The iPhone XR and XS are not waterproof. However, they’re water-resistant and you can go for a swim without worry — even in salty water.
According to Apple its website, according to Apple, the iPhone XR can survive a Dunk of up to one meter (3 inches) over 30 minutes which is within an IP67 norm. Its more costly iPhone XS and XS Max can endure twice that, 2 meters in 30 minutes, also known as IP68.
Outside of those ratings that are official, just how far do these phones actually go?
We’ve tested our XS on the line in our previous water test and it did well in chlorinated pool water for thirty minutes. It didn’t seem to be frightened by splashes of hot wine, tea, or a squirmy dip in the salty water from San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Bay either.
The iPhone XR in blue looks amazing when viewed through a macro lens
.To increase the stakes to make sure we had a brand new iPhone XR and the same XS which passed our first testing in the pool to Monterey Bay in California. We secured the smartphones to each other’s front of Trident the underwater drone made by OpenROV. It is capable of reaching depths of 100 meters, but the bay isn’t the depth. To get our phones in the water without floating away, OpenROV built a custom mount specifically for us with flotations to keep phones side-by-side before the lens. Before submerging phones, we made sure that the screens stay on and set an alarm.
Take a look at the video below for the complete story of what transpired — and also check out the incredible underwater footage!
This isn’t a test that can be scientifically proven so be aware that any kind of contact with liquid or water can result in harm to the phone. Apple states that water damage isn’t protected under the terms of the warranty.
The first dive was 2 meters
Since we hadn’t yet examined the iPhone XR’s water resistance so we decided to set each phone on the drone and then dive for 2 meters. This is the iPhone XS is designed to stand up to this well, however, this isn’t the case with the iPhone XR isn’t supposed to dive that deep.
After approximately five minutes of submerging in the water, we lifted the drone from the water. After drying both phones with the help of a microfiber cloth The touchscreens on both iPhone XR and XS were fully functional. iPhone XR and iPhone XS were functioning. It was not evident that water penetration or fogging of the lens. The buttons and speakers worked as expected.
However, since it was the iPhone XS had already been dropped before the speakers sounded soft and less clear than the ones of the iPhone XR, which sounded great.
The second dive 3 meters
In the second round, we put the phones back on the drone and set the timers once more, and let them slide lower to about 3 meters. After they had been bobbling through the currents for five minutes, we picked them back up, washed them up, and examined them.
Both phones worked perfectly. There was no evidence of damaged water on these phones, however, it was apparent that the iPhone XS speaker still sounded less tinny compared to iPhone XR.
The third dive was 5 meters
The next time we increased the intensity to test how much the phones could withstand. The depth was 5m and we waited for 19 minutes before removing them from the bay.
Apart from the amazing underwater creatures that were swimming in the background nothing extraordinary was observed. The phones worked perfectly after we had dry them and tried the phones.
The last dive was 8 meters
Both phones lasted for a lot longer depths than what they were designed for and we didn’t keep them for 30 minutes at a stretch. Therefore, we carried them to the lowest point of Monterey Bay, around 8 meters. We decided this time to stay the maximum amount of time we were able to (that is until the recording capacity on the drone was exhausted).
In the initial few minutes, both phones performed well underwater. After about 3 minutes the iPhone XR and iPhone XR flashed a warning on the screen concerning their SIM card. This was the first indication that something was not right with the phone, and also indicated that water got through the SIM tray.
Its iPhone XR held on for an additional few minutes but, after 6 minutes and 50 seconds, the screen turned completely black. However, the iPhone XS, on the other hand, was in good shape. It was in the water until we reached the 30-minute mark.
After bringing both phones up to the surface The iPhone XR was completely down for the entire time. The phone was dry and we tried to power it up but it didn’t work. Removal of the SIM tray from the card resulted in huge splashes of water escaping from the cavity.
This wasn’t all. There was a problem with the iPhone XR also looked like it had developed a small bulge on the screen since it separated slightly from the other side of the device (this was on the same side as that of the SIM tray).
Remember the fact that it had been submerged for approximately 8 times what it was designed for, and was submerged for long times prior to our dive deep into the water. Being able to say that the phone was able to survive to this point was quite a delight.
The biggest surprise was the fact that it appeared that the iPhone XS had zero signs of water damage, aside from the muffled speaker we’d noticed previously. We inspected the SIM tray to check whether the Liquid Contact Indicator was active however, there was nothing visible.
A week later, after this test in the water and after a week of water testing, the iPhone XS was still going well. The speakers seemed to be mostly restored but there was some dispersion when you played back the heavy bass or at lower frequencies. If you take your iPhone XS goes for a deeper bath than is normal in salty water, it may be able to survive.
