We immersed Apple's iPhone 12 in the cold deep water of Lake Tahoe to understand what would happen.
Apple’s iPhone 12 is waterproof, so if you accidentally drop it in a pool or splash it with liquid, it should be perfectly fine. The IP68 rating of the iPhone 12 means that it can survive in 19.6 feet (6 meters) of water for 30 minutes. But how deep can you really take this phone? We took a brand new iPhone 12 to swim in the cold fresh water of Lake Tahoe, California, to find out. Facts have proved that, like its predecessor, the processing power of Apple's latest iPhone far exceeds its official rating.
In order to test the waterproof performance, we cooperated with Mission Robotics to install our iPhone 12 on the company's underwater drone Theseus. The drone can be as deep as 984 feet (300 meters) underwater; the pilot can see the scenery from the camera of Theseus, and can monitor the depth and water temperature indicators through the computer on the shore.
Although we only tested the regular iPhone 12, Apple’s IP68 water resistance rating is applicable to all four iPhone 12 models: iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Watch the video on this page for a complete test and watch some amazing underwater footage taken by drones.
Read more: iPhone 12 drop test results show that the ceramic protective cover sounds sturdy
According to Apple's support page, you should not deliberately immerse your iPhone in water or swim, or expose it to extreme temperatures. But for our testing purposes, we want to push it to the limit.
For our first dive, we want to test the IP68 requirement: 19.6 feet (6 meters) water depth for 30 minutes. On the shore of Lake Tahoe, we placed the iPhone on the stand facing the drone camera and set the screen to stay on so that we could see if anything happened to the iPhone while it was underwater.
The water temperature of Lake Tahoe at this depth is 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius).
After 30 minutes, we took the phone out of the water and wiped it dry with a cloth. Then we tested it to see if the phone was working properly. The touch screen is fine, and the volume rocker works as expected. All three cameras (front, ultra-wide-angle, and wide-angle) looked clear, there were no signs of fogging, and the photos looked normal. We recorded a voice memo before buckling the phone, and after the first dive, the speaker sounded a bit muffled, but it is difficult to say whether it will improve after letting it dry for longer. Apple’s support page recommends placing the iPhone’s dock and Lightning connector in front of the fan to help the drying process. However, we have other ideas.
With the iPhone 12 working normally, we are ready for the second dive of the drone in Lake Tahoe. This time, we want to take the phone to a more extreme depth. We submerged the phone 65 feet (20 meters) underwater, which is more than three times the maximum rated depth. The water temperature at this depth is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius).
With the timer running on the screen of the iPhone 12, we can see how much time has passed since we submerged the phone in the water. Once it reached 30 minutes, we decided to submerge it for a while to see what happens. We finally pulled the drone out of the water at 40 minutes and ran the same test again.
Surprisingly, everything is normal. The screen is responsive, the volume and power buttons are working fine, and the two cameras are working fine. When playing a voice memo, the speaker still has a low voice, but it can still be heard.
After wiping the iPhone 12, we power off it, let it sit for a few days, and let it dry completely.
After letting it dry for 72 hours, we want to perform a final test to see if there is any long-term damage due to extreme underwater testing. The phone itself is completely dry, but its three lenses-the ultra-wide and wide-angle on the back, and the front camera-have produced some fog.
At this time, the battery is also completely exhausted, so we charge the phone for a period of time through the Lightning port, and then restart it. But once we do this, the iPhone 12 screen will display a diagnostic prompt. After several attempts to pass the diagnostic prompts, we plugged the iPhone 12 into the MacBook to see if we could reset the device. It works, but we still cannot pass the diagnostic screen.
Although we cannot know exactly what caused this error, it could be lingering water damage, temperature changes between the cold water of Lake Tahoe and the indoor environment, or a combination of the two. To see how the iPhone 12 behaves after being immersed in the lake for a few weeks, watch our video to open it below.
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Our very unscientific test shows that iPhone 12 can withstand very deep water and obviously meets IP68 requirements. But like all electronic products, it does limit the amount of water it can use-you should never deliberately immerse your phone in water (lake water or elsewhere).
As with our previous water experiments with iPhone 11, your results may be different. Also remember that water damage is not covered by the warranty. We contacted Apple, and the company pointed us to these instructions on its support page. If the iPhone comes in contact with water or any other type of liquid, following these guidelines may increase its odds.