He fell the toilet. His clumsy partner bit him in a glass of water. You forgot it was in your pocket when you jumped into the pool. These are just a few of the hundreds of ways your phone can come in contact with life-threatening liquids.
Fortunately, waterproofing has become primarily the standard in modern phones. Google’s new iPhones, Samsung Galaxy devices, and new Pixel phones feature some degree of water resistance or waterproofing. The degree of resistance of a phone to water is measured on an IP scale (or protection against revenue). If your phone has a high number, such as IP67 or IP68 protection, congratulations, it will probably go well. But if you have a lower rating or none, you should prepare for the worst before you start cooling off in the hot tub with your reliable Sidekick.
So when your phone decides to take a dive, as soon as you’ve finished waking up, you’ll probably start frantically touching all the buttons, blowing on them, or blowing them up with a hair dryer to get rid of them quickly. that water. . While they are all well-intentioned actions, guess what? Totally wrong approach. Here’s how to rescue your water-damaged smartphone.
First, get it back as quickly as possible. If the phone is still at the bottom of the hot tub or toilet, remove it as soon as possible. The longer you are in the liquid, the greater the likelihood of damage.
When the device is no longer submerged, turn it off immediately. Don’t try to press any of the other buttons or load any app, just turn it off. Take the case out if you have one. If you have a phone with a removable battery, remove it. You want to cut off the appliance as soon as possible to avoid the possibility of a short circuit. Most current smartphones do not have removable batteries, but some older or newer models built with the repair in mind, such as the Nokia 1.3, allow you to remove the battery.
Do not dry or wet the phone. Heat can damage the delicate electronics inside. All you need to do is have your bare, sleeveless phone cleaned quickly with a clean towel, making sure no water accidentally drains into the charging port, SIM or MicroSD card slots, or the plug for to headphones (if your phone still has one). If there is debris trapped inside cracks or bleeding in the box, try it carefully and keep with compressed air to blow it. If you don’t have any cans of air around, you can use your mouth to blow it gently. Be careful not to blow water into the phone anymore or add any of your own shotguns to the mix.
Here are some different options. If you search the internet or ask a friend, a common advice you hear is to fill the device in a bag of rice. It may work with some skin, but this method can cause problems. Although the rice is absorbent, it is unable to collect all the moisture hidden in the bottom of the phone, so it only serves as a partial correction. In addition, the rice becomes fluffy and sticky as it absorbs water, and you could end up with pieces of gummy rice stuck to the seams and ports on your phone, or dust to the cracks in your device. . You can wrap your phone in a paper towel without dropping it on the rice, but this is not your best option.