UPDATE: THERE IS AN UPDATE AND SUMMARY TO THIS POST POSTED ON EXAMINER.COM. Please check there for all the follow-ups in one place.
About a month ago, I started having the infamous “headphone jack” issue on my iPhone. My iPhone will not correctly switch back to handset mode when I unplug my earphones, or even worse, if I am using the handset, it will switch to headphone mode in the middle of a call and I won’t be able to hear anything anymore. Or is just sits on the table minding it’s own business and decides to switch.
When I first started having the issue, I jumped on Google and saw that hundreds, if not thousands of other iPhone users were having the same issue. Some said to just plug the headphones in and out a few times, but that only works temporarily. Others said to get the debris out using canned air. I did that too. Another said to use a Q-tip and a dab of rubbing alcohol to clean in there really good. I tried it all. The issue still persists. Several times a day my phone will decide on it’s own “Hey, I think I’ll switch to headphone mode for a while!”.
So, finally I called Apple Corporate Support since my phone was purchased through work. I describe the problem to them. They agreed that it sounded like my phone was faulty and made an appointment for me to visit the Apple Store in my area at 6:30 that evening. It is a bit of a drive from me, so it wasn’t like I could just stop by on the way home. I went in, gave my phone to the rep, explained the issue, etc. He used a tool to remove the SIM card, looked in the headphone jack and SIM slot really good with a flash light, connected it to his computer and ran some sort of diagnostics, then said “well I am going to swap this out for you no problem, let me just go in the back for a minute.” He came back a couple of minutes later, with his flashlight and says “Umm Ma’am, do you see this red strip under the connector here?” I said “yeah, what is that?” He says “That is a moisture sensor. This phone has been exposed to moisture.” I stupidly said “Umm, ok… so what now?” He said “That voids the warranty and there is nothing that we can do for you. If you want to get a new phone you will have to buy one for $399.” Now, I got this phone last July through my job. I calmly explained that the phone has not been wet, etc. but there was nothing he could do for me. I left. I left pretty calmly because I *DID* get this phone through work. It was not my $$ that I was losing. And the phone does still work, I just have to use my earphones if I want to have a conversation. Now, if I would have purchased this phone myself I would probably still be at the store raising hell.
So I jump back on Google and again I see that numerous other iPhone owners have had this happen to them. Apparently there are 4 sensors in the phone. One in the headphone jack, one under the USB connector slot, and 2 inside the phone. Who is the genius that put moisture sensors on those 2 outside spots??? I know mostly all cellphones have them INSIDE so that if someone drops their phone in the toilet they don’t try to get over by taking it in and saying that it does not work. But on the outside??
What this means for us iPhone users is:
1. Even though one of the greatest functions of the phone is that it’s an MP3 player, don’t dare wear your iPhone at the gym because you might sweat on it! Just imagine that? You are working out, the phone is safely tucked into your pocket or arm strap, but you don’t notice that little drip of sweat traveling down the earphone cord and into the slot. Warranty void!
2. Waiting on an important call but need to shower? Don’t dare leave your iPhone on the counter and get the bathroom too steamy. Condensation might form on the phone and bingo, moisture sensor activated. Warranty void!
3. Don’t get caught in the rain (or even a drizzle) with your phone in your pocket unless you are sure it’s in a waterproof bag. Because you cannot keep track of where every raindrop goes. One might make it’s way into your pocket and turn that indicator red. Warranty void!
4. This one is a true story. I was telling my boss about my dilemma and he said “Yep. I know all about the moisture sensor. My daughter is on her 2nd iPhone. The first one she dropped in the toilet so of course there was no argument for warranty there. But, she bought a new one, and her dog licked it. Now the warranty is void.” LOL!!!!!
I have no clue what happened to my own phone. I have had it in the bathroom while showering though, so I suspect that one. Or did he go in the back and put a drop of water on it? HA!
There are several other scenarios I could come up with. I just really cannot believe that they designed it that way. But you know what? I got a $100 Apple coupon out of it. But nope, it cannot be used towards the purchase of a new phone (or an Apple TV) apparently. AND it cannot be used in the education store, so I cannot use it through my job.
Lastly, the very nice rep that I spoke to did tell me that things will definitely get better. He made big hints at hardware changes, etc. coming soon when I said that I will probably want the newer iPhone this summer anyway. And it sounds like they made changes in the sensors as well.
Now I am out to warn all poor unsuspecting iPhone users: WATCH OUT FOR THOSE SENSORS!!
| LusterForever.com – Cool silver charms and leather bracelets design! Totally awesome sterling silver bracelets. |
Check out:
Facebook comments:
Powered by Facebook Comments
I know this is quite an old post, however its worth adding to this post because these issues/problems haven’t go away with the new iPhone 4 and more than likely the iPhone 5.
I experienced similar problems with my hands free function, in my case it was fluff. I went to the Apple store, they new straight away which suggested that this was an all to common occurrence.
To my surprise there was no product in the store to prevent it happening again, I didn’t want to buy a $40 phone cover with a headphone jack cover built in.
So I invented a really cool product that protects and personalises your mobile device. Its called the iCatchi Plug.
I also invented a headphone cable clip to keep your plug secure when your making hands free calls or listening to music.
If you want an in-expensive solution to protect your phone please check out icatchi.com.
AAPL is taking the ridiculous position my ipod touch warranty is invalid due to what they allege is water damage -even though this is in a completely different location on the unit (the charging connector) which they admit has no possible impact on the defective headphone jack. There was never any water damage to the ipod and the headphone jack issue is a well known problem affecting many users. Why do consumers put up with this nonsense
I know a place that can fix any iphone problem…
http://gomdwireless.com/
[...] Moisture Sensor – This is of course because of my post last year that drew a lot of attention. Search for that and again, my site is #1. That one post [...]
@JStoneCGE Hope so! http://bit.ly/QfSCg #iPhone
[...] Google Wave invite giveawaytammystwocents on What would you do with an LG Chocolate Touch?hotkim on iPhone Moisture sensor: I am pretty peeved at Apple right now.LittleTechGirl on Spotlight on Kristopher: Little People – Big [...]
i found a great place that will repair water damaged or any other type of damage to the iPhone
they work with non warranty repairs
http://www.BrokeMyiPhone.com
I faced the same issue today with my ipod touch. The apple’s so called “Genius” rep informed me that the warranty is void due to moisture sensor being tripped in the headphone jack even though my itouch was never exposed to water or any kind of liquid. They showed me the red dot in the headphone jack.
I am quite frustrated with this. I would never think of buying any more apple product coz i have never ever exposed it to water.
I faced the same issue today with my ipod touch. The apple’s so called “Genius” rep informed me that the warranty is void due to moisture sensor being tripped in the headphone jack even though my itouch was never exposed to water or any kind of liquid. They showed me the red dot in the headphone jack.
I am quite frustrated with this. I would never think of buying any more apple product coz i have never ever exposed it to water.
I am having the same “warranty void” issue with Apple store. My screen flickers and the whole screen shakes continously. I have 3G phone which is 9 months old. I live in NY and have kept good care of my iphone. Don’t know how the USB connector sensor turned pink/red.
Now they are asking me $199 to get a replacement phone. I am not sure whether they will give me 3GS phone, if I decide to go that route.
I am really disappointed the way things have been handled by Apple store. I will call AT&T and see if they can go anything about it. Also I will try to get in touch with Apple’s Customer Relations rep. to see if they can understand the problem.
One thing is for sure – The way all these technicians talk and quickly check these sensors (once you walk in the store) with an intention to throw you out saying – “Your Warranty just voided because of liquid contact” ; already know this generic problem with the design of this hyped Smartphone.
I am really annoyed and hurt! I didn’t expect this from AAPL.
I am having the same “warranty void” issue with Apple store. My screen flickers and the whole screen shakes continously. I have 3G phone which is 9 months old. I live in NY and have kept good care of my iphone. Don’t know how the USB connector sensor turned pink/red.
Now they are asking me $199 to get a replacement phone. I am not sure whether they will give me 3GS phone, if I decide to go that route.
I am really disappointed the way things have been handled by Apple store. I will call AT&T and see if they can go anything about it. Also I will try to get in touch with Apple’s Customer Relations rep. to see if they can understand the problem.
One thing is for sure – The way all these technicians talk and quickly check these sensors (once you walk in the store) with an intention to throw you out saying – “Your Warranty just voided because of liquid contact” ; already know this generic problem with the design of this hyped Smartphone.
I am really annoyed and hurt! I didn’t expect this from AAPL.
I’m modifying one of my paragraphs from my first post on 15Oct2009.
From
“The sensors provide too many “false positives” to be reliable, and as a scientist from a major corporation I can state that Apple engineers (and almost certainly the exectives) MUST know this!”
To
“The sensors apparently provide too many warranty violation ‘false positives’ to be reliable with respect to determining an act of warranty violation by the customer in normal and expected use. If the iPhone cannot stand up to environmental exposures found in normal and expected use (e.g. talking on the phone as you walk into a warm, humid building from the cold outdoors), then I would question its design. If the ‘warranty violation’ sensors are activated under normal and expected use conditions then that is inappropriate and should be remedied. If this is what is going on then as a scientist from a major corporation I can state that Apple engineers (and almost certainly the exectives) must know this by now.”
I’m modifying one of my paragraphs from my first post on 15Oct2009.
From
“The sensors provide too many “false positives” to be reliable, and as a scientist from a major corporation I can state that Apple engineers (and almost certainly the exectives) MUST know this!”
To
“The sensors apparently provide too many warranty violation ‘false positives’ to be reliable with respect to determining an act of warranty violation by the customer in normal and expected use. If the iPhone cannot stand up to environmental exposures found in normal and expected use (e.g. talking on the phone as you walk into a warm, humid building from the cold outdoors), then I would question its design. If the ‘warranty violation’ sensors are activated under normal and expected use conditions then that is inappropriate and should be remedied. If this is what is going on then as a scientist from a major corporation I can state that Apple engineers (and almost certainly the exectives) must know this by now.”
I just ran into the same moisture sensor problem yesterday. My phone which is 5 months old started saying no sim card even though the sim card was still in it. I took it to apple and they told me to take it home and do a restore. After explaining to them that i had already tried that, the tech told me my phone had water damage and he could not help me. I have never gotten my phone wet and asked what he was talking about. He then showed me the sensor near the usb connector. What a scam! It makes no sense to put a sensor on the outside like that. I live in a humid place, i wonder how long it took for that sensor to turn red, probably the day i bought it! Also, what do you do when you get a little dust in the bottom of your phone? Blowing the dust out is exposing moisture to the sensor! There are also applications such as ballonimals that gets you to blow into the usb connector to make the game work. I love the capabilities of the iphone and have had each generation but I’m starting to see Apple is just trying to scam too much!
@Amanda,
“There are also applications such as ballonimals that gets you to blow into the usb connector to make the game work.”
It’s hard to believe an approved “app” instructs people to blow into an open USB port (or any orifice of a sensitive electronic device), especially if that air is supposed to be ‘extra-forceful’ to do or measure something specific in an “app” (e.g. the harder you blow the bigger the balloon animal, etc). Not only will prolonged breathing into the port eventually produce internal condensate (especially if the phone is cool), it is likely the person will expel water droplets (spit) directly into the port as well.
It seems to me that those kinds of “apps” would have a high probability of ‘activating’ the warranty violation sensors in a fairly short amount of time.
I wonder what Apple’s design and test engineers think about such “apps”.
@Amanda, @ExNoctum,
I just looked up balloonnimals because I had never heard of it. I actually says to blow into the MICROPHONE port on your iPhone NOT the USB port. But, i can certainly see how someone would make that mistake since the iPhone has no visible microphone port.
I have received a ton of other emails from people that have also had this issue. I am going to do an update post today. I never did hear back from Apple regarding whether or not they found moisture damage IN my phone which leads me to believe that they did not.
I just ran into the same moisture sensor problem yesterday. My phone which is 5 months old started saying no sim card even though the sim card was still in it. I took it to apple and they told me to take it home and do a restore. After explaining to them that i had already tried that, the tech told me my phone had water damage and he could not help me. I have never gotten my phone wet and asked what he was talking about. He then showed me the sensor near the usb connector. What a scam! It makes no sense to put a sensor on the outside like that. I live in a humid place, i wonder how long it took for that sensor to turn red, probably the day i bought it! Also, what do you do when you get a little dust in the bottom of your phone? Blowing the dust out is exposing moisture to the sensor! There are also applications such as ballonimals that gets you to blow into the usb connector to make the game work. I love the capabilities of the iphone and have had each generation but I’m starting to see Apple is just trying to scam too much!
@Amanda,
“There are also applications such as ballonimals that gets you to blow into the usb connector to make the game work.”
It’s hard to believe an approved “app” instructs people to blow into an open USB port (or any orifice of a sensitive electronic device), especially if that air is supposed to be ‘extra-forceful’ to do or measure something specific in an “app” (e.g. the harder you blow the bigger the balloon animal, etc). Not only will prolonged breathing into the port eventually produce internal condensate (especially if the phone is cool), it is likely the person will expel water droplets (spit) directly into the port as well.
It seems to me that those kinds of “apps” would have a high probability of ‘activating’ the warranty violation sensors in a fairly short amount of time.
I wonder what Apple’s design and test engineers think about such “apps”.
@Amanda, @ExNoctum,
I just looked up balloonnimals because I had never heard of it. I actually says to blow into the MICROPHONE port on your iPhone NOT the USB port. But, i can certainly see how someone would make that mistake since the iPhone has no visible microphone port.
I have received a ton of other emails from people that have also had this issue. I am going to do an update post today. I never did hear back from Apple regarding whether or not they found moisture damage IN my phone which leads me to believe that they did not.