It happens that at the moment you lose your grip and drop your phone into water, you don't even catch the chance to speak out the F word. That's really driving people crazy, right? Water damage is the culprit that results in the breakdown of smartphones. It is usually due to someone's carelessness or a flood of rain, which happens all the time. Although it is damageable, you can be free from spending hundreds of dollars buying a new one if taking the right steps. So, it's of great necessity for us to learn how to deal with a water-damaged phone. Just scroll down and check it out.
Get it out of Water
I believe that the first idea comes to most people's mind when a phone falls into water is to take it out of water. It's totally right and also the most important step. The longer the phone stays in water, the greater damage it will cause to hardware like mainboard, screen, receiver and microphone. If you get it out of water in time, the damage can be limited to the minimum.
Do not Reboot the Phone
Then, wipe the residual water as dry as possible. Rub a microfiber cloth or towel on the phone to make it dry. Bear in mind that don't reboot the phone whether it's on or off. Unconsciously, most people will get used to pressing down the Power button and checking for whether the phone can turn on anew. That is wrong and damageable. Once turning on, it's possible to bring about the breakdown of the mainboard with no luck.
Remove the Battery, SIM Card and Memory Card
What you really should do is to remove the battery, SIM card and SD card as soon as possible so that the energy supply is stopped and the chances of further damage are reduced.
It's not recommended to dismantle the phone in order to take out the non-removable battery. For one thing, it takes comparatively long time to do so while the water may have already reach the battery. For another, if you're not tech-savvy or an expert, taking down the phone would do greater damage than water does. If the battery cannot be removed in that case, just leave it alone and follow the next step.
Dry the Phone off via Hairdryer
Now, you should shake your phone hard in order to shake off the rest of water inside your phone. When shaking, please grip your phone firm. Otherwise, you might be ready to purchase a new one if you threw it away.
After that, a hairdryer will do much favor. However, given that the temperature of the wind created by a hairdryer is comparatively high, you'd better not aims the hairdryer at your phone in a direct way, nor at a near field. Try swinging the hairdryer when drying the phone up. Do it 3 to 5 times for about 20 minutes. It's bad for the phone either to dry it up for long.
Bury Your Phone into Uncooked Rice
Don't try to turn on your phone after drying it up via a hairdryer, for it's hard to know whether there are any water left. Therefore, to be on the safe side, dry it up again. Bury your phone into a bowl of uncooked rice for at least one day. Uncooked rice is able to absorb the moisture and keep the phone clean. However, it may take some time to totally dry the phone up. You can as well try to use silica gel sachets instead, which can reduce much time.
Check for Status of the Phone
Now, you can try to power on the phone. If it's on, you need to check for whether it functions normally. Firstly, check out the screen. It could flicker or show stain after the water damage. Then, the microphone, receive and speaker. You can make a call to check whether it works well. Finally, try to capture photos via both the primary camera and front camera. If it all works well, congratulations! Your phone is back to normal.
The warranty of your phone doesn't cover the repair if it gets wet. What's worse, you are possibly going to lose all the data, photos and conversations! It's recommended to form a regular habit of making backups for your Android or iOS phones, so you can easily retrieve all data on Android or iOS devices when they're accidentally gone.
In case of water damage, you should be more aware. If it rains a lot in your place, don't forget to bring an umbrella along with you or put your phone in a plastic bag. Furthermore, a waterproof case is a good choice. If your phone gets wet by accident, you might as well try the steps above and bring it back to life!
