Chosen Solution
My iPhone was working perfectly fine yesterday morning. I decided to update to iOS 14.0.1 using Finder on Mac. The update failed midway (error 14) and the update and restore function failed the same way, so I restored it. iOS successfully installed, but now it says “It may take a few minutes to activate your iPhone.” It has said this for hours. I have tried restoring it with a PC as well, but had the same problem.
Some water damage occurred back in March, mostly affecting the screen and speaker. I took it apart and cleaned and dried it well, and then it worked fine (except for the speaker) up until yesterday morning. I was on call with Apple for a few hours and the best they could do is let me send it in, but because of the water damage they quoted >$300. Could it be possible that the water damage is causing this issue? Should I take it apart and check for corrosion and other issues?
So after doing nothing for hours, it said “Unable to Activate” on my phone. I left it on that screen and connected it to my Mac, and it somehow activated through there. Resolved! For anyone who finds this in the future, try just leaving it on that screen for a while. Apple. It just works.
Liquid damage could be a factor here depending on how severe it was. If it got a few drops of rain on it, it should be fine. But if it went for a swim in a toilet then it may be a bit of a long shot. Liquid damage isn’t very economical because no matter how much you clean it and no matter what you replace, there will always be an issue, or “gremlin” as we call it, waiting to show its ugly face and this may be the one. I always compare liquid damage to getting a stain on your favorite shirt. What do you do when that happens? You treat it immediately. When electronics get wet they need to be opened and diagnosed ASAP. Rice and other desiccants can’t absorb the liquid fast enough and they leave behind any impurities in said liquid that can cause short circuits.
