AMMRL: Does helium kill iPhones?

From: Paulson, Eric <eric.paulson_at_yale.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2018 22:50:31 +0000

Hi all,

I’ve seen a couple of strange reports that claim exposure to helium gas will make iPhones die.

From Dick Marsh:
I am seeing a lot of iPhones die, I am probably the reason. Venting helium gas from cooling and filling NMR magnets. When cooling the big MRI system in Boston we had five phones die in the lab adjacent probably because my air handler blasted their lab with my venting helium gas. GE MRI toasted a bunch of phones somewhere and sent out a warning to its engineers not to vent helium into the room when doing fills.

Also see this Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/9mk2o7/mri_disabled_every_ios_device_in_facility/

According to some, the culprit is a MEMS device in iPhones that is hermetically sealed against air, but permeable to helium. If enough helium gets inside, it stops working correctly and kills the iPhone.

Has anyone else seen or heard about this?

Eric Paulson
Yale CBIC
http://cbic.yale.edu
Received on Wed Oct 24 2018 - 12:50:43 MST

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