Sailor's iPhone X survives six days at the bottom of the sea

iPhone x
iPhone x (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • An iPhone X has survived six days at the bottom of the sea.
  • Ben Schofield dropped his phone overboard whilst working as a deckhand on a museum ship.
  • The phone spent 6 days at a depth of 50 feet but was found working once the tide receded a week later.

A museum ship deckhand has recovered his working iPhone X six days after he dropped it into the sea.

As The Independent reports:

A sailor who dropped his iPhone into the ocean found it still working six days later.Ben Schofield dropped the £1000 iPhone X, when working as a deckhand on a museum ship called the Regal Lady.The smartphone sank 50 feet (approximately 15 meters) to the bottom of a harbour.

One of Ben's friends tried to find the phone by diving into the harbor, but failed to recover the device. In the end, Ben had to wait for low tide nearly a week later. When the waters receded, he found the iPhone X caked in mud. You can imagine his surprise when it started vibrating, and that it still had 3% battery. Ben says he cleaned up the phone, got rid of the sand and grit from the charging port then let the phone dry. Even Apple was flabbergasted, and by their reckoning, the sand at the bottom of the harbor may well have filled the charging port, protecting the phone from water damage.

The iPhone X's IP67 waterproof rating is only supposed to protect the phone in water up to a depth of one meter for up to 30 minutes. Turns out, 6 days at the bottom of the sea may also be a viable measure.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9