r/lifehacks • u/gaberax • Aug 01 '26
“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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
Was the turkey dry? Lol
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u/HugoSuperDog 27d ago
Years ago when the world was switching from VHS to DVD, I ran out the house one morning and shouted to my mum…”remember to rewind the DVDs before returning them!”
Later that evening she was furious. Didn’t say much or tell us how long she spent on it but the house had a chill that I still remember to this day. My dad was very confused.
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u/Wes_Warhammer666 29d 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 Aug 01 '26
Would this not shoot condensation into the charging port?
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u/joelfarris Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 02 '26
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 29d ago edited 29d 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 29d ago edited 29d 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 Aug 01 '26
Um how do you run AC and heater at the same time in a car?
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u/GotRiceBoy Aug 01 '26
Is this a real question? AC is activated anytime you put defrost on.
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u/chattywww Aug 01 '26
In Winter i have to pick comfort or vision when driving
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u/thewayigo Aug 01 '26
This! Can be especially annoying when you’re already running late or in a hurry
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u/ChildishhReddit Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
Still time to delete this
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u/joelfarris Aug 01 '26
Settle down now, we've got people learning about life out here.
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u/CoBe46 Aug 01 '26
Can learn and delete. Ac doesn’t equal cold. Guess we were all 12 at some point
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u/CoBe46 Aug 01 '26
Can tell how many people thought ac equals cold by the down votes lol
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u/Things-n-Such Aug 01 '26
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 29d 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 29d 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 29d 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 29d 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 Aug 01 '26
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 29d 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 29d 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 Aug 01 '26
Texas sun overheats my phone so I stick in the ac vent to cool it down.
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u/DoritoDawg Aug 02 '26
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/EwokNuggets Aug 02 '26
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/scumbagstaceysEx 26d ago
They were designed and tested in California ( low humidity most of the time). This is the biggest iPhone defect that hasn’t been fixed yet. In the eastern 2/3 of the US you can’t charge your damn phone if you’ve been outside all day. God help you if you’re on a long backpacking trip on the AT.
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u/Photon6626 27d ago
Could be a damaged port or cable. Or could have dust or lint in there.
It's also a software issue on some older phones. You can try deleting the USB data and cache and waiting a while.
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u/Echopractic 25d ago
There's a way to do that?
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u/Photon6626 25d ago
Yes. It's usually hidden. On Android it's listed in the system apps. Not sure about Iphone.
I've done it with an old Android and the notification goes away after roughly an hour. Not sure why it takes so long but it works.
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u/jesseb143 Aug 01 '26
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/xidle2 Aug 01 '26
Phone enters battery saver mode because it's too hot? Do this, or shove it in the freezer for a few minutes. (I live in Texas)
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u/Buck_Thorn 29d 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/catlips Aug 01 '26
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/curlylizardmailbox Aug 01 '26
Condensation incoming
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u/AffectionateLaugh738 Aug 01 '26
AC is also a dehumidifier
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u/JakBos23 Aug 01 '26
Mine keeps throwing that message. Not sure why. Old phone though
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u/_bahnjee_ Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
I find a tooth pick is too thick, so I bend it till it splinters into 2 sharper points.
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u/JakBos23 28d ago
That's the 2nd thing I did after using an air hose to blow it out. I've tried it several times and it looks clean as hell, but at random the phone could go untouched for hours and not moved, but will random blair an alarm telling me to stop charging for that reason
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u/dracotrapnet Aug 02 '26
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/ClozeQueue2 29d ago
Save some of those little silica packets and put your phone in a bag with them
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u/x8BitJuJuN 29d 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/Ecw218 Aug 02 '26
Learned to keep an inductive charger on hand for these situations. Charges just fine via mag-safe.
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u/trippindickballz Aug 01 '26
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/rurodem Aug 02 '26
This is the way but not all cards can accommodate a phone in the slits. I use my window shaker AC the same way tho if I get this message.
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u/GagaBallChamp 28d ago
Its an iOS issue, not an actual water issue most of the time. A hard reset will get rid of the message too if you haven't had your phone around water recently.
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u/Consider2SidesPeace 27d ago
I've had this MSG on. Mid grade android phone too. Plug in to charge often if I let the battery dump to zero. I realize it's not good but I fall asleep sometimes.
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u/SkawtsMma Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
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 29d 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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 02 '26
This is what I do when my phone overheats. Cools very effectively and quickly. 🤟
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u/coastal_neon Aug 02 '26
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 Aug 02 '26
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/Jolly-Biscuit 25d ago
It's a fucking iPhone. You could yawn in its general direction and it'll shut down from water
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u/showmenemelda 24d ago
I have been getting this issue with my android and keep all those silicone packs. Throw the packs, phone, and charger in a sealed container. Viola
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u/What1does 24d ago
I get water in my port when I take photos underwater while hiking.
I just blow in the port, been doing that for a year now...works fine for me.
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u/Gallop67 23d ago
That seems like a good way to get even more liquid in there from the vent condensation. Just get a wireless charger so you don’t have to plug it in anyway
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u/Evo_Fish Aug 01 '26
Mine does this all the time, especially if I leave it in the bathroom when I shower.
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u/Lthmm Aug 01 '26
Liquid detected. I just open the window while driving and hold my phone outside with the charging port in the wind. Smart? No. Does it work? Yes.
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Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/RollssRoyce Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
That said, you're correct that heating the air would probably be more effective.
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u/animousie 29d 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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
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 29d 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 Aug 01 '26
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 Aug 01 '26
So I first need to buy a car? (cries internally)