It was one of those perfect summer days. The skies were clear and we decided to rally the troops for a  hike up a spectacular mountain in Maine. We slathered on the sunscreen and piled in the car. This particular mountain was about 45 minutes away from our vacation spot, in a fairly remote area of Maine. The larger camera was too cumbersome to take on the hike so I decided to bring my iPhone for any potential photo ops. After a few photos the iPhone ended up deep within a  pocket of the backpack my husband was willingly lugging up the mountain filled with drinks, snacks and other supplies. We stopped quite a few times along the hike to pick the few remaining wild blueberries on the trail.

At some point while heading up the mountain a drink or ice leaked in the backpack and covered my iPhone with water. I wasn’t overly concerned at the time. We immediately removed the wet phone in my favorite Mophie case from the backpack, dried it off and relocated it to a safer spot. I turned the iPhone on and everything seemed fine. That was a relief since I knew we still had a few hours of hiking to go.

After the hike I decided to test out my iPhone again. There was no cell coverage at the mountain so I waited until service was restored. This time the phone wouldn’t reboot. The Apple symbol appeared and then the iPhone started spewing out illegible code on the screen. This wasn’t good. I tried a few times and nothing.

Once I was home I Googled how to salvage my phone. I also put out an SOS on Instagram, which ended up producing some great tips.  It was clear. The answer was RICE.

How I Fixed My iPhone After Dropping it in Water. The rice trick really works.

• For starters remove the iPhone from the water.
• Dry off the phone completely. Shake the phone gently to remove any excess water from the charging port and other holes.
• Do not turn it on (I did try to turn it on a few times).
• Place the iPhone in  a bowl or bag of rice. I started off with a bowl of rice and switched to a bag so I could seal it. Be gentle when immersing the phone into the rice so rice doesn’t get caught in the charging port.
• Leave the phone and the rice to do their magic for 24 hours. Be patient.

It worked. Apparently the rice absorbs any and all water left in the phone. My iPhone is back to normal, minus the Mophie case and screen protector. The rice and water did a number on both of them.

Now I’m a believer. Rice it truly amazing when it comes to sucking up water.

Have you dropped your smartphone in water? Were you able to fix it?

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photo credit: iPhone 5 – Lightning Connector, Speakers, and Headphone Jack via photopin (license)