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                       Helium Is the iPhone's Kryptonite

   Adam Engst

   I just stumbled upon this article from iFixit, and although it's from
   2018, it's still amusing and relevant. [1]Kyle Wiens writes:

     Erik Wooldridge is a Systems Specialist at Morris Hospital near
     Chicago. During the installation of a new GE Healthcare MRI machine,
     he started getting calls that cell phones weren't working. Then,
     some Apple Watches started glitching.

     'My immediate thought was that the MRI must have emitted some sort
     of EMP, in which case we could be in a lot of trouble.' But an
     electromagnetic pulse would have taken out medical equipment in the
     facility as well, and they were working fine! He started
     investigating, and learned that every single impacted device was
     made by Apple'the technician's Android phones were fine. And it was
     a wide-sweeping issue, impacting 40 different devices. What the
     heck?

   As you have guessed from the title, the culprit was a helium leak, and
   the full story is a must-read. Exposure to helium is not a common
   occurrence, but one that Apple does warn about in its [2]Important
   Safety Information for iPhone page, which ranks much lower on your
   average must-read list.

     Exposing iPhone to environments having high concentrations of
     industrial chemicals, including near evaporating liquified gasses
     such as helium, may damage or impair iPhone functionality.

   Luckily, exposed devices typically recover after a week of being left
   unconnected to power. Just like Superman.

   [3]Read original article

References

   1. https://www.ifixit.com/News/11986/iphones-are-allergic-to-helium
   2. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/important-safety-information-iph301fc905/17.0/ios/17.0
   3. https://www.ifixit.com/News/11986/iphones-are-allergic-to-helium

.