What to do if you drop your iphone in water

Long story short: my iPhone 4 came back to life (twice now) after letting it dry out for five full days in a ziploc bag filled with uncooked white rice. My phone was fully submerged in water for a few seconds after being dropped in the toilet. Yes, my iPhone fell into the toilet. Here are the details of what happened:

You have to fully submerge the phone in dry uncooked rice in a plastic baggie to suck out the moisture from the phone.  We let the phone sit for 24 hours. But later found this wasn't enough time, so the phone went back into the bag to sit at room temperature for a few more days.

**After the phone has dried out for several days (4-5 days), you must plug it into your charger and let it charge for several hours** You might think it isn't coming back to life, but might just actually need to be charged.

When the iPhone 4 initially turned on the next day (24 hours later),  it was acting funny, so it needed several more days in the bag of rice to fully dry out. Calls weren't working and the screen was looking yellow. We put the phone back into the same bag of rice. This time we let the phone sit for three more days. We then had my daughter test out the phone for two days by having her watch Netflix and play games. She reported back no problems with the phone. So, we got another new sim card once again for the now dry iPhone 4, and it was activated over the phone.

Before placing the phone in the bag of rice, I did not take the phone apart. I took my outside protective case off but that was it. I didn't remove the screen or battery or anything. I did take the sim card out, because I thought it would help dry it out more. I was successful at getting my sim card out after pushing the tiny pinhole on the side of my phone with a straightened paperclip. I had to push it really hard to get the door to spring outward. I later found out the sim card just had to be thrown out, because once the sim card gets wet, you will need a new one. It will no longer work.  The cell phone store gave us a 3GS sim card to use in an old phone with my current phone number until my phone came back from the dead.

I have been using the phone now for over a year, and it has been great. I do have a slight "yellowing" of my screen in one tiny spot, and can only see it when there is a white background. Other than that, I am SO happy my iPhone came back to life!

Honestly, I didn't panic too much when it first happened, I was mostly upset that my husband might be mad about it. I've gotten electronics wet before, and usually after they dry, they come back to life. So, I was hopeful the same would be true with my iPhone. If your phone goes out of commission, your cell phone carrier should give you a new sim card free of charge, and switch your account over to an alternative phone.

Good luck reviving your phone, I never attempted to open the phone at all. I left it as is, and let the rice suck all the moisture out of it.

P.S. I dropped my phone in water once again on accident, and it is up and running again after five days in a bag of rice. Hurray!