Imagine losing a phone in a river 10 months ago and finding it in working order. Isn't it unbelievable? It's not a figment of our imagination, but a true story. A man from the United Kingdom had dropped his iPhone in a river ten months before. With no hope of ever finding it again, he moved on, but one day he received word that his lost phone had been found.
As per the BBC, during a bachelor party in August 2021, UK-based Owain Davies dropped his iPhone into the River Wye near Cinderford, Gloucestershire (UK). He probably returned home with the thought that he would never find the phone again.
Then, almost ten months later, he was contacted by Miguel Pacheco, who had gone canoeing on the same river with his family. He came across Davies iPhone while canoeing and recovered the lost device from the river. After drying the phone, he posted about it on Facebook in order to find the owner. "It didn't sit well with me. It was filled with water "He told the BBC that.
Despite knowing that the phone would most likely not restart, he attempted to dry it because he suspected it contained "sentimental" information. "I know if I lost my phone, I have a lot of pictures of my kids, and I know I'd want that back," he said.
However, when he turned on the device, he couldn't believe what he saw. When he turned on the phone, it began to draw power from the charger and displayed a screensaver of a man and woman with the date 13 August; the day the phone had fallen into the river. Pacheco's Facebook post about the stolen iPhone was shared 4000 times, but Davies was not on social media. His friends, on the other hand, recognised the phone and assisted Davies in making contact with Pacheco.
"I was in a two-man canoe with a partner who probably shouldn't have stood up, and we fell in." Davies told the BBC, "The phone was in my back pocket, and as soon as it was in the water, I realised it was gone." He was also impressed by Pacheco's efforts on behalf of his phone.
The iPhones released in recent years have all been IP68 rated, which means they can withstand up to 1.5 metres of fresh water for 30 minutes, but this is a rare occurrence.