My iPhone Took a Dive.So I Built an App to Save It.

It All Started With an "Oops" in the Bathtub

One night, I was watching YouTube in the bath when—you guessed it—my iPhone slipped and took a plunge into the tub.

I snatched it out immediately, but the damage was done. The speaker sounded awful, all muffled and distorted. It was definitely full of water.

A quick search told me you could use sound to push water out of a speaker. The Apple Watch even has a built-in feature for it. But when I looked for a simple, effective app for the iPhone, I came up empty.

And that's how WaterKick was born.

Why I'm Still a One-Man Show

From day one, WaterKick has been a solo project. I handle everything: planning, design, coding, testing, and even writing all the articles on this site.

So why go it alone? The reason's simple: I want to respond to user feedback instantly.

In a big team, a simple change can get bogged down in meetings and approvals. But as a solo dev, if someone leaves a review in the morning saying "this part is confusing," I can have an update submitted by that night. I think that agility is WaterKick's biggest strength.

What's the Big Deal with 165Hz?

The heart of WaterKick is its 165Hz sound wave.

Apple's official Water Eject feature on the Apple Watch uses a series of tones to push out water. Inspired by that, I started hunting for the perfect frequency for the iPhone's speakers.

The most effective frequency depends on the speaker's design—the size of the diaphragm, the volume of the enclosure, and so on. If the frequency is too high, the vibrations are too weak to move water. If it's too low, the sound wave just spreads out and loses its punch.

165Hz—that's the sweet spot I landed on. It's the frequency that vibrates the iPhone's speaker components most efficiently, generating enough force to physically push water droplets out.

The WaterKick Timeline

What We're All About

Meet The WaterKick Team

Every article on this site is written by The WaterKick Team, led by the founder and solo developer known in Japan as "水抜きおじさん" (Mr. Water Eject).

3 Water Disasters, Over $900 in Repairs

• iPhone 7 — Dropped in the toilet. Repair cost: ~$200
• iPhone 12 — Submerged at the pool. Repair cost: ~$300
• iPhone 14 Pro — Caught in a sudden downpour, water seeped into the pocket. Repair cost: ~$400

Over $900 in total — that painful experience fueled the mission: to make sure nobody else has to cry over a waterlogged phone.

Expertise: iOS Development Meets Acoustics

As an iOS engineer, the founder combined app development skills with self-taught acoustics research — specifically, speaker resonance characteristics and how sound waves can physically dislodge water droplets. Inspired by the Apple Watch's built-in water eject feature, he engineered the 165Hz tone optimized for iPhone speakers.

Because the developer is also the writer, we can connect the dots between the app's technical inner workings and the practical, real-world steps you need to take. We believe that's what makes our content uniquely helpful.

What's Next for WaterKick

WaterKick is still a small app, but our mission—to help people in a jam—hasn't changed one bit.

We're going to keep improving the app and expanding our library of helpful articles.

• Constant App Improvements: Listening to your feedback to make the app easier and more effective.
• More Water Damage Content: Adding more detailed guides for specific symptoms and situations.
• Prevention Awareness: Spreading the word on how to avoid water damage in the first place.

If WaterKick helped you out, the best thing you can do is tell a friend. Sharing it on social media or leaving a review on the App Store is the fuel that keeps this project going.

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