Stephen Silver
Thanks to the magic of waterproof cases, an iPhone 7 lost overboard during a vacation not only got a text message alerting a diver to its location, but kept 84 percent battery life through the ordeal.
A scuba diver this week was stunned to make a discovery on a dive off the coast of Dorset, England- a lost iPhone that lit up when a text came through.
According to The Daily Mirror,, and assorted other reports, diver Cerys Hearsey noticed something lighting up on the seabed roughly 30 feet down from the water. It was an iPhone, in a waterproof case receiving a text message.
Upon returning to the surface with her find, Hearsey scrolled through the contacts. The owner lives in Canada, but lost the phone on a kayaking expedition.
The cousin of the owner was determined to be Rob Smith, a UK resident. Hearsey returned it to Smith, and the iPhone is in the process of being returned to the owner through international mail.
The cousin, who thought the phone was lost for good after the two-day dunk not only is getting it back, but as a bonus got to be part of an international news story.
Scuba diver found tourist's lost iPhone at the bottom of the sea... when it lit up https://t.co/X8bqevSPq2
— The Sun (@TheSun) July 12, 2018
The phone is an iPhone 7, according to the Sun. While the make and model of the waterproof case is unknown, it certainly did its job in this instance. AppleInsider suggests that the case manufacturer contact Smith, as it appears the next ad copy for the case is already written.
Apple has reportedly worked on making iPhones and other devices that are themselves waterproof, with a patent approved last month for "Sealed accessories for electronic devices."
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14 Comments
Some of the electronics today are amazingly water resistant. We just had a local story where a diver discovered a submerged GoPro in the Gulf of Mexico. Brought it to the surface and charged it to find it still worked after 4 years under saltwater!
Upon seeing it had video of someone's wedding he made it a mission to find the original owner by posting an image from it on social media, and was successful.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-sarasota-manatee/venice/man-finds-gopro-in-gulf-of-mexico-hopes-to-reunite-it-with-owner-using-photo-taken-4-years-ago
I just don't see how it's possible that the iPhone could pick up a usable cellular signal at 30 below the surface in sea water. The signal attenuation at high frequencies like GSM in salt water is significant. For the phone to talk back to the tower would require a lot more power than the battery life indicated. I suspect that the notification was from something other than a recent message.
This highly technical paper agrees with what I know (and I'm a EE):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4934316/
The most magical aspect of this story is the ability of a cellular signal to penetrate 30 feet of saltwater.
It is not possible for the phone to retain a signal 30 feet underwater. I've taken my iPhone in a waterproof case and it *always* loses signal when I get no more than 3 feet underwater. Heck, I lose signal taking pictures in a swimming pool.
The DoD has spent millions of dollars coming up with methods to communicate with submarines; they still have to poke an aerial above the waves to receive radio and/or satellite signals, even in this day and age. (most communications methods for submarines do not use radio.)
in reality, any notification (from a calendar alert, a reminder, or something internal to the phone) could have lit up the display. It would not have to be a text message or other kind of communication.
I'm actually surprised after two days of being immersed that the battery hadn't gone dead. The radios in the phone should have been *screaming* at full power trying to get signal, which tends to kill your battery. Try forgetting to enable airplane mode next time you fly-- your battery gets immolated pretty quickly.
I wonder if the boat that the diver was on, maybe had some sort of cellular relay equipment on it, or something. Lit up a signal (and thereby lit up the phone w/ an incoming)