Dropped iPhone 4s in hot tea...now no sound :(

DMC · Sep 25, 2012

Hello all,

I dropped my iPhone 4s in my hot tea (with soy milk) yesterday morning. I dried it, turned it off and put it in a bag of uncooked rice, inside another bag with a small de-humidifier gadget used for keeping a safe moister-free. At this point everything seems to be functioning normally except I have no sound. When I press the volume up & down button, the speaker symbol appears but nothing else and nothing happens. I tried to play a youtube video to experiment and there is no volume adjustment slider on the video at all. Basically the sound function on my phone is dead.

I plan to keep it in the rice bag and re-check everyday in hopes that the sound comes back.

Does anyone have experience with a situation like this with a positive result? If so, what did you do? Any advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks!

hookbill · Sep 25, 2012

The rice story is a nice myth. Sadly it's not true.

So what you will do because I know you didn't buy your iPhone and not get insurance contact, take it in and get a new one. Right?

Thomasjtsi · Sep 25, 2012

Unfortunately, once an iPhone (or any electronic device) makes submerged contact w/ liquid... there's a 90% chance it's done. The rice method IS a tried and true procedure for absorbing mositure from anything. Sadly to say... if you don't regain full funtion of your iDevice you're most likely looking at needing a replacement. This is due to the cost of service and replacement parts.

flipflop2010 · Sep 25, 2012

I'm sorry. That really sucks. I'm not sure if this would work...but back in the day I walked into the lake with my old Nokia. Brilliant.

I took the phone apart and put it on top of the tv while it was on for several hours. It ended up working fine.

I tripped last week and ranch dressing flew threw the air landing on the keyboard of my brand new lap top.

Have u tried inserting your headphones & seeing if the sound works there? Good luck & buy an otter box next time!

Skull One · Sep 26, 2012

DMC said:
Hello all,

I dropped my iPhone 4s in my hot tea (with soy milk) yesterday morning. I dried it, turned it off and put it in a bag of uncooked rice, inside another bag with a small de-humidifier gadget used for keeping a safe moister-free. At this point everything seems to be functioning normally except I have no sound. When I press the volume up & down button, the speaker symbol appears but nothing else and nothing happens. I tried to play a youtube video to experiment and there is no volume adjustment slider on the video at all. Basically the sound function on my phone is dead.

I plan to keep it in the rice bag and re-check everyday in hopes that the sound comes back.

Does anyone have experience with a situation like this with a positive result? If so, what did you do? Any advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks!

The bottom speaker is the most likely failure for an iPhone 4, 4S or 5 that has been submerged in water. I have 28 years, and counting, in the electronics field. Repaired more phones for my children than I care to count that have been submerged in some form of a liquid. And so far the iPhone is the only one I can not get back to 100% because of the dang bottom speaker always being a pain about working. The second highest failure after the speaker is the 30 pin port.

I have tried full tear downs with cool air, hot air, isopropyl alcohol and even a few banned cleaners like trichlorofluoroethane. The bottom speaker is purely a dumb luck component for repair.

johnwolves · Sep 26, 2012

DMC said:
Hello all,

I dropped my iPhone 4s in my hot tea (with soy milk) yesterday morning. I dried it, turned it off and put it in a bag of uncooked rice, inside another bag with a small de-humidifier gadget used for keeping a safe moister-free. At this point everything seems to be functioning normally except I have no sound. When I press the volume up & down button, the speaker symbol appears but nothing else and nothing happens. I tried to play a youtube video to experiment and there is no volume adjustment slider on the video at all. Basically the sound function on my phone is dead.

I plan to keep it in the rice bag and re-check everyday in hopes that the sound comes back.

Does anyone have experience with a situation like this with a positive result? If so, what did you do? Any advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks!

I had this same problem due to rain getting into my device through the headphone port. I solved it by gently cleaning it with a cotton bud. Try that it's gotta be worth a shot!

Sent from my iPhone 4s using Tapatalk

DMC · Sep 26, 2012

Thank you very much for the replies. I resigned myself to the fact that all the uncooked rice in the world and other tricks were not going to bring my speakers back, so I went to Apple for a replacement. It was an extremely easy and pleasant process, they swapped out my dunked phone for a new one for the bargain price of $199.

Thank you again for the input, it was very helpful in making my decision to do the replacement.

JohnAr · Sep 26, 2012

Just wondering but did u have no sound at all like not even when u made a phone call and couldnt hear what the person was saying?

DMC · Sep 26, 2012

JohnAr said:
Just wondering but did u have no sound at all like not even when u made a phone call and couldnt hear what the person was saying?

I could make calls and hear the person on the other end but no sounds like ringer, notifications, music, videos, etc.

Thomasjtsi · Sep 26, 2012

Which means the earpeice speaker was working... just not your speaker down @ the dock. As Skull mentioned above... the speaker/dock assembley is almost always shot when an iDevice gets submerged. Unfortunately...

Pinkpoison · Sep 27, 2012

DMC said:
Hello all,

I dropped my iPhone 4s in my hot tea (with soy milk) yesterday morning. I dried it, turned it off and put it in a bag of uncooked rice, inside another bag with a small de-humidifier gadget used for keeping a safe moister-free. At this point everything seems to be functioning normally except I have no sound. When I press the volume up & down button, the speaker symbol appears but nothing else and nothing happens. I tried to play a youtube video to experiment and there is no volume adjustment slider on the video at all. Basically the sound function on my phone is dead.

I plan to keep it in the rice bag and re-check everyday in hopes that the sound comes back.

Does anyone have experience with a situation like this with a positive result? If so, what did you do? Any advice or suggestions is greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks!

is it still under warranty? If it is and all else fails take it back to Apple,they will replace it for a fixed ammount,im not sure off hand what the cost is but worth checking.

DMC · Sep 27, 2012

Poisonivy said:
is it still under warranty? If it is and all else fails take it back to Apple,they will replace it for a fixed ammount,im not sure off hand what the cost is but worth checking.

It was not under warranty but I was able to replace it with a brand new phone at the Apple store for $199. Not great but way better than full price like I thought I would have to pay for a new one.

Pinkpoison · Sep 28, 2012

DMC said:
It was not under warranty but I was able to replace it with a brand new phone at the Apple store for $199. Not great but way better than full price like I thought I would have to pay for a new one.

thats good,as you say better than paying for a full price one,im sure you will keep this one away from liquids.