Show of hands: who has dropped their cell phone into the pool? How about the toilet? Well, if you haven’t, you probably will. I recently joined the ranks of people who have dropped their phone into the toilet. It was so careless and stupid that I don’t even want to get into the details, but I am sorry for accusing my wife of contributing to the incident. Hopefully a public apology will finally satisfy her! The good news is, if you own an iPhone, it will float. The bad news is, they’re not really a fan of water. Thanks to the good people at Verizon, I had my new iPhone 7 the next day. Apple claims that the iPhone 7 is waterproof, but I really don’t feel like testing that out. Fortunately for me, before I heard that unmistakable splash, I had taken steps to ensure that such a faux pas wouldn’t be catastrophic, so this was more of a nuisance than anything. Would your story end the same way, or would you lose everything? Today, we’ll review the steps that you should take before your iPhone feels like taking a dip.
Technology is great and all, but things do go wrong. Nothing is safe from damage, self-inflicted, or otherwise. Because of this, anything that is important to you should be backed up for safekeeping. I can’t stress this enough: if anything is irreplaceable, don’t trust technology to keep it for you. In the Apple world, iTunes is the method of choice for backing up and restoring your device. In May, we covered how to back up your current iPhone, and restore that phone’s information onto a new iPhone. Read “Aye, Aye, Aye It’s Time for a New iPhone” for step-by-step instructions so if you do need to quickly get a new phone up and running, you’ll be able to do it in around fifteen minutes.
While iTunes will completely back up your current phone, it’s probably not a bad idea to make sure your photos and videos are safely tucked away onto your computer’s hard drive…and maybe a flash drive or external hard drive to boot, just in case. I know that a lot of people depend on iCloud to save their photos and videos, but just as many people have run out of storage space and their photos aren’t being backed up…whether they realize this or not. It’s always a good idea to take matters into your own hands and not rely on others, so for those of you who want to be absolutely certain that nothing will be lost, I refer you to “The Pics are In” for everything you need to know about transferring photos and videos to a Windows computer.
Last but definitely not least, make sure you have all of your passwords at the ready. You’ll need your Apple ID which consists of the e-mail address on file with Apple, and the password associated with it. I don’t have to tell you that without this information, your iPhone is just an expensive paperweight. You may also need passwords for your e-mail account(s), any social media accounts you may have, and the network name and password for any wireless networks you’ll be connecting to. If your phone has taken a plunge like mine did and won’t turn on, you may be faced with one last hurdle. For some reason, Apple in their infinite wisdom decided that before allowing you to sign into your new phone with your Apple ID, you first need to approve the sign in with your old phone. If you’re faced with that situation, you’ll be asked to enter the password for your Apple ID. After submitting the password, a message will come back saying that verification has failed (obviously). You’re then given three options: “Resend”, “Send to your phone number”, or “Cancel”. In the event that your old phone is out of commission, you’ll need to choose the second option and have a verification code sent to your phone number. You’ll receive the code via a text message. Simply insert the given six digit code when prompted, and you’re good to go.
Nothing makes your heart skip a beat like dropping your cell phone into a body of water. In an instant, you can lose everything. When this happens, the choice is yours: will you “Sink or Swim”? With proper preparation, you can minimize the effect so that it’s merely a ripple in the water.