My iPhone 4 took a dip in the pool this weekend due to my jumping in fully clothed to grab Jack who was in trouble in the deep end. I put it in a bag of rice for 24 hours--no joy. Also, I made a big mistake, I think, by pressing one of the buttons very soon after drying off the phone. It never came on, but it did get very hot. That can't be good.

Any suggestions?

I can offer you no advice (I think phones don't like to go swimming). Just wanted to say that I hope Jack is ok.

Thanks, Shelly. It was more just a scare than anything else. He can't swim yet (we really tried teaching him early), so we need to watch him like hawks. He was on a kickboard, but lost it. My wife was in the pool with him, but was farther away than me because she, in her infinite wisdom, decided to swim to the end of the pool. It was just one of those things; I didn't even think, just dived in. He was scared and coughing, but nothing horrible. But Jesus Christ it was terrifying to me.

Has the phone ever been replaced? My screen cracked over the weekend and shortly after the phone stopped working. Fell out of my pocket on the road. Went to the store and waited for 45 minutes. The guy finally called me and replaced the phone for free. Give it a try. If that doesn't work, try warranty service like squaretrade if you have that.

Glad to hear he is ok - that must have been terrifying.

Has the phone ever been replaced? My screen cracked over the weekend and shortly after the phone stopped working. Fell out of my pocket on the road. Went to the store and waited for 45 minutes. The guy finally called me and replaced the phone for free. Give it a try. If that doesn't work, try warranty service like squaretrade if you have that.

Most stores, including Apple Store, won't cover water damage under warranty or replacement plans (and they all have sticker/sensor thingies so the techs can tell if it's been in water). I'm not saying you shouldn't try it with Apple Store, but I would be surprised if they offered a replacement.

And glad to hear Jack's is okay. You're scaring me, btw, as I'm taking my daughter to her swim class (as much a class as it can be for a 1 year old) this weekend.

Edited May 31, 201115 yr by Salt Peanuts

Not trying to be argumentative but they don't cover cracked screens either. Initially the guy quoted me 200 plus tax but then realized I was waiting for a while after my apt time and offered a free replacement as a one time courtesy.

They may not cover it, but so what? You did the right thing by diving in to help Jack. A phone vs. a son? You made the right choice Dinny. If you need money to replace the phone after that, I'll donate to that fund.

Glad to hear Jack is fine Dinny. Getting Jack water safe will definitely reduce your stress level in the future especially at sumer parties.

You done good.

Throw it in a bag of rice for a day, that might help. But I'm in for the replacement fund, too.

Thanks, gang. No need for a replacement fund, but the thought is deeply appreciated. Just the cost of doing business.

I popped off the cover last night and dried some little spots of water under the battery. Left it open like that in a plastic bag. Of course, during spring cleaning last week, I threw out all the little desiccant bags I had around, and we don't have rice. :facepalm: Will try again tonight.

With the cover off I'd give it at least another 24 hours of rice treatment before doing anything. Sorry to hear about jack's little adventure but glad to hear that he's okay.

Apple should be willing to swap it out for a refurb for $200, so at least you're not on the hook for $450 or whatever for an off contract phone.

Wow, glad your son is ok. I've had similar frights, and bejeesus, it's scary!

Not much to offer for help here, other than to offer to ship out some rice. Just can't believe as an Asian guy that any household doesn't have rice. Growing up, we'd always have 25-50 lb bags in storage, often 2-3 different bags at a time! You probably don't own a rice cooker, either, do you?!

I'm not even asian and I have 45 lbs of rice in my basement , and when my rice cooker died recently, I had to send a kid into the basement to bring up the spare

I'm with Nate here Dinny.

Girl at work had the same happen, and it took a couple of days of rice and hair dryer but it finally worked.

Very thankful Jack is ok.

I'm not even asian and I have 45 lbs of rice in my basement , and when my rice cooker died recently, I had to send a kid into the basement to bring up the spare

Awright! How Asian of you! Are your eyes getting smaller yet?

That's way more rice than I have now, since I don't eat rice nearly like I used to. We used to have rice at every meal as a kid. That would drive my wife crazy!

Next you probably need several different kinds of rice in the house: long grain, short grain, jasmine, sticky; I suppose you could even do arborio, although arborio wouldn't speed up the slanting of your eyes.

its' the "several varieties" that leads to that quantity, of course. We have short grain, jasmine, basmati, brown basmati, and sweet desert rice. Mostly we cook the jasmine and basmati, with the short grain for sushi. My eyes aren't getting smaller, but my belly's getting bigger. I'll have to switch from zen buddhism to chinese buddhism soon.

its' the "several varieties" that leads to that quantity, of course. We have short grain, jasmine, basmati, brown basmati, and sweet desert rice. Mostly we cook the jasmine and basmati, with the short grain for sushi. My eyes aren't getting smaller, but my belly's getting bigger. I'll have to switch from zen buddhism to chinese buddhism soon.

Oh, that makes sense. My mom used to buy a single 50 lb bag of one type of rice. My friends would come over and couldn't get over that.

i have fifty pounds of bone ground and milled to resemble rice.

Does that come in a single 50lb bag, as well? Or do you have several smaller bagged varieties? Do you make Jello with that, or Soylent Green?

Suddenly my lunch isn't settling in so well ...

In my experience, if the battery wasn't pulled nanoseconds after the dunking, the phone is toast. Hopefully, when you tell the Apple people what happened, they'll be so glad your son came out OK that they'll be nice to you.

What do you guys think of this option: Ifixyouri?

I'd try apple first. They're often suckers for a good story.

Will do. Heading there tomorrow.

Went to the Apple Store where I bought the phone (5th Ave in NYC). Made a Genius Bar appointment. Told the Genius that I had soaked my phone in the pool. Genius informed me that Apple normally charges $199, but has a new initiative whereby it essentially gives iDevice owners a one-time "get out of jail free" repair. Ergo, free iPhone 4 replacement. I'm sure it's a refurb (no box or anything), but free works for me. I guess I'm Steve Jobs's bitch now.

With customer service like this, there's really no way I'm buying anything computer/mobile related from any other company until Apple gives me good reason not to, like maybe making iPhone cases out of puppy skins. Maybe.