What to Do When Cell Phone Gets Wet

It vicious in the toilet. Your clumsy partner knocked a drinking glass of water onto it. You forgot information technology was in your pocket when you jumped into the pool. That's just a few of the hundreds of ways your phone could come up into life-threatening contact with liquid.

Fortunately, waterproofing has become mostly standard on modern phones. New iPhones, Samsung Galaxy devices, and Google'southward newest Pixel phones all feature some caste of water resistance or waterproofing. How well a phone resists water is measured on an IP (or Ingress Protection) scale. If your phone is rated with a high number, similar IP67 or IP68 protection, congratulations, it's probably going to exist fine! But if it's got a lower rating, or none at all, you should prepare for the worst before yous first chilling in the hot tub with your trusty Sidekick.

So when your phone decides to take a dive, as shortly every bit you're washed freaking out, you'll probably begin frantically tapping all the buttons, blowing on it, or blasting it with a hair dryer to rapidly go rid of all that water. While those are all well-meaning actions, guess what? Totally the wrong approach. Here'due south the right way to rescue your water-damaged smartphone.

Start, recall it every bit quickly equally possible. If your telephone is nevertheless in the bottom of the jacuzzi or the toilet, get it out ASAP. The longer information technology's in the liquid, the greater the likelihood of harm will be.

Once the device is no longer submerged, power it off right abroad. Don't try to press any of the other buttons or load any apps, just switch it off. Remove the case if you have one. If you have a phone with a removable battery, pop the battery out. You desire to cut off power in the device equally quickly equally possible to prevent the possibility of a short excursion. Most of today's smartphones don't accept removable batteries, but some older models, or new models built with repairability in mind similar the Nokia one.3, let yous pop the bombardment out.

Do not blow-dry your moisture phone or stick it in the oven! Heat can damage the delicate electronics inside. What you should practice is give the naked, instance-free telephone a quick wipe with a clean towel, making certain no water accidentally ends up draining into its charging port, SIM or MicroSD slots, or headphone jack (if your phone still has 1). If at that place are traces of h2o trapped inside cracks or indentations in the example, try advisedly and conservatively using compressed air to blow it out. If you don't have a can of air lying effectually, yous can use your mouth to gently accident it out. Just be careful non to blow the water further within the phone, or add whatever of your own spit to the mix.

Next we have a few different options. If you search the internet or ask a friend, a mutual piece of advice y'all'll hear is to stuff your device in a bag of rice. It might piece of work in a pinch, but that method tin cause some issues. While rice is absorbent, information technology'southward incapable of collecting all the moisture hidden deep within your phone, so information technology only serves as a partial fix. As well, the rice gets mushy and gummy as it absorbs the water, and so you lot could air current up with gummy $.25 of rice stuck in your phone'southward seams and ports, or dust deep in your device's crevices. Yous can wrap the phone loosely in a paper towel earlier dropping information technology into the rice, but this is nonetheless not your best option.

You might be improve off turning to the pros for help. Some retail stores like Staples offer TekDry moisture telephone repair services that use specially designed machines to pull the water out. The service isn't inexpensive: Repairing a soaked smartphone will toll you $lxx. Plus, Covid restrictions might mean that a store near you might non exist open, so exist sure to call and bank check with the store earlier you go.

Courtesy of NASA

MOON SHOTS

Permit's take a good look at our nearest celestial neighbor.

Of course, for the accident-decumbent and careful alike, information technology's a adept thought to exist prepared for this inevitable phone-soaking well ahead of any actual accidents. The smartest option is to keep constructed desiccants (drying agents) on manus. These usually take the form of those modest, square packets that you detect in shoeboxes and packages of beefiness jerky. You know, the "Practice NOT EAT" stuff. These packets typically contain little beads of silica gel, which absorbs moisture around them. They work more quickly and efficiently than rice, and they are far less messy.

Yous might besides hoard the packets you're already getting for complimentary. Beginning at present: Every time yous meet a loose desiccant parcel in a box with a new hard bulldoze or a shipment of spices or whatever, pull it out and salve it in an airtight container. (You tin likewise buy desiccant packets in bulk.) Dump them all into a plastic or glass container you're certain has an air-tight seal. Subsequently yous've collected a bunch of them, you have an emergency phone-rescue pod ready to go. Just drop the dunked phone into the container so information technology'south surrounded past packets, seal the container, and wait 24 to 48 hours.

The $15 Nine Lives Wet Phone Fix is a set-made solution you lot tin can order and continue on the shelf at home. You tin drib your telephone in the airtight plastic pouch periodically (like later on your jeans get soaked in a rainstorm) to make certain no lingering moisture starts doing damage inside your handset, or just use it if your telephone encounters a total-on liqui-mergency.

Nanoflow X is another option. Same deal as the Nine Lives: You just seal up your phone within the pouch, which is filled with desiccant, and so wait the specified amount of time (12 to 24 hours) to let your phone dry out out. You lot can take hold of a pouch for as cheap as $5 on Amazon.

The play a trick on to all of these methods is that for the desiccant to do its magic, it needs to exist in a sealed container so that it tin can blot water only from your telephone, and not from the outside air. Besides, yous demand to have enough of the desiccant nowadays to blot all the water.

Post-obit these tips, there's a skilful chance your phone could survive its untimely spill. Just if it spends too much time underwater, you could exist out of options. In which case, perchance information technology's finally time to get yourself a waterproof phone.

Updated Feb. 1, 2021 to brand information technology more clear that putting your phone in rice is not a swell option.

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What to Do When Cell Phone Gets Wet

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