How to Perform iPhone 6/6s Data Recovery after Water Damage

Is your iPhone 6/6s dropped to water unfortunately? Get to know what to do if your iPhone is water damaged and how to fix and recover your iPhone 6 data after water damage.

By @Lora Last Updated November 4, 2024

My iPhone 6 got water damage and won’t turn on

"Hi, I was on vacation and I accidentally dropped my iPhone 6 into the river and now it won't turn on. I have hundreds of photos inside. Is there any solution that can make the phone turn on and I'll be able to back up the data off it?"

Have you ever accidentally dropped your iPhone in the sink or, worse, the toilet? What method did you use to solve it? Or you haven't figured out how to restore data from a water-damaged iPhone yet!

Unfortunately, we get a lot of situations like these. If the most important is iPhone 6 data recovery after water damage, we believe the first step should be to analyze the situation as calmly as possible and then take action to solve this problem and recover lost iPhone data if your iPhone is broken, 

How do you know if iPhone 6/6s has water damage?

How to know if iPhone 6 has water damage? Here are some signs of water damage on the iPhone. Liquid Contact Indicators (LCIs) are visible from the exterior of the iPhone and most iPod devices. When the iPhone water damage indicator comes into touch with water or a liquid containing water, it will activate.

The indicator is typically white or silver in appearance, but when it comes into contact with water or a liquid containing water, it turns bright red.

You could check your iphone 6 water damage indicator located in the following picture. If it doesn’t turn red, it means iPhone screen water damage, instead of dead iPhone.

Few things are required to follow to stop further damage to iPhone

  • Stop pressing any buttons on iPhone because it may make the water get inside.
  • Avoid shaking your iPhone from water dipping.
  • Turn off your iPhone after water damage to protect the electrical connection from the short circuit.
  • Do not use a hair dryer to make your iPhone dry.

What to do if your iPhone 6/6s is water damaged?

Don't panic if your iPhone falls into water or a toilet and displays a blank screen. Here are some tips you could try to fix water-damaged iPhone 6/6s and make it turn on again. If not, you can try methods to recover data from water damaged iPhone. 

You need to turn off your iPhone immediately and then remove the SIM card when iPhone is water damaged.

Step 1. Dry out your iPhone 6/6s

How to dry out a wet iPhone 6S? First, expose the iPhone to sunshine to dry it as much as possible. Next, remove as much internal water as possible.

You could place it in a large bowl filled with uncooked rice, cover it fully, and let it for 48 hours or so to remove water from the iPhone's inside. Alternatively, you could place the water-damaged iPhone into a sealed bag with desiccant. The ports may be contaminated by dust or even entire grains. So, carefully place the iPhone in the rice.

Step 2. Plug your iPhone 6/6s in for a charge

Once all of the liquid has been removed from the iPhone, turn on your iPhone and then charge it. Your iPhone is dead or did not turn on because it does not have enough energy to turn on. Charge your smartphone first.

Step 3. Restart or force restart your iPhone 6/6s

After charge your iPhone for a while, you could try press the Sleep/Wake button to restart your iPhone. If it doesn’t work, press the Sleep/Wake button and Home button simultaneously until the Apple logo appears and then release the two buttons to force restart your iPhone 6/6s. If you couldn’t force restart your iPhone, you need to contact Apple Support.

Step 4. Connect your iPhone 6/6s to iTunes

If your iPhone 6/6s gets stuck at the Apple logo and notes "attempting data recovery", you could put your iPhone into Recovery Mode manually by force restarting your iPhone but don't release the buttons when you see the Apple logo, wait until the “Connect to iTunes” screen appears.

And then you connect your iPhone to the latest iTunes on your computer. There will be a pop-up message to show the options to Restore or Update. Select “Update”.

How to recover data from water damaged iPhone 6/6s

Can data be recovered after water damage? Yes, there is still hope even if the iPhone is completely dead. If you've exhausted all possibilities and believe your iPhone is beyond repair, it's not too late to restore data from iPhone that won't turn on. You could still attempt to restore your data from previous iTunes or iCloud backups.

Recover data from iTunes/iCloud backups

This method needs another iPhone to recover iOS data via iTunes or iCloud backups, without the new device, you could see method 2. You need to have iTunes or iCloud backups before taking the following methods to recover data from water-damaged iPhone 6/6s. And iTunes or iCloud backups will cover the iPhone existing data.

Steps to recover data from iTunes backups

Step 1. Launch the latest iTunes and connect your other iPhone to the computer that you have backed the water-damaged iPhone up before.

Step 2. Click on your device icon and choose “Summary”.

Step 3. Click “Restore Backup...” under the Backups menu.

Step 4. Select the water damaged iPhone name backup from the backup list and start the restore process.

Recover data from iPhone with iCloud backup

Sign in to your iCloud account and restore the saved backup file to restore your iPhone data from iCloud backup. However, the process erases all of your iPhone's existing data. If your iPhone is totally disabled, you could try to reset another iPhone to recover data from iCloud backup. This method is only suitable for iPhone with available iCloud backup.

Steps to recover iPhone data via iCloud backup

Step 1. Open Setting on another iPhone.

Step 2. Clear out all existing data on the iPhone for reset. Go to “General” > “Reset” > “Erase All Contents and Settings”.

Step 3. When comes to APPs & Data screen. Tap “Restore from iCloud Backup”. Sign in to your iCloud account and select the backup files and wait for the restore process to complete.

Conclusion

Whatever difficulty or difficulties you have encountered with your iPhone, there is a solution for iPhone data recovery. If your iPhone 6/6s gets water damage, simply follow the procedures outlined in this article. If you accidentally deleted or lost iPhone data and you don't have available backup files, MyRecover for iOS is recommended for you to restore iOS data easily and quickly.

However, the best way to avoid iPhone data loss is to make a regular backup via iTunes or iCloud. Alternatively, a freeware-AOMEI FoneBackup is another replaceable backup tool for iPhone to back up and restore your iPhone vital data.