How to Restore an iPhone After Water Damage

If your iPhone gets wet, the most important thing you can do is turn it off and keep it off until the water has completely evaporated. Once you dry it out, you can connect it to your computer and restore the iPhone Operating System, which should repair any software hiccups that resulted from the water damage. If the physical hardware is damaged, however, you will not be able to repair it with a software restoration.

Turn off the phone by holding down the Sleep/Wake button until the power bar appears, then sliding the red button across the power bar.

Put the iPhone in a bag of rice or in an oven that has been heated to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and then turned off. Leave it for at least 24 hours.

Turn the phone on. If it will not turn on, leave it for another 24 hours. If it appears to be working, you do not need to restore it. If it is malfunctioning or will not allow you to access the main screen, it needs to be restored.

Connect your iPhone to your computer. Open iTunes if it does not open automatically.

Click your iPhone's name in the left column of the iTunes window.

Click "Restore" in the center of the iTunes window. A dialog box appears. Choose "Back Up," and then click restore in the next box.

Choose to set up the iPhone from a backup or as a new phone when the restore has finished.