Did you drop your smartphone by mistake into the pool, toilet or some water has entered inside it? Well, don’t worry, because today we’re going to help you to fix a mobile device that has been exposed to water.
First of all, you will need to remove your mobile phone from the water as fast as possible, because the longer it stays there, the more water or liquid will get inside the device via the cracks and other openings that it has. After you take the device out of the water, you will have to avoid doing the following:
– Do *NOT* turn it on;
– Do not shake the device, bang or tap the device;
– Do NOT press any keys or buttons (unless this is to turn the device off);
– Do NOT blow the device as this could send water into other internal parts of the device that hasn’t already reached, which may cause more damage in the process;
– Do NOT take the device apart, as the devices come with a liquid damage indicator (LDI), which once activated it will void the warranty of the device. This can be triggered when you will open your device;
– Do not try to cool it down in any way possible;
– Do NOT heat it up in any way possible.
Things That You Can Do While Your Device is Water Damaged
– Turn the device off as soon as possible;
– Remove any protective casing along with the SIM and microSD cards from the slots;
– If the battery is removable, open the back case and remove the battery;
– Use a paper towel or cloth to remove any water that you can see on the device. Make sure that you don’t spread the liquid around, as you could push it into more of the phone’s opening. Instead, just soak up as much liquid as you can;
– If there is too much water, you can also use a vacuum to carefully suck out water that’s stuck in the cracks. Make sure that the battery, SIM card and microSD card are removed before using a vacuum;
– This might sound silly, but bury the phone in a ziplock bag full of uncooked rice. You will need to do this because the rice is great for absorbing liquid and this is one common method for drying tablets or smartphones. There are also “dedicated” drying pouches and if you’d have them it will be great. If you don’t have one, just use the method with the uncooked rice;
– Let your device dry for 1-2 days and do NOT switch it on sooner or you might burn it. Instead, just use the SIM card on another mobile device or ask someone to borrow you one;
– After 1-2 days, you should remove the phone from the rice back and insert the battery into the device and turn it on;
– If your device doesn’t turn on, you should try to charge it. If you don’t see it charging, then there are high chances that the battery is damaged. Try replacing the battery in order to see if the battery is the problem or the device. If the device doesn’t turns on after replacing the battery, you should consider taking it to a repair shop;
– If the device turns on and it is running without any problems, you should still be careful with it in the next few days to see if anything out of ordinary happens to it. Also, play some music and see if the speakers are functioning.
Water Resistant Devices And Cases
It is good to know that there are also devices which are advertised as “water resistant”. However, keep in mind that they are water resistant under a special set of circumstances. With other words, a device is usually resistant to water but only for a limited time and down to a specific depth.
Hopefully, these steps have helped you to save your device that took some water by mistake. It is good to know that there are also cases that can protect your device against water, which you can use in the future so that you will not have to worry about your device when you drop it by mistake into a pool. You can purchase some cases from brands such as Catalyst, Griffin Survivor or Otterbox.
So, if you go to a pool, we suggest you to not go with your mobile device near the water. There are high chances that you will get some water under the screen or worse, inside the mini-usb port. At the same time, you could drop it into the pool by mistake and that’s when big problems come.
Did you ever drop your mobile device into the water? Did you manage to save the device?
