iPhone 3GS fell into toilet... working again except for home button

Several days after the accident, I'm extremely happy to see that my iPhone can turn on again and send/receive messages.

However... the 'home' button at the front no longer works. Is this something that might come back on its own with further drying out maybe? There still a tiny bit of water in the screen so it might be around the button too.

If not, does anyone know what my options are? The water damage means that apple won't cover it anymore. Without the home button, it's very difficult to use the phone as if you go into your address book or something, you can't get back to the main menu without turning the phone off and on again.

The liquid damage means that it'll be $200 to replace, not that it's not covered anymore. granted, if you choose NOT to replace it, you're screwed.

That being said, liquid damage doesn't get better, only worse. The initial damage is done, now you get to wait for the rust and corrosion to set in and make things degrade further.

If you're fine with disassembling your phone, I don't think it would be too difficult to just replace it. There's guides as website like ifixit.com and others.

Let me know if you decide to go that route, my own iPhone's home button is starting to only work when I press it fairly hard and I can foresee myself doing the same thing a few months down the road.

Apple says you only need one button. Sucks for you that their one button stopped working. LOL iPoS.

Try leaving it in a bowl of rice overnight. G'luck.

Yeah, it was living in rice for a couple of days before it came back to life minus the home button.

So $200 replacement of the unit, or operating on it to replace the home button. :/

crack it open... you dont have much to lose, and the odds of you messing it up worse than it already is are slim.....

Originally Posted by GLSauron

LOL iPoS.

Yes, I hate how Apple fails to make a device that can stand up to being immersed in liquid, like HT...no, wait... Motoro....damn, no... Pal... no, not them either... Samsu... no, damn.

Shit, ok, you got us all with Casio and the stupid Boulder on Verizon.

Originally Posted by entropism

Yes, I hate how Apple fails to make a device that can stand up to being immersed in liquid, like HT...no, wait... Motoro....damn, no... Pal... no, not them either... Samsu... no, damn.

Shit, ok, you got us all with Casio and the stupid Boulder on Verizon.

dont feed the troll....

actually...

dont feed the moron

fixed that for myself....

Yeah, you're right, Bruce... Should have known better, but how can one pass that up?

was this by accident, or were you texting on the toilet?

It was by accident... I was leaving the bathroom after taking a shower, picked up my jeans from the floor on my way out, and the iphone slipped out of the pocket straight into the toilet

I had been up all night writing a paper, so I wasn't thinking straight and the first thing I did was press the home button to see whether it would turn on. The screen lit up but then dimmed until it was off. I stuck it in rice for a few days and then it turned on. But the home button doesn't work.

I dropped a phone in a toilet once....great for telling tales for years.

How you dried it?

I dried it by putting it in a bucket of rice.

And yeah, the silver lining is that people are amused when I tell them the story.

Usually, when you get a piece of electronics wet/soaked, first, turn it off. then rinse if well in distilled water. This will hopefully get most of the corrosives off. Then let it dry. for days if necessary. lamps, fan, etc work.

In your case, I would not depend on your phone working for long. It might, but as other posters have said, it will eventually poop. Even if you rinse it in distilled water, the damage has probably already begun.

Sorry for your loss.

BTW- was there anything else in the toilet???

lol luckily no, I was just in the bathroom to take a shower.

you could try replacing it yourself

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26738
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16944

looks to be a cheap fix unless its the motherboard.

Originally Posted by GenBanks

Several days after the accident, I'm extremely happy to see that my iPhone can turn on again and send/receive messages.

However... the 'home' button at the front no longer works. Is this something that might come back on its own with further drying out maybe? There still a tiny bit of water in the screen so it might be around the button too.

If not, does anyone know what my options are? The water damage means that apple won't cover it anymore. Without the home button, it's very difficult to use the phone as if you go into your address book or something, you can't get back to the main menu without turning the phone off and on again.

Jailbreak it. There is an app for phones with damaged home buttons. The app lets you use context swipes to return home.