iPhone dropped into frozen lake still works after a year underwater

They are known for having a notoriously short battery life, but it seems that iPhones are actually a lot more resilient than we had ever imagined.

Michael Guntrum found that out when he lost his iPhone while fishing in 2015 – only for the device to resurface almost 18 months later, fully functioning.

Michael went ice fishing in Pennsylvania, but lost the phone when it slid straight into the hole that he was fishing in as he grappled with the catch at the end of his line.

But in September, the lake was drained due to structural issues, and it wasn’t long before mechanical engineer Daniel Kalgren found Michael’s phone under six inches of MUD, after he searched the lake bed with his metal detector.

Amazingly, the device still worked after Daniel took it home – before he managed to find Michael’s number and got in touch to return it.

Describing how he was reunited with his phone, Michael told BuzzFeed: ‘I had just been talking about that lake early that day. It was eerie.

‘He sent me a picture and asked, “Does this look familiar?” and I recognized the screensaver.’

But Michael isn’t necessarily putting the unlikely survival down to the phone’s resilience – he instead believes that the phone’s protective otter box casing might be the reason why it’s still functioning.

Unsurprisingly, Michael bought a replacement phone after his initial loss – but he’s now hoping to give the recovered model to his mum. Aww.