A Frozen iPhone Is This Ice Rink’s Newest Attraction
Credit: Steve Hubbard / BBCToggle Dark Mode
If you visit an ice rink in Milton Keynes, UK, this winter, you’ll find a surprising and unintentional bit of decor entombed under the ice: an iPhone Pro in a bright pink case.
According to the BBC, the iPhone was inadvertently left in the rink while it was being built in preparation for Ice Leisure’s Willen on Ice experience. In unbelievably bad timing, it was there when 13,000 gallons of water were poured into the frame and frozen, leaving it visible but inaccessible just below the ice.
To make matters worse, the iPhone belonged to the employee’s daughter. He’d borrowed it from her after misplacing his own phone, and clearly, the vibrant pink case didn’t prevent him from leaving hers behind as well. It’s unlikely he left it on the rink’s surface, but it’s unclear whether it ended up there by accident or if one of his colleagues thought it would be an amusing prank. The location of the iPhone, frozen almost in the middle of the rink, points to the latter.
Unfortunately, the iPhone, which appears to be a Pro model based on the triple-lens configuration, will have to remain on the ice for the next two months, frustratingly visible but just out of reach. As the director of Ice Leisure, Rob Cook, explains, digging it out would negatively impact the ice structure, and that’s not a risk the rink is willing to take.
Unfortunately, there is no way we will be able to get the phone out of the ice now. If we were to dig it out, it would affect the structure of the ice so it’ll remain entombed for the next two months.Rob Cook, director at Ice Leisure
Needless to say, the “sheepish” worker had some explaining to do when he got home, and his daughter wasn’t about to tolerate her iPhone being “on ice” for two months.
My daughter wasn’t happy at the start, especially as she has just bought the new phone case, but after a short time – and the promise of a temporary replacement phone – she cooled off.Anonymous ice rink worker
It will be interesting to find out if the iPhone is still functional once it’s thawed out and retrieved. While Apple hasn’t likely tested freezing its iPhones, recent models are IP68-rated to withstand immersion in up to six meters of water for up to 30 minutes and can be stored at temperatures as low as -4° F (-20° C). However, they’re not supposed to be used below 32° F (0° C). This iPhone was likely still powered on when frozen, although that state wouldn’t have lasted very long. Plus, while the immersion wouldn’t necessarily have affected the iPhone, the freezing ice around it and the compression forces involved might.
Still, we’ve heard stories of much older iPhone models coming back from conditions far beyond what they’re rated for. In 2016, an iPhone 4 survived a year in an icy lake, although it was in a rugged Otterbox case, which probably helped. In 2021, a diver came across an iPhone 11 that had spent six months in a frigid Canadian lake. It was in what appeared to be a minimalist case but turned right on once it had dried out, suffering only microphone and speaker damage. That bodes well for this iPhone under ice. We’re hoping to hear a follow-up in a few months once it’s been retrieved.
