Learn Effective Solutions To Retrieve Data From Water Damaged iPhone That Won’t Turn On!
Overview: After doing some research online, I have found on several forums and community websites that there are many iPhone users out there whose iPhone got damaged by water and thereafter they look for the solution on how to recover data from water damaged iPhone? Hence, I have decided to write this tutorial guide. In this guide you will learn few effective solutions to recover data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn on.

With iOS Data Recovery Software, One Can:
- Efficiently extract data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn ON.
- Also retrieve data from dead, broken, screen cracked/smashed, bricked iPhone.
- Recover file types such as contacts, photos, text messages, call logs, videos, audio, notes, voice memo, calendars, reminders, WhatsApp chat history, Safari bookmarks, documents and much more.
- Preview recoverable files within preview screen of the software for free before saving them on computer.
- Support all iPhone models, including iPhone XS/XS Max/XR/X, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 6/6 Plus/6S/6S Plus, etc, running on iOS 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 and so on.
- 100% read-only. Safe, secure and easy to operate.
Free Download Trial Version/Buy Now iOS Data Recovery Tool To Recover Data From Water Damaged iPhone That Won’t Turn ON
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When your iPhone fall into water and after drying it when it doesn’t turn on, then you may get afraid of losing your important and precious data and look to recover data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn ON.
For example, you can have a look at real user’s practical scenario!
Practical Scenario: User Looking To Recover Photos From Water Damaged iPhone That Won’t Turn ON
My iPhone recently spent time in saltwater. I left it alone for a week to dry out, and then I tried to turn it on. Initially, the Apple symbol appeared and it seemed to be working, but moments later it turn off and hasn’t turned on since. I opened it up and the internals are badly corroded, but I still want to try and retrieve my photos from the phone.
My questions are:
1.) Where are the photos stored? (In what component?)
2.) Can I take this component out and put it into another of the same phone to retrieve the photos?
3.) How do I do this?
I hope someone can help!
Regards,
Steve
Source: IFIXIT
Just like above practical scenario, there are many iPhone as well as iPad and iPod touch users out there facing such difficulty in their daily life.
So, now the questions arise – What do you do when your iPhone gets wet by water? How do you recover data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn on?
Don’t have any idea! Continue reading the article to find out the solutions!
Also Read: [Fixed] iPhone Stuck At ‘Attempting Data Recovery’ On iOS 11/10
iPhone Gets Wet or Damaged By Water And Won’t Turn ON? Here What To Do!
If your iPhone suddenly drops in to water or toilet and leaves you black screen, just don’t get panicked! There are few troubleshoot that you must follow before you call it officially dead.
Simply get calm down and follow the below tips to fix water damaged iPhone:
Tip 1: Dry Out Your iPhone By Keeping It With Uncooked Rice
First of all keep the iPhone in sunlight and make it dry as much as possible, then you have to take out interior liquid as much as possible. In order to get moisture out of the iPhone’s interior, you must damp your iPhone in a big bowl filled with uncooked rice (cover it completely) and leave it for 48 hours or so.
The rice will absorb all the moisture because rice is good absorber of water. But at the same time the dust or even the whole grain may enter into the ports. So, keep the iPhone very carefully in the rice.
Tip 2: Charge Your iPhone
Once all the moisture gets out of the iPhone, Power ON your iPhone, it does now, then charge your iPhone, this is the second thing that you must try several times. Your iPhone is dead or didn’t turn ON, because it lacks energy to power ON. Try and charge your device and if still not working, then proceed to tip 3.
Tip 3: Restart Your iPhone
If you have allowed your iPhone to get charged for more than one hour, but if it still didn’t turn on, then you should try another way to restart your iPhone. Press and hold Home + Sleep button together until a red slider appear. If red slider appears, then continue to press and hold both the button until the Apple logo appears. If the iPhone gets stuck at Apple Logo screen, then follow the Tip 4. If red slider doesn’t appear then follow Tip 5.
Tip 4: Connect Your iPhone To iTunes
Launch latest version of iTunes on your PC or Mac computer. If your device gets connected, then force restart your iPhone – press and hold Sleep/Wake + Home button together simultaneously until Apple logo appears. Once you see Apple do not release the button, instead keep holding them until you see recovery mode screen. And then follow the onscreen instructions to force device into recovery mode. You can then update your iPhone via iTunes and when update completes, you can then set-up your device as new.
If your device is not recognized by iTunes, then you can follow Tip 5.
Tip 5: Contact Apple Support
If all the above tips don’t work, then the last option left with you is to contact Apple Support or visit Apple Authorized Service Centre or Apple Retail Store for further help. If they declare it officially dead, then simply follow the below-mentioned solutions to recover data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn ON.
Important Note: Here I want you to know that even if your iPhone is under one year warranty, Apple does not cover iPhone damaged by water or other liquid. Hence, now you are in double frustration, owning a faulty iPhone and losing important data stored in it.
Also Read: [Issue Solved]: Unsupported Video Format Error On iPhone/iPad
So, now the question is – how do you recover your important data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn ON or completely dead?
Well, we will come to the water damage iPhone data recovery solutions? But before that, let’s check some quick Do’s and Don’ts for water damaged iPhone.
Do’s For Water Damaged iPhone
- Try To Dry: Try to dry iPhone by rubbing the iPhone with dry towel. Shake your iPhone to wipe out water from the socket and ports of the iPhone.
- Do Not Turn It On or Plug It Immediately: Never ever try to turn ON wet iPhone or plug it in as this can cause short circuit. Even if it gets turned ON, it will get dead forever after sometime. If the iPhone is Power ON or in Sleep Mode, then quickly switch it OFF completely and leave it to dry for at least 2 days.
- Dry Your iPhone With Uncooked Rice or Silica Gel Sachets: As mentioned above, you can use uncooked rice to dry your iPhone. You can also use silica gel packets to dry out your wet iPhone for at least 48 hours.
Don’Ts For Water Damaged iPhone
- Do not press any buttons of wet iPhone, it will make situation more worse.
- Do not switch ON your iPhone in order to avoid any kind of short circuit.
- Do not try to dry your wet iPhone with the help of hair dryer.
Coming back to the topic, finally we are presenting the water damaged iPhone data recovery solutions.
Note: Below all mentioned solutions is applicable to all models of iPhone such as iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, X, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 6/6 Plus/6S/6S Plus, iPhone SE, etc.
Also Read: iPhone Security: Tips To Protect Your iPhone From Hackers Or Theft
Solution 1: Recover Data From Water Damaged iPhone That Won’t Turn On For Free – If You have Another iOS Device
If you have habit of always backing up your iPhone to iCloud or iTunes backup before your device gets damaged with water, then you can restore your water damaged data with the help of previous iTunes or iCloud backup.
The things you will require is another working iOS device (with same Apple ID and password that you used in your water damaged iPhone) and iTunes and iCloud backup file.
Note: Restoring data from iTunes or iCloud backup will erase all existing files from the device and will get replaced with previous iTunes or iCloud backup files.
Below follow the steps to recover data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn on for free.
Way 1: Recover Data From Water Damaged iPhone Via iTunes Backup
Note: This solution will work if your phone gets detected by iTunes. Since, your iPhone is water damaged and it is not getting turned ON, you can try with another iOS device. Only one thing you have to make sure that both the device has been set-up with same Apple ID.
Step 1: Open iTunes on your PC or Mac in which you have earlier backed-up your iPhone data.
Step 2: Connect your iPhone to computer with the help of USB/lightning cable. If requested to enter your device passcode or to trust this computer, then simply follow the onscreen steps and agree the request.
Step 3: Select your iPhone icon as it appears in iTunes.
Step 4: From the left panel, go to “Summary” tab.
Step 5: Under the Backup section, click on “Restore Backup”.
Step 6: Now select the most relevant backup file. Look at the date and size of each backup file.
Step 7: Finally, click on “Restore” and wait for the restore process to get completed. If asked, then enter the password for your encrypted backup.
Note: Keep your iPhone connected to your computer after it restart and simply wait for it to sync with your computer. Once the sync finishes, you can then disconnect your iPhone.
Also Read: [Problem Fixed]: iPhone Deleting Photos By Itself
Way 2: Recover Data From Water Damaged iPhone Via iCloud Backup
Since, your device is not getting turned ON due to water damaged, you must use another iPhone to recover data from iCloud backup of water damaged iPhone that won’t turn ON.
Below follow the steps to recover data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn on for free.
Step 1: First of all you have to erase all contents of your iPhone before you can use the iCloud backup file to restore your iPhone. So, to erase all contents from your device go to Settings > General > Reset> Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
Step 2: Once your device contents get erased, Turn ON your iPhone. You will see the Hello Screen. Simply follow onscreen setup screen, until and unless you reach “Apps & Data screen”. Here tap on “Restore from iCloud Backup”.
Step 3: Now log-in to your iCloud account with your Apple ID and password that is linked to your iCloud account. Make sure that Apple ID should be same that you have used in your water damaged iPhone to back up your data iCloud.
Step 4: Select relevant backup file by looking the size and date of each backup file. Once you select the backup file, the transfer starts. If a message pop-up that says a newer version of iOS is required then simply follow the onscreen steps to update iOS.
Step 5: If asked, then log-in to your Apple ID account in order to restore apps and purchases (If you have purchased Apps or content from iTunes using multiple Apple IDs, then you will be asked to log in to each account.) But you can also skip this step in case if you can’t remember the password and log-in later.
Step 6: Simply stay connected and wait for the restore process to get completed. Once completed, you can finish the setup and use your device with all data back on your iPhone.
Note: The data like photos, music, apps and other information may continue to restore in the background for next several hours or day. So, please keep your device switched ON and connected to Wi-Fi to let the process complete.
Also Read: iPhone Deleting Messages By Itself? Here Is The Real Fix!
Solution 2: Recover Data From Water Damaged iPhone That Won’t Turn On – If You Don’t Have Another iOS Device
Well, if you do not have another iOS device, even then also you can extract data from water damaged iPhone to your PC or Mac computer by using the most powerful and most popular iOS Data Recovery which is the suitable Water Damaged iPhone Data Recovery software. The only thing you have to make sure that your water damaged iPhone gets detected by computer.
This is one of the best Water Damaged iPhone Data Recovery software that helps users to recover both inaccessible and deleted data like photos, contacts, messages, call history, videos, audio, notes, voice memos, WhatsApp messages, calendar, reminders, Safari bookmarks, documents and much more. It doesn’t matter whether you have iTunes/iCloud backups or not.
First download trial version of the iOS Data Recovery software to recover data from water damaged iPhone that won’t turn on and you don’t have to erase all contents from your another iOS device.
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Below follow the complete tutorial guide to recover data from water damaged iPhone with the help of iOS Data Recovery software.
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Steps To Recover Data From Water Damaged iPhone That Won’t Turn On
Step 1: Connect iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch To Computer
First download, install and launch iOS Data Recovery on your computer.
Connect your iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) to your computer with the help of USB cable. Then launch iOS Data Recovery and click on “Recover” option.
Once the software detects your iOS device, it will display the following windows as shown in the screenshot below.
Tip: Disable automatic iTunes sync before connecting iOS device to computer. Launch iTunes > Preferences > Devices, check “Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically”.
Step 2: Scan Your iOS Device To Find Deleted Data On It
Click on “Start Scan”. This will start scanning your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to find delete or lost files.
Step 3: Preview And Recover Data
Once the scan process gets complete, you can then preview the recoverable files within the preview screen of the software. Select the files that you want back and then click on “Recover” button to save data on your computer or to your device.
Tip: For Recovering Data
By default the recovered data are saved to computer. However, for text messages, iMessages, contacts, notes, when you click on “Recover” button, a dialogue box pop-up asking you to “Recover to Computer” or “Recover to Device“. If you want to save those recovered data on your device then click on “Recover to Device”.
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If you want to recover water damaged iPhone data selectively from iTunes backup, then follow the steps – HERE.
If you want to recover water damaged iPhone data selectively from iCloud backup, then follow the steps – HERE.
Wrap Up
Usually, a third-party iOS Data Recovery help user to recover deleted, lost or erased data from iOS device, but in some cases, it just can’t. Hence, it is strongly recommended that you must always backup your iPhone data so that you can restore data from the backup at the time of unexpected data loss.
However, you can try iOS Data Recovery Tool to recover data from your water damaged iPhone that won’t turn on as trying does not cost anything.

Max Field
Max Field is a founder of recoveriphone-data.com. He is an iOS lover and loves to write tips, tricks, fixes for errors, data recovery solutions and more related to iOS, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, iTunes and iCloud.