iPhone Repair
iPhone Water Damage Repair
Spilled, dropped, or submerged — the water is the easy part. Corrosion is what actually kills your iPhone, and it keeps spreading for days. We stop it at the board.
Your iPhone is rated water resistant, not waterproof — and those seals dry out and fail with age. The second liquid reaches the logic board, dissolved salts and minerals start eating copper traces and bridging components. That corrosion doesn't stop when the phone dries; it spreads quietly for days or weeks until something gives out. We're a board-level lab: we open the phone, clean it ultrasonically, reverse the corrosion, and repair the failed components most shops can't touch. And when your photos are what matter most, we recover the data first.
When you need a water damage repair
- Dead after a spill — won't turn on no matter what you try
- Worked fine for a day or two, then suddenly went black
- Won't charge, charges erratically, or gets hot while plugged in
- Lines, blotches, or discoloration creeping across the screen
- Speaker, microphone, or earpiece cut out after exposure
- Phone is dead and you need the photos and data off it
Honest by default
Every device starts with a $65 diagnostic and a written report — exact cost and timeline before we touch it. The fee applies toward your repair.
Water damage is the one repair nobody can quote blind — cost depends on how far the corrosion spread and how many power rails and components it took out. A light spill cleaned early is a very different job from a board with multiple failed rails. That's why every water job starts with our $65 written diagnostic, which applies toward your repair. We open it, find the real damage, and give you a firm number before any work begins.
Our water damage repair process
Data First, Always
Before anything else, we assess whether your data is at risk and prioritize getting it off. If the board is too far gone to fully restore, recovering your photos, messages, and contacts becomes the mission — we tell you straight which path we're on.
Full Teardown & Inspection
We open the iPhone, document where the liquid traveled, and inspect the logic board under a microscope. Corrosion hides under shields and chips, so we map the actual damage instead of guessing from the outside.
Ultrasonic Clean & De-Corrosion
The board goes through in-house ultrasonic cleaning — cavitation that lifts corrosion and residue from under BGA chips and tight component gaps a brush can't reach. We then chemically neutralize what's left so the spread stops for good.
Component-Level Repair
With the board clean, we find and replace the components that failed — power rails, charging circuitry, audio ICs, whatever the corrosion took out — by microsoldering. We don't mail this work out; we do it on-site, then test the phone fully before it goes back to you.
Does putting my iPhone in rice work?
No. Rice is a myth — it pulls almost no moisture from inside a sealed phone and performs no better than open air, while starch dust gets into your ports. Worse, it wastes the hours that matter while corrosion eats the board. Power the phone off, leave it off, and get it to a lab.
How fast do I need to act?
As fast as you can. Corrosion starts immediately and gets measurably worse by the hour. iPhones that reach a lab within a few hours have dramatically better recovery odds. Don't charge it, don't keep pressing buttons — power it off and bring it in or ship it tracked the same day.
Can you recover photos if my iPhone is completely dead?
Often, yes. If the phone won't power on, no app or software can reach the data — it takes board-level work. We clean and repair the board enough to power it and pull your photos, messages, and contacts. We prioritize this first, even on phones too damaged to keep using.
My iPhone is IP-rated — wasn't it supposed to survive this?
Water resistant isn't waterproof, and the rating isn't permanent. Apple itself says resistance degrades over time, and the factory seals dry out and fail with age or after a drop. That's also why liquid damage voids the warranty — Apple won't cover it, but we can fix it.
Is my water-damaged iPhone even worth fixing?
Sometimes the honest answer is no — if corrosion has destroyed too much of the board, repair stops making sense. When that happens we tell you, and we shift to getting your data off instead of charging you to chase a lost cause. You'll always get a straight call before we proceed.
What does it cost and is the repair warrantied?
We can't quote water damage sight unseen — it depends on corrosion severity and how many rails are affected. It starts with a $65 written diagnostic that applies toward the repair. OEM and OLED repairs carry a 1-year warranty; aftermarket parts carry 1 month.
Why WeFixed for Water Damage
Most shops can't actually repair water damage — they wipe the board, swap parts, and mail the hard work to someone like us. We've specialized in board-level and microsoldering repair for 11 years, with in-house ultrasonic cleaning and component-level repair under the microscope. That means we reverse corrosion at the source and recover your data first, instead of writing the phone off. We're an independent lab at 2722 Washington Blvd N in Clarendon, Arlington — walk in, or ship it to us tracked from anywhere in the 50 states. Honest assessments, real prices after we see the damage, and we never sell your data.