutes. This did the trick! You saved my poor iPhone! So grateful!!! :)

[Maredaree]

I had the same exact problem and I did the credit card thing and it worke perfect thank you so much!! My speakers have been not working for a couple weeks now and I thought it was too late to do anything about it after dumping a glass of Mountain Dew on it. So happy!

[James]

Just got mine to work after dropping in hot tub. Hair dryer did the trick.

[Mike]

You, sir, are the best! My iPhone 4s got a bit wet in the rain and everything seemed to work except the speaker that would allow me to hear music, apps, etc. After trying the ol' rice method for too many hours I tried another, more specific Google search to fix my precisely my problem and wham! I found your blog post. After a couple of Q-tips and about 1 minute of blow drying the speaker and charge slot as you suggested I am back in business. That saved the day since my Xbox 360 kicked the bucket the same day. Thanks so much. You are da man!!

[Nan]

Thank you! After a water bottle leaked in my workout bag, the speaker quit working and I thought my phone speaker was permanently ruined. I couldn't figure out how to insert a credit card into my phone charger so I just put it in the stream of hot air from the hair dryer for a few minutes, no success. Then I inserted a stripped qtip stick into the speaker jack opening and Wow!, the sound came back. I am so pleased and will get a new water bottle (much cheaper than a new phone!).

[Ana]

I cannot thank you enough! I just dropped my phone in the bath tub, as it was draining. After a good 20 minutes of crying and freaking out, I found your post. And, amazingly, my phone works! I used the Q-tip and blow dryer!

[Tammy Lynn]

Ok so I have a weird comment to add. I tried all of the above to no avail. Then I put my mouth over the speaker holes on bottom right corner and was going to "blow dry it" with less heat. Nothing. BUT... When I inhaled to blow again I heard sound.

So I basically "smoked" my phone like trying to get smoke out of a candy cigarette... And it worked!!! Pulled speaker back into place?

Well.. That was great while it lasted. It quit again. The only way I hear sound is when inhaling on the corner. As soon as I stop , it quits.

Now what? Help!! ??

[K cor]

Thanks! Hair dryer worked for me!!

[Steffie]

Thankyou so much. Cotton bud didn't work nor did the credit card but the blow-dryer did
- don't know if what did it was the headphone jack or charging slot. Thankyou!

[Summer]

Didn't work for me. I can hear keyboard strokes, rings and alerts but no sound when using Pandora, YouTube or music. Also, when I push on the volume adjusters the pop-up shows with the word "ringer" and the speaker symbol but the little square indicators do not. Any advice?

Also, what in the world do you mean about the credit card? I have the 4S and can't wait to switch to Blackberry or Android when my contract is up.
Thanks!

[Brian Hines]

Summer, it's been a while since I browsed around, looking for ways to get my iPhone working. Can't remember exactly what the credit card was all about.

I believe the tip I tried was to insert the corner of a credit card into the iPhone 4 charging slot (which is much bigger than the iPhone 5 charger). I think the idea was that this could remove water droplets stuck in there.

[Jonathan]

I used the q-tip and it worked instantly. Thanks for the tip!

[Taylor Redwing]

THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS WORKED!!!

[Taylor K]

Wow...My son slobbered all over my iPhone today, and the sound through the top speaker quit working along with all the other little noises this thing makes besides ringing with a call. FREAK OUT MOMENT! I just tried both of these. The q-tip didn't work at first, then I tried the hair-dryer for a few minutes, and now my sound is working again!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you so so so much for posting this! I can now breathe again... :)

[Noah Coahran]

YOU...are a LIFESAVER. You just saved me $229.00 . Thank you sooo much!

[Natalie]

I used q-tip and hair dryer and it's working !!! Thanx

[ann elizabeth]

God bless you sr. This work like a charm!!! Muchas gracias es lo mejor! You are the best for sharing this, you safe us all here big money that maybe we don't have and with hard work we buy phones that had the bad luck with water. Did I mention thank you ones again :)

[KS89]

THANK YOU! This post saved my iPhone! My phone had a previous water mishap a few months ago, and the rice trick took care of the problem. This time, no such luck. I was starting into freak out mode, when I went to google and came across this - my phone was putting out NO sound whatsoever, and when I tried adjusting the volume, my phone read "headphones." I figured this meant the problem was happening in the headphone jack, so I tried the q-tips. At first, it didn't do anything. I kept shoving q-tips down, and after about 10 or 15, sound came back! Yay! Thanks again!

[Belinda]

Awesome thank you.... Took about 5 q-tips and about 20 min all works fine... Many thanks

[Judy R.]

Dropped my iPhone 4S in water, dried it off then blew it out with compresser. The phone would not turn off, it would just restart, put it on airplane mode. Got home put it in a bag of rice for about 30 hours. Worked but speakers and mic weren't working well. Did the q-tip and blow dryer. Had to blow dry about 15/20 in the bottom and it fixed it completely. Thanks for all the tips.

[Dom]

Thanks, Tried the q-tip method thoroughly to no avail when I remembered I had spilled water on it last night, then I found your blog and the hairdryer method which worked straightaway!

[Kiki]

THANK YOU THANK YOU I LITTERALLY SCREAMED AND STARRED JUMPING BEST TIP EVER THANK YOU!!!!

[Emily]

You just saved my iPhone 5 which I saved all summer to buy thank you so much!

[Amu]

The q-tip worked. Thank you so much!

[Ben Kleschinsky]

The Best thing to do is to get a bag of white rice dump it in a bowl or ziplock baggy. Turn of the phone and put your phone in the rice let it sit for 2-3 days. It sucks up the moisture inside the phone. Lucky that blowdrying it didn't damage any of the components. Rice will most of the time work if it doesn't you need to get it serviced. It does suck up all the moisture no need to do anything else. This works with any type of phone. Peace!

[katie]

Phew hairdryer worked even after 12 hours, still shaking off the sick feeling!!! Thanks you ;-)

[Donna]

After my daughter dropped her ipad mini into the bath tub the speakers wouldnt work. I decided it was worth a try to attempt the q-tip trick and nothing else...and it worked. Thanks for the info, I'm sure this will save a lot of iPads :)

[Aaron Crosby]

Awsome. Thank you so much. The hairdryer worked!

[Samantha]

Oh my god thanks so much i accidlently dropped soda on my iphone 4 and the sound stopped working i read this and i thought i had nothing to loose without sound i was ready to get rid of my phone i blowdried first with cool and it didnt work abd then i read caarefully that most were using heat so i decided to give it another try i turned iphone off and blowdrying it with hot heat away from it and at the same time did the qtip thing and i got scared becaise my iphoneit turned on by itself i got scared and disconnected the blowdrier . To my surprise thank god and you who wrote this the sound started working perfectly!! Thanks so so so so much!!!!!

[John]

Can't believe it. Worked again after 3 minutes under hairdryer....headjack and charging slot. Thanks heaps!

[Coline]

THANKS YOU SAVED MY LIFE.
For those who struggle at the beginning try blow dryer, LOTS of Q-Tips and also plugging in your earphones. It worked for me when i thought my speakers would never work again.

[Taylor]

Thank you SO much!! My phone is practically falling apart with the both screens cracked and now the speaker wasn't working thought I would have to get a new phone. Didn't wanna spend the money. It worked. :)

[Isobel]

Omg thank you!!!!

[Chris]

Thank you!!!!

[Nickole S]

thank you so very much you just saved me from having to buy a new phone, I couldn't be any more grateful if I tried.

[Lotte]

Thank you so much! I dropped my iPod touch in the bathtub this evening and after trying the q tip, rolling up tissue and blow drying my iPod on cool, I found your page. I didn't want to use heat but I carefully used y blow dryer on low heat for 2 minutes and my sound was working again! I know it's only my iPod but I need it so thank you very much for this post!

[Kenzie W.]

This worked so well! Thank you so much! The blow dryer worked wonderfully!

[Tasha-Kay]

It' bloody worked!!!! Thank you lorddddd!! Your a genius took about 3 minutes with the q-tip though, but it worked

[Dolores Myers]

Thank you!! I submerged phone last night but got it out asap, towel dried, turned it off, blow dried a bit not too close, then put in white rice bag at midnight. At 7AM, the phone was on by itself, sound, side volume control buttons and home button did not worked. I was so sad. Still I left in rice bag. Read your post at 9AM, tried Q-tip on headphone jack, gentle cotton ball push in charge area and bottom speakers, especially the right one, gave it a squeeze for 20 sec, cuz someone mentioned it. OMG, it worked!! Everything works now. Thank you!

[Michelle Burnett]

Thank you!!

[Danielle]

Like everyone here, I must thank you. I, like you, dropped my phone in the toilet. Every website seemed to have ridiculous anecdotal remedies that proved to be useless. You are a savior!

[jessica]

Your blog saved my phone! Yay!

[Lucy I]

Agree with everyone here, you're a life saver! Had tried the hair dryer thing already with no luck and after much online searching for another remedy (and getting no satisfactory results) I found your post. The cotton bud tip worked a treat! My phone is as good as new again. Thank you soooo much :-)

[tom]

well it hadsnt worked for me my phones now gone blank screened bullshit phone you think with the cost of em tey would be able to withstand a bit of fookin water nokia 3310's could be bounced of walls dropped in the sea stuck to a bleedin nuke an still work

[Ellie]

Life saver. Have made my day! Cotton bud worked for me!

[Johnny]

Was in my car and had to roll down my window and my iPhone 5 is in a little nook in my door and the speakers got slightly wet, but enough to ruin the sound of my speakers. I saw this blog but didn't have a blow dryer readily available, so I decided to use the car heater vent and put my iphone next to vent and had warm air blow into the speakers...it works great now!!!

[SAH]

Worked perfectly! Thank you!

[Jimmy]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[Grateful]

THANK YOU. Your hair dryer trick did it!

[Morgan]

YOU ARE A SAVIOR. I WAS LEGIT GOING TO BREAK DOWN UNTIL I FOUND THIS. No-one knows how to give a legitimate answer. Instead they would rather hide the information within a ton of irrelevant information and it all gets too confusing. Yet again, thank you so much!

[Bert]

I did exactly the same! but dropped my iphone in the sink!
These tips worked, hair dryer and instead of a ear bud used a crunched up rizzla

life saver !

[Alisha]

Omgosh the q-tip thing worked automatically for me! Soo excited. Thank you. I was soo bummed that I was gonna have to use my phone on speaker from now on.

[Brian Jones]

Hi Brian
Great post, it’s the worst feeling when something like this happens I’m glad you fixed it. I write occasionally for iPad Repair and you are quite right that the water will often make the iPhone or iPad think headphones are being used and as a result you won’t get any sound. Rice or better yet rice krispies is where I would leave an iPhone after wiping the worst obviously.
Best wishes
Brian

[Hristo]

Thank you very much

[mark taylor]

Worked for me too :-) Thank you so much! What a relief, Phew!!!!!

[Daniel]

Q tips Worked!!! you got to keep at it, at first it seems like after the first 3 nothing will work.. but gently find the bottom of the jack, DONT push too hard once you reach the end and just spin the q tip over and over and over. TRUST ME Hahaha

[Ann straiton]

Worked for me! Thank you!

[Lisa]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I dropped my phone into the shallow end of a lake today while on a bike ride, and the q-tip thing worked right away!

[Tracy Penzien]

Speakers & charging port got dunked. Tried the hair dryer the next day. Speakers no longer cut in & out! Woul never have believed it. Thought it was too late! Don't give up, there may be hope!

[R Chambers]

Another iPhone saved by your genius! I was so upset as my iPhone only had a tiny bit of water hit it. I was actually shocked that there was any kind of problem. I had the "headphone" message when i tried to raise or lower the volume attempting to listen to a video - no sound coming out at all. It took me three q-tips and all is well. I never respond to posts but you really helped me out of a bad spot. Thank you - thank you - thank you!! Had to continue the positive vibe on this blog letting people know it give it a try :)

[j humpman]

This worked for iphone 5. did the qtip and hair dryer on low for 10 mins. Thanks for tips