There are many hilarious viral videos on social media where someone pushes someone in the swimming pool with their phone in their hand. Well, it looks funny but it actually is quite traumatizing!
Your phone carries so much of you! Your contacts, images, and important data that you downloaded with your Cox internet or whatever ISP you have subscribed to. And it’s not just data, the phone itself is quite an investment these days. For instance, the iPhone 11 Pro Max with the lowest storage configuration of 64GB is around $1,099. Therefore, no one wants to lose their fancy smartphones like this.
If this unfortunate event has happened to you, then instead of panicking because of this jarring realization, you can prevent water damage you need to act quickly and follow some preliminary rescue steps. Tag along!
Table of Contents
Grab the Phone
First things first, keep a cool head and get into action to salvage your phone in any situation. It could be that you spilled a glass full of water on your phone or someone threw it into the swimming pool or toilet. The first step is to grab it. Try to act quickly to avoid having it submerged in the water for a long while.
Remember, this is the kind of situation, where every second count. So, once you have noticed the accident, act fast, and ensure your chances of preventing and reversing any water damage.
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Power It Off
Once you retrieve your phone, turn it off as soon as you can. You need to stop the flow of power because it can result in a short circuit and eventually, irreparable damage. You need to dry it off quickly and you need to shut it down and remove its battery before you do so. Yes, you will be disconnected from your Cox service for a while and miss out on some important notifications. But saving your phone is more important here.
If you have gone through your chemistry lessons carefully, you would know that water is a conductor of electricity. Therefore, running electrical charges through the wet electrical circuit can cause damages. However, even if it happens, that doesn’t mean that your phone is immediately damaged.
Just make sure that you shut your phone off before it is affected by any major water damage. If the contact with water was minimal and you have managed to dry it out quickly then chances are that there are no major damages except perhaps a few annoying quirks.
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Remove the Internal Components
Have you got a protective case on your phone? If yes, remove it right away. Pop-out the microSD and SIM card as well. Take out the battery and try to dry it out separately. However, these hacks won’t work on iPhones and other smartphones, which are not easy to open. If you have one of those phones, skip this step to save some crucial time.
Wiping Off the Water
Get yourself a clean piece of napkin, cloth, or a towel to dab any leftover water droplets on the phone. Make sure that you only dab. Doing it harshly can push the liquid into openings like the speaker and headphone jack. Allow the water to be absorbed into the piece of cloth around the delicate areas. For the phones, which are opened up and the battery is removed, try to exercise extra caution to avoid any extra damages.
Do Not Blow Dry
It’s your smartphone, not your hair. Don’t try to dry out your phone with a blow-drier. The heat from the blow drier can be harsh and damaging to the internal components of the phone. It can even damage the internal parts permanently. Moreover, there are some popular myths about keeping a wet phone in the freezer or oven. Well, let’s just bust these myths once and for all because none of them is true. They are not effective at all, instead, they can damage your phone.
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Power Your Phone On and Test
If you have managed to make your phone nice and dry by this point, turn it on and test if it is working. If it turns on, you are good to go. But if it doesn’t, consider yourself out of luck. Chances are that the water inside the phone has corroded the internal components of your handset.
If that’s the case, your phone will start malfunctioning over time. And you will eventually have to replace it.
Silica and Rice
Well, not all hacks are myths. Even if your phone is dry on the outside, there can still be some moisture on the inside. Get a bowl full of uncooked rice and bury the phone in it. This hack is known to absorb all the moisture that is trapped inside the phone, making it dry inside out. You can also try this hack with silica packets. You can find silica packets in new bags and shoe boxes. Fill them in a plastic bag and keep your phone in it for some time. Just like rice, silica sucks up all the moisture and is perfect to dry out a wet smartphone.
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Whether you are using rice or silica, make sure you leave the phone inside for at least a day or two. Ideally, leave it for 3 days if you don’t want to face any glitches. It may be tough to stay offline in those days and not use your internet Ultimate but you must do it.
Lastly, if your phone doesn’t work even after trying everything, you will need a replacement. The bill pay option is there to get a new phone. But this time, make sure you invest in accidental damage insurance of some kind. For now, let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that!