“The iFixit Thirsty Bag can be a life-saver when it comes to salvaging water-damaged iPhones and iPads… if you happen to have one around when an accident happens.”

The iFixit Thirsty Bag is for those who worry about dropping their precious iPhones, iPod touches, or iPads in water. Whether you reach down to pick up something and your Phone slips out of your pocket and into the river or lake, or you turn too quickly and knock your iPod touch off the counter and into the toilet, a time may come when all that stands between you and a replacement is quick action, moisture absorbing materials like the Thirty Bag, and prayers to whichever Apple god you so choose to believe in.

iFixit's Thirsty Bag needs to be bought ahead of time and stored... just in case of water damage to your iPhone or iPad.

When your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad splashes down, and the waves of water crest over it just as the waves of panic crest over you, there are several important things to remember. First, retrieve your device as quickly as possible. Second, dry it off fast so as to minimize exposure time. Third, put it somewhere with highly moisture absorbing material to dry it out. In a pinch, if you have no other option, dry rice is the DIY option. If you’ve thought ahead, however, you can use materials specifically designed for moisture absorbing. The iFixit Thirsty Bag contains just such a material.

Inside the iFixit Thirsty Bag you’ll find two “molecular sieve packets”. Each of these contains powerful liquid absorption material that, according to iFixit, can reduce the atmospheric humidity to 1% RH and suck up pretty much all liquid inside your device over night. They don’t say exactly what the liquid absorbing material is, so I don’t know if it’s the same as the silica gel packets that sometimes ship with electronics to keep them dry, but they work in a similar fashion.

You can use the iFixit Thirsty Bag to remove potentially damaging water from and iPhone or something as large as an iPad, though for larger devices they recommend placing everything in a sealed, ziplock-type bag.

A source told BGR that Apple has changed the screening process they utilize to determine if an iPod has been damage due to water intrusion. Apple utilizes what is known as Liquid Contact Indicators in their mobile devices. In the event moisture comes into contact with these LCIs they become activated which will in turn let an Apple representative know that there was been water damage.

In the past Apple store employees would merely look inside the headphone jack and check on the LCI to see if it had been activated by water. At that point they were able to say the water was the cause of the issues and you would basically be out of luck. Now with the new policy not only will they check for the LCI but they are also being told to check for other signs of water damage before making a decision on what could have caused the device to malfunction.

Whether or not this change is due to false positives from incidental moisture contact or simply a change of heart within Apple is unknow. However, this could definately been a huge plus for the consumers who have had issues prior and were told that merely having an activated LCI that their warranty was null and void.

Our question is, will Apple apply the same new policy to iPhones and iPads?

[ BGR ]

According to Apple Insider, Apple has filed for a patent that would help them determine (we supposed prior to fulfilling any warranted repairs) whether an end user had subjected the iPhone or iPod to abuse including such as exposing it to extreme cold, heat, or moisture:

“The system may include an interface by which a diagnostic device may access the memory to analyze the records and determine whether a consumer abuse event occurred, when the event occurred, and, in some embodiments, what type of abuse event occurred,” the patent reads. “By providing the capability to quickly and easily detect whether consumer abuse occurred in an electronic device, a vendor or manufacturer diagnosing a returned product may be able to better determine whether or not to initiate a product return under a warranty policy.”

Yet Apple has also applied for a Karaoke patent, which for some poor iPhones or iPods, may end up being a far worse form of torture…

Either an iPhone 3GS was dropped in a pool and kept on recording, or as Richard Lai demonstrates in this second video [NSFW-L] someone was smart enough to cover it in plastic wrap first.

You can decide for yourselves, but we’re not letting our iPhone’s anywhere near water without full deep sea gear and a mini sub…

[Thanks everyone who sent this in!]