What to Do If You Drop Your Phone in Water

On many occasions you might have dropped your phones. The worst scenario is when your phone takes a swim in a liquid substance. The first reaction of many victims of such accident has rendered many phones permanently damaged. Here are the best first aid tips you can apply to your phone to save it: 

1. Remove phone from water and turn off immediately: It takes just seconds for water to find its way into a phone. Grab your   phone quickly, and turn it off immediately, as leaving it on can cause it to short circuit – if it has been in water, assume it is waterlogged whether it is still working or not. 

2. Remove the case, battery cover, battery, SIM, and any other peripherals: if your phone was connected to a charger and socket when it dropped into water, avoid touching the phone first. Disconnect/remove the charger from the power source immediately. Remove the case, battery cover, battery, sim, memory card and any other attachment from the phone.

3. Dry the phone with a soft rag or towel: This is one of the most important steps to saving it. Many circuits inside the phone will survive immersion in water provided they are not attached to a power source (battery) when wet.

To find out if the phone is truly water damaged, check the corner near where the battery is – there should be a white square or circle, with or without red lines. If this is pink or red, your phone has water damage.

Gently wipe off as much water as possible without dropping the phone. Avoid shaking or moving the phone excessively, so as to avoid moving water through it.



4. Use a vacuum cleaner to suck all liquid from the inside of the phone: This is the fastest method and can completely dry out your phone and get it working in thirty minutes. However, unless the exposure to water was extremely short, it's not recommended to attempt to turn your phone on this soon. 

5. Let phone sit in a moisture-absorbing substance overnight (e.g. uncooked rice, silica packets): An inexpensive option is to place the phone in a bowl or bag of uncooked rice overnight, Rice Krispie cereal, or just cover the phone in paper towels. The rice might absorb some remaining moisture.

Rotate the phone to a different position every hour until you go to sleep. This will allow any water left inside to run down and hopefully find an opening to escape.


6. Place the phone in the sun to remove moisture from crevices


7. Wait 24 hours before turning the phone back on.

8. Get Phone insurance