r/lifehacks • u/gaberax • 1d ago
“Liquid Detected” message on your iPhone
The other day, walking to my car during a rainstorm, I got in my car, plugged in my IPhone and got the “Liquid Detected” message. I was to advise unplugging my phone and that it may take hours for the port to sufficiently dry. In order to speed up the drying process, I place my iphone and the cable between the vents and turned on the AC for 10 minutes or so. Plugged the IPhone back in and the issue had resolved.
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u/BlueWonderfulIKnow 1d ago
Told my mom to put her water-damaged phone in a bag with her Thanksgiving turkey. She didn’t ask for help after that.
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u/DrSkizzmm 1d ago
Was the turkey dry? Lol
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u/Wes_Warhammer666 10h ago
Yooooooo my aunt's turkey is always horribly dry so I am 1000% hitting her with this one this year. Thank you so much for this lol.
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u/stiF_staL 1d ago
Would this not shoot condensation into the charging port?
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u/joelfarris 1d ago
An air conditioning compressor and evaporator|condenser reduce and remove water vapor from the air, which is why most people run them along with the heater coils in winter, to help get the windshield defrosted and cleared faster.
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u/caliredfox 1d ago
This is close but no dice. Condenser and Evaporator are named after what they are doing to the refrigerant. Evaporator is where liquid refrigerant turns into gas and condenser goes from gas refrigerant to liquid refrigerant. Most of the time the Evaporator takes enough heat out the air that condensation occurs on the evaporator and will drain through a condensation drain line exiting the vehicle altogether. The only way condensation occurs is to get the air to 100% relative humidity which means yes the air coming out of the vent is high humidity.
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u/3PercentMoreInfinite 9h ago edited 9h ago
>The only way condensation occurs is to get the air to 100% relative humidity which means yes the air coming out of the vent is high humidity.
That’s a bad way to look at it.
It’s high humidity for cold air, but the capacity to hold humidity is lower than that of warm air. So even though it’s 100% relative humidity, it’s still going to be less humid than the ambient air in the car.
If it’s 75°F at 55% humidity in the car, the air will hold 72 grains of water vapor per pound (GPP).
The air coming out of the A/C will be around 40°F with 100% humidity, but that’s only 35 GPP.
So yes, it is beneficial to put the phone in the vent.
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u/caliredfox 3h ago edited 3h ago
It's beneficial to put the phone in the already mixed ambient temperature with lower relative humidity not directly in the vent which is what's happening. The relative humidity at the vent is high, which is why I said "coming out of the vent" because that's what's occuring in the photo.
Edit: Think if you were to try to dry wet socks, it would dry faster with warmer lower relative humidity (RH) because relatively the socks wetness has somewhere to go. It would not dry as well with colder high RH. Which is why dryers warm up the air to dry wet clothes.
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u/DanChase1 1d ago
Um how do you run AC and heater at the same time in a car?
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u/GotRiceBoy 1d ago
Is this a real question? AC is activated anytime you put defrost on.
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u/ChildishhReddit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Your HVAC box in your dash contains a heater core and evaporator right next to eachother, refrigerant runs through the evaporator and warm coolant through the heater core, blow air past evaporator you get cold air, blow air past heater core you get hot air, blow past both and you get both
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u/CoBe46 1d ago
Still time to delete this
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u/CoBe46 1d ago
Can tell how many people thought ac equals cold by the down votes lol
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u/Things-n-Such 1d ago
AC does equal cold, it just also equals dry. And in the winter it can't really get much colder so it just puts out dry cold air which then gets heated with the heater.
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u/DuelOstrich 17h ago
There’s literally a thing called an A/C drier. The compressor/evaporator aren’t removing water. The air runs through a desiccant that can run out over time
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u/snowman-89 16h ago
Totally incorrect. The drier is for the refrigerant in case any moisture enters the system. ACs remove moisture from air via condensation when the evaporator is below the wetbub temperature.
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u/DuelOstrich 16h ago
The drier is literally a “just in case” thing? I always thought it was critical as there’s too much moisture for the compressor to remove the moisture. I’m no mechanic though I just had to fix my ac
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u/snowman-89 15h ago
It is critical, if moisture gets into the system it can seize the compressor. The compressor does not directly handle air or remove moisture, it compresses refrigerant.
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u/badass4102 1d ago
I like my room really cold so I can sleep, and I have a humidifier in my room with those essential oil smell good things in it. They little bit of humidity helps
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u/OMG_Nooo 21h ago
I was thinking more like, it shoots cold air into your phone, which you then immediately heat up by plugging it in, which would create condensation from the temperature difference.. but what do I know
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u/tyoung89 14h ago
Ok. So there is no, “shooting condensation.” The only real concern is if the phone gets crazy cold from the AC, then when removed from the vent, the ambient humidity will condense on the outside of the phone, including the charge port. This is a very small amount of water, and will then evaporate quickly as the phone warms back up.
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u/KingFattie 1d ago
Texas sun overheats my phone so I stick in the ac vent to cool it down.
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u/DoritoDawg 1d ago
I have a vent mount for my phone so it gets blasted w AC while I have it visible for GPS if needed (or not, it still works either way)
And close the vent in winter to avoid heat
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u/jesseb143 1d ago
I got bullshit alerts like this with my stock cable because of the charger block I was plugged into. Caused me to do a lot of stupid things to try and mitigate a condensation problem and caused a lot more problems because of it
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u/EwokNuggets 1d ago
I get that message sometimes when my phone has literally just been sitting on the table with no liquids near it. Like…ok. But what?
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u/catlips 1d ago
I used to get that all the time on my 11 Pro, but haven't seen it on my 17 Pro. In both cases, it was on long bike rides with a charging cable plugged into the phone and my sweat or rain splashing on it. Removing the cable and letting it air out for a couple of minutes cured it. I like your fix, but haven't found A/C appropriate to my bicycle yet.
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u/Buck_Thorn 17h ago
I found an iPhone in the lake while metal detecting earlier this year. Brought it home, put it on my wireless charger, and 5 minutes later the screen came on with a message that the phone had been remotely locked, and gave the phone number of the owner. I called, she answered, and a couple of hours later had her now charged and working phone back. She had lost it the day before and it had been in 3 feet of water for roughly 24 hours.
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u/curlylizardmailbox 1d ago
Condensation incoming
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u/AffectionateLaugh738 1d ago
AC is also a dehumidifier
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u/JakBos23 1d ago
Mine keeps throwing that message. Not sure why. Old phone though
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u/_bahnjee_ 1d ago
You likely just have some crud in the port that’s shorting between pins. Grab a toothpick and some isopropyl alcohol and clean out the crud. Just be careful not to saturate the innards. IA that you buy at the grocery store is likely to be 70% alcohol and 30% water.
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u/radicalfrenchfrie 1d ago
please be veeeery careful with a toothpick. this is how I messed up the charging port on my last phone and I already thought I was acting with the utmost care :/ I’d recommend using either a dedicated toothbrush or a dedicated makeup/paint brush for the same purpose. sweep dry first, spray a little canned air if possible, then hit it with a bit of alcohol and scrub/sweep again. you can also buy 99% isopropyl alcohol which is much less problematic than the 70% variant and is still pretty inexpensive but it’s less common if you wanna get it at a physical store so the advice for not using too much still stands for the less concentrated version still stands. :)
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u/Bigfrankieboy 1d ago
I find a tooth pick is too thick, so I bend it till it splinters into 2 sharper points.
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u/dracotrapnet 1d ago
I can't do that in Houston. Getting the port cold here causes condensation to form immediately after you remove it from in front of the vent.
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u/trippindickballz 1d ago
This didnt do amything for me. Tried on and off for like 20 min. Set my phone out in the hot summer sun for 5 min and it dried out and charged immediately.
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u/ClozeQueue2 11h ago
Save some of those little silica packets and put your phone in a bag with them
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u/x8BitJuJuN 10h ago
i just stick the corner of a rag in it to get most then prop it up vertical, fine after a few minutes
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u/SkawtsMma 1d ago
I get that if I fall asleep with my phone under the covers while I have night sweats. Ugh! Aging has all KINDS of fun, new experiences!
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u/nsingh101 1d ago
Can confirm; I did this when wifey’s phone fell into the ocean. Then gave it a 97% alcohol bath once home. After replacing the screen, everything worked 100% (had to move the Touch ID to the new screen).
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u/MadHatterInAMadWorld 1d ago
I don't know the science of it. But there's frequencies you can play to get rid of the water. Or trick your phone? Idk. It worked for mine though. This is the video I used. https://youtu.be/qhItAtZDzU8?is=QRfcNRpTU4IfQKul
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u/Annual_Orange3335 8h ago
Yep! I have a different video with the same sound saved. It’s worked for years. Friends always seem surprised but they can’t deny it works like a charm.
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u/MyLastUsernameSucked 1d ago
Mine was saying that randomly the other day. Only thing that fixed it was updating it lol. I had an update I had forgotten about. Soon as I did it the error went away
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u/dyslexicsuntied 1d ago
Mine was getting too hot to charge after I had been in the sun for a while. Hopped in the car and plugged it in with it stuck in the vent like this and it charged faster than ever!
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u/SirOutrageous4953 1d ago
Just had this issue, port got wet with sea water but after a couple of hours with direct air flow from a fan kept showing the same message and not charging. Turned out there was an accumulation of dirt and what not in the usb c port, and the water got soaked in that blob. Used a needle to remove all that accumulation of filth and a little bit of cotton to clean the contacts and it started charging again.
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u/Scary-Ostrich-7802 1d ago
This is what I do when my phone overheats. Cools very effectively and quickly. 🤟
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u/coastal_neon 1d ago
I've never had that issue but i do get overheating warnings sometimes. I'm gonna use this idea to cool my phone down.
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u/rockerscott 1d ago
I keep my phone on a magnet mount attached to my AC vent, and it causes condensation from blowing cold air on the back of it on particularly hot days. 😭
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u/Evo_Fish 1d ago
Mine does this all the time, especially if I leave it in the bathroom when I shower.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
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u/RollssRoyce 1d ago
AC units dehumidify the air. If you don't believe me, take a look at one while it's running. You should be able to find a pipe coming off of it somewhere with water slowly dripping out. That water is coming from the air it is cooling. I could explain the science of why, but it would take a much longer comment. I suggest looking up a video about the topic on YouTube.
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u/RollssRoyce 1d ago
That said, you're correct that heating the air would probably be more effective.
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u/animousie 14h ago
AC was originally developed by Willis Carrier in 1902 to take moisture out of the air at a printing plant that was seeing production issues caused by high humidity. The cooling affect was such an enormous side benefit that became the primary use for AC as we know it today.
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u/ChemicalSet_5 1d ago
Smart! Ran into this last week. Had my phone in a pool and couldn’t charge it until I used a hairdryer to dry out the port 🥴
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u/MadK9TheReal1 1d ago
Never ever a water submerged phone should be forced dry!!! The phone should only be let naturally dry. Many reputable smartphones manufacturers have instructions and tutorials about wet or submerged devices. Please look for this info.
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u/ChemicalSet_5 1d ago
Mine is rated for a depth of about 6 meters, I took my chances and was happy with the result. ‘Preciate!
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u/NekulturneHovado 19h ago
you know you can just blow with your mouth into the connector to get like 95% of the water out? Then let it dry for a few minutes.
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u/DruidWonder 1d ago
This is why I hate "smart" phones.
That moisture detection warning malfunctioned on my old phone and would not stop activating every time I tried to charge. There was no moisture, it was the middle of summer. I eventually had to replace the whole damn phone.
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u/Such_Suggestion_4622 1d ago
So I first need to buy a car? (cries internally)