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Comment by froddd | Hacker News Reader

Nothing in the article says Apple will void warranty on an iPhone if water has been detected in the charging port (water damage is a different thing entirely). This concerns Mac computers, which are not sold as waterproof.

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I don't know, the first sentence says:

> Apple’s limited warranty doesn’t cover damage caused by liquids, even for water-resistant products like the iPhone, Apple Watch, and some AirPods models.

But the article is kind of all over the place. It then says Macs can now detect water in USB-C ports while having pictures in the article of iPhones showing messages that they detected liquids. They like to make the point that Macs will report this back home to the mothershop while iPhones do not? idk

Let's assume on Macs this is used to void warranty because like you said, they are not sold as waterproof. On iPhones it's to alert the user, so he can remove the water from the port - not concerning warranty?

The iPhone is full of water detector stickers inside and they do reject warranty claims if water got in. They say you must have done something you shouldn't have if that happens, like diving deep or something.

They will even refuse to install a new battery if you pay them.

> The iPhone is full of water detector stickers inside and they do reject warranty claims if water got in.

I once went in for an out of warranty replacement where I said it was water damage and my phone was in the washing machine. The guy still went back to check the stickers and said "It must really been wet because it triggered all of the stickers" I pointed out it literally had water pouring out of it when I got it out of the washing machine. Fun fact, it was still powered on and operating when it came out of the washing machine for a few minutes then it went dead.

Apple recently quoted me 2,300$ to fix just one broken keyboard key (it was M, if you were wondering), because according to them the water sensors were tripped and it's policy to replace the mtherboard if that happens. Which apparently costs more than buying another two working identical MacBook Pros.

The laptop has never gotten wet, and everything apart from the M key was working perfectly.

Your O key might be broken as well

What did you do in the end? Take it to a 3rd party repair shop?

Do you live in a hot, humid climate? I think a lot of those water alarm stickers show false positives if people move from a cold, air conditioned place to the humid outdoors. Condensation is unavoidable unless you wrap the laptop in fairly airtight bag every time you go out.

I am certain that many people have been denied warranty claims because they live in cold climates and visit indoor swimming pools regularly (coaches/lifeguards/spectators etc). The condensation in that situation is impressive.

I came here to point this out - sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.

Whenever there is a 'detection' method it's almost never foolproof and usually pretty junk.

For me at least, add it to the list of reasons why "never Apple", dirty broken process by another corrupt tech company.

It's okay, we did the same thing for warranty claims when I worked CS and Tech Support for one of the major phone carriers a decade ago. If the LDI was tripped we wouldn't replace it under warranty, and I'm sure there was more than one warranty replacement I rejected that was a false trip instead of actual liquid damage (a better indicator for this is corrosion on solder joints than those stupid stickers).

My fiance had a similar experience with actual liquid damage. I've forgotten the details, but she spilled a tiny bit of a drink into her M1 MBP keyboard, taking out most of the lower half of the keyboard. Apple wanted roughly the cost of a new M1 MBP to fix it. She ended up just getting a BT keyboard..

To fix this problem never buy a Mac again.

>They will even refuse to install a new battery if you pay them.

On a phone with triggered water detector stickers? Yeah. Common sense. Why the hell would I work a device that might be damaged already? If something goes wrong after the repair due to the pre-existing damage it becomes a finger pointing game. Fuck that

It’s far more likely your repair damaged it in this situation than any pre-existing water “damage”.

They check the stickers before starting any work. Unless you think they’re opening it under a water mister, those are accurate indicators of past damage.

I know this because I had an iPhone display start acting odd shortly after a battery replacement. They opened it up and reported water damage, but the pictures they take before every repair showed that the same indicators were not triggered two days before, and I ended up getting a replacement phone because the water seal was probably effective for 5 years prior to the battery replacement.

I don't understand why people let them get away with this inductive logic.

While it COULD mean you used the device out of spec, it could just as easily mean THEY MESSED UP when manufacturing your device.

On the whole, its more likely that your phone had a pinhole defect from the factory than you ran into 3+ feet of water and threw your phone in.

If they can't prove they did waterproof compliance testing my specific device before they shipped it, then they should be assumed to be responsible.

There at least used to be (years ago) many complaints of the sensors being inaccurately tripped in areas with high humidity, that never actually got liquid spilled on them. :(

> Apple’s limited warranty doesn’t cover damage caused by liquids, even for water-resistant products

If the product meets the advertised water resistance, damage caused by liquids must be caused by usage outside of that.

So, _if_ they can prove their product meets or exceeds those specs, I think it’s fine they won’t cover that under warranty, as long as local laws don’t force them to do more (in the EU, for newish devices, they’d have to proof that the device wasn’t already broken when sold, for example)

(7) at the bottom of https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/compare/

""" iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone SE (3rd generation), iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are splash, water and dust resistant and were tested under controlled laboratory conditions; iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have a rating of IP68 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 6 metres up to 30 minutes); iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max have a rating of IP68 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 4 metres up to 30 minutes); iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone 11 have a rating of IP68 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 2 metres up to 30 minutes); and iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone SE (2nd generation) and iPhone SE (3rd generation) have a rating of IP67 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 1 metre up to 30 minutes). Splash, water and dust resistance are not permanent conditions. Resistance might decrease as a result of normal wear. Do not attempt to charge a wet iPhone; refer to the user guide for cleaning and drying instructions.

Liquid damage not covered under warranty. """

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