A diver recovered her iPhone after 2 hours in the Atlantic Ocean. It was still recording

On June 22, 2026, when Wuraola (@kimchixjollof)’s iPhone 17 Pro Max fell and tumbled down into the Atlantic Ocean, the ferry workers told her to forget it. Everyone believed the iPhone was gone and would never be seen again. Her partner, James, spent almost two hours tracking down a diver. When the diver finally went into the ocean, Wuraola could only wait and hope for the best. Moments later, the diver resurfaced holding her iPhone — scratch-free, crack-free, and still fully functional. In a series of videos on Instagram Threads, the content creator described her experience.

iPhone's adventures in the Atlantic

Wuraola is a travel influencer, and her trip to America’s East Coast was also sponsored by a brand. The problem was that all the content she had recorded during the trip was stored on her iPhone. It wasn’t backed up in the cloud, and she didn’t have insurance. She was leaving the following day, so she couldn’t shoot any more content.

Her first instinct was to reach out to Apple and see if they could do something, but after a Herculean search, they finally settled on a diver whom James had found from a 2020 Facebook post. Later on, she posted the entire footage the phone had recorded during the two and a half hours it had been lying in the water, and also posted clips on Instagram explaining the incident.

Rising from the depths

Wuraola was having a candid interaction with James when her phone slipped from her hand and dropped into the water. As the 2-hour YouTube video shows, the iPhone remained submerged in the Atlantic Ocean for about 2 hours and 30 minutes, recording the surroundings. The phone’s camera recorded the sound of bubbles, the plumes of sediment clouds, the tiny underwater plants, and the scurrying movements of sea creatures moving around. At about 1 hour, 49 minutes, and 13 seconds into the footage, it went blank, showing nothing but black space. However, the sounds of underwater bubbles and creatures kept getting recorded.

A real-world test of iPhone durability

In 2025, America bought more iPhones than any other country, followed by Europe, according to the Business of Apps. Besides, Affinco states that there are 1.46 billion active iPhone users globally, with 57% in the US. One of the reasons for such a grand market is probably the phone’s durability and resistance to liquid damage. Apple Support highlights that the iPhone 17 Max Pro is resistant to splashes, water, and dust. The only thing it mentions is that the phone can withstand water at a maximum depth of six meters for up to 30 minutes, but Wuraola’s iPhone lasted way more than that, almost four times.

'Like an old-school soap opera'

People were both amazed and confused by the iPhone's survival feature, with many claiming it was a marketing strategy from Apple. @thebrushoff02 commented, “This was like an old school soap opera cliffhanger on a Friday afternoon: seeing the iPhone plunge to its watery death! And now the Monday follow-up: The iPhone has risen from the dead to see another day!” @cryszn_ jokingly remarked, “[The people] in the Apple office getting that marketing together.” @outerworld_reads said, “As someone with a deep fear of the ocean, we need to see the video.”

You can follow James and Wuraola (@kimchixjollof) on Instagram and Threads for travel video logs.

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