How to Recover Data from a Water Damaged iPhone

Part 1. Is your iPhone Damaged by Water

Common Symptoms of iPhone Water Damage

You probably have some reason to think that your iPhone has been damaged by water. These are typical indications that damage has been caused:

1. Power and start-up issues: unable to be turned on, restarts immediately after turning on, or the white screen of death.
2. Hardware failure: the speaker does not work, the microphone is not working, or your iPhone is overheating.
3. Warning messages: you may get one or more error messages when you use the iPhone, messages you have not seen before, like "This accessory is not made to work with iPhone" or "Charging is not supported with this accessory.", etc.
4. Application issues: Safari browser, email, or other programs opening and closing without reason.

Further Information

If you are still not sure about it, Apple has given you some extra help. Please turn your phone off first, then study and take advice from the diagrams below. When your iPhone has been exposed to water, you'll see a red dot. If not, congratulations! Your iPhone is not water damaged.

First things to do.

Power off your iPhone immediately

If you think that your iPhone was water damaged, don't use it at all. First, move it away from the water source, then power it off.

Do not dry it with a hairdryer

Using any sort of drying device is as likely to push the water further into the phone as anything. Do you know those small bags which come with your new camera, your new TV or, indeed, your new phone? They contain silica and that is the best thing to use. Put your phone in a container with silica bags (which can be purchased at several places), or with uncooked rice, for a few days to dry it out.

Visit a reputable repair store.

The popularity of iPhones means that new solutions are always being developed, including possible solutions to this sort of problem.

Backup your iPhone data with iTunes or iCloud

It will be a great comfort for you if you know you have a backup of your data. Of course, we think the best way to do that is by using Dr.Fone - Phone Backup (iOS). However, a reasonable start would be to use iTunes.

Apple provides you with a basic backup system.

Backup your iPhone data with iCloud: Go to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Backup.

     

We think there is a better approach. As the name suggests, Dr.Fone can help you to perform many troubleshooting tasks on your iPhone. This includes data recovery from an iTunes backup file, or iCloud backup, or by using the system recovery for iOS devices.

Let us walk you through the steps, to show you how you might recover data from a water-damaged iPhone. Our Dr.Fone toolkit does this easily, and so much more! Check out more to recover data from a broken iPhone or how to back up the iPhone without a passcode.

Part 2. Water Damaged iPhone Data Recovery: Three Ways

Usually, when an iPhone is a water damaged, you would take it to the repair shop. They would usually restore it to normal but will not retrieve your lost data. Being calm and rational, the highest priority must be recovering your data. The good news in all of this is that you do not need to take valuable time to go to the repair shop, you can almost certainly achieve what you want without leaving home via Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS). We are here to help.

Method 1. Directly Recover Data from Water Damaged iPhone

Note: If you are using iPhone 5 or later and have not backed up data to iTunes before, it's risky to recover music and video from iPhone directly with this tool. if you just want to selectively recover other types of data, it's also worth a shot.

Step 1. Connect your iPhone to PC and have a scan

Get Dr.Fone installed onto your computer. Run the program and you will see the main window. Attach your iPhone, click on 'Data Recovery' and simply click 'Start' to start scanning.

Dr.Fone's dashboard for iOS data recovery

Step 2. Selectively recover the data inside your iPhone

When your iOS device is scanned completely, check and select the items you wish to recover. Mark all the items you want and click 'Recover' to save the iOS data to your computer.

Method 2. How to Recover Deleted Data (like iMessage) from iTunes Backup

You can use iTunes to automatically backup the data on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. After losing data such as your iMessages, you can directly restore the backup data from iTunes to your iPhone.

Here are the advantages that Dr.Fone toolkit possesses in helping you to recover deleted data from iTunes.

	Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS)	Restore via iTunes
Devices Supported	All iPhones, including iPhone X/8 (Plus)/7 (Plus), iPad, and iPod touch	All iPhones, iPad, iPod touch
Pros	Preview iTunes backup content for free before recovery; Selectively recover any wanted data from the backup; Existing data not overwritten on the iPhone; Easy to use.	Free of charge; Easy to use.
Cons	Paid software with a trial version.	No preview of iTunes data; Cannot selectively restore; Overwrites all existing data on the iPhone.
Download	Windows version, Mac version	From Apple official site

Step 1. Select iTunes backup

If you have already downloaded and installed Dr.Fone, run the program and select 'Data Recovery'. You can then find the program lists the iTunes backup files. Suggest that you choose the latest backup package. Click Start Scan to begin extracting all your data from the iTunes backup.

choose the most recent backup from iTunes

Step 2. Preview and recover deleted data (like iMessage) from iTunes backup

When the iTunes data is extracted, all the backup contents are displayed item by item. Select, by putting a checkmark in the boxes, the items which you want. You can preview the contents of all types of files. Click the 'Recover' button in the lower right corner of the window, you can save them on your computer. Maybe it hasn't been such a disaster, and you can recover data from water damaged iPhone.

Method 3. How to Retrieve Deleted Data from iCloud Backup

To restore our personal information from an iCloud backup, you need to restore the whole iCloud backup by resetting your iPhone from anew first. That is the only approach which Apple offers you.

If you think this way sucks, just turn to Dr.Fone - Data Recovery (iOS). It allows you to access, preview, and selectively recover whichever photos, music, messages, addresses, messages... etc., which you might want from your iPhone. You can retrieve data from water damaged iPhone.

Step 1. Launch the program and log in to your iCloud

When you have the recovery tool running on your computer, opt for the recovery mode of 'Recover from iCloud Backup File' from the main window. Then the program will display a window where you can log in with your Apple ID. Just rest assured: Dr.Fone takes your privacy very seriously and does not keep any record beyond your original registration.

We hope you have this information to hand.

Step 2. Download iCloud backup to get back data from it

When you have logged in, the recovery tool automatically reads all your iCloud backup data. Choose the item you want, probably the most recent one, and click "Download" to download it.

Step 3. Preview and recover your information from iCloud

The download will take a little while, maybe about 5 minutes. When it is done, you can get all the data in your iCloud backup. Select the wanted items and click "Recover to Computer" to save it to your computer quickly.

All the iCloud backup data can be recovered to PC

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