Slash Lane
The confidential internal document, obtained by Boy Genius Report, shows that on Monday, Apple officially changed the way it screens iPods for liquid damage. The change would seem to benefit those who may have had the internal liquid contact indicator triggered inappropriately.
"When an Apple Retail Store or AppleCare Repair Center checks for liquid damage, if the Liquid Contact Indicator (LCI) inside the headphone jack has been activated, the iPod must be inspected for additional signs of liquid damage," the document reads.
The policy makes no mention of the iPhone, but it's possible that Apple has modified its stance for its smartphones as well. Apple's portable devices include LCIs to determine if a returned item was broken by being accidentally submerged in liquids.
In April, Apple was sued by a San Francisco, Calif., resident who said the company unfairly declines warranty coverage for its products based solely on triggered moisture sensors. That lawsuit attempted to prove that the sensors are unreliable, and do not necessarily serve as evidence of abuse.
Apple began equipping its notebooks and iPhones with LCIs in 2008. In iPhones and iPods, they are located at the bottom of the headphone jack. iPhones also have an indicator near the 30-pin dock connector.
"These indicators will be activated when they come in direct contact with water or liquid containing water," Apple's support documentation reads. "They are not designed to be triggered by humidity and temperature changes that are within the product's environmental requirements described by Apple."
Users can check if their LCI has been triggered by looking directly down into a headphone jack. Normally, the indicator is white or silver, but if it has been exposed to water it will turn red or pink.
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Andrew O'Hara
26 Comments
Glad to know it worked. Sad to know it took a lawsuit to do it.
I work for a cellular provider and liquid damage is something that I have very little sympathy for. I wouldn't let my electronic device that costs upward of $200 (heck $100 for that matter) near anything that could damage it. But most phones have the LDI behind the battery so it isn't left exposed. Putting it on the charging port or the headphone jack is just a bit unfair. Folks sweat or just may be in a humid place. Leaving those exposed to the air sets folks up for a fall.
Dropped my iPhone 3GS on water and I did the whole put in the rice bag, blow dry it for an half an hour or so and waited 2 days for recovery. After that I checked for the pink/light red mark inside the headphone jack and inside the 30-pin. Yup it was pink alright but after I plugged it in to charge it, it booted up and it still works like a charm. Except for wifi.. I get weaker signal and sometimes it disconnects on it's own.
I work for a cellular provider and liquid damage is something that I have very little sympathy for. I wouldn't let my electronic device that costs upward of $200 (heck $100 for that matter) near anything that could damage it...
Sad that technology has not evolved to be able to be resistant to typical customer behavior.
Curiously, I have had an iPhone get water splashed on it by the headphone and the LCI did not trigger. Got it replaced a year later due to an iOS 4.1 update that killed WiFi and Bluetooth (as happens to many) without a word from the Genius Bar about water damage.
Glad to know it worked. Sad to know it took a lawsuit to do it.
Your mistaken if you think the lawsuit had any affect, or that this change in policy is actually to do with giving customers the benefit of the doubt on the water sensors.
All it says is that instead of assuming that the item is water damaged inside when the headphone jack sensor has been triggered, that they have to open it up and confirm it's the case. In other words it's telling the Apple employees to check even closer, than before, to make sure the facts are what they say they are.
Despite the spin you see around the web this morning on this topic Apple hasn't admitted (nor is there any evidence so far) that the sensors are triggered by normal humidity as opposed to water damage. There is also no indication from this that the woman with the lawsuit has "won" or anything of the sort. She's arguing a very subjective case and those usually lose in court.
What people forget is that "normal humidity" (which is supposed to be okay and not set off the sensor), is not the same as water droplets in the air. If you take the iPhone in the bathroom for instance while you have a shower, the "humid air" in the bathroom actually qualifies as complete water immersion by the standards used. In terms of what it does to the electronics, it's practically the same as dropping it in the toilet.
Until I see one piece of actual evidence, I'm going to go with Apple's position that "normal humidity" doesn't actually set off the sensors. So far there is nothing to indicate Apple is wrong on this at all.