How To Dry Out a Phone if it Encounters Water Damage

Is there a nightmare more indicative of the day and age we live in than that of the wet smartphone? So many of us have a fear of accidentally dropping our expensive smartphones in the sink, a puddle, or a toilet. If you find yourself in a situation where your phone gets submerged in water, here’s how to at least try to fix the problem.

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Step 1
Get the phone out of the water as quickly as possible. With every second a phone spends in the water, the likelihood increases that it will never work correctly again.

Step 2
If possible, pull out the battery right away. Don’t worry about powering the device down, and don’t worry about losing your data because of a sudden shutdown. The risk of your phone losing data is already there.

Unfortunately many newer phones don’t allow you to easily access the battery, so if that’s the case, immediately go for the power button and shut the phone off. The ultimate goal is to cut the power as quickly as humanly possible, because otherwise, you’re risking the phone short circuiting.

Step 3
Carefully and gently wipe the phone down with a towel. You want to get the water off the surface and out of the crevices if possible, but you don’t want to force it further and further into the device. Try to drain any water out of the ports as well.

Step 4
There are a number of airtight bags, pouches, and boxes on the market that you can purchase for the purpose of drying out your phone. If you have a wet phone and haven’t purchased any of these retail options, though, then wrap your phone in a paper towel, place it in a ziplock bag, fill the bag with rice, and then seal it up. The rice will dry out your phone, while the paper towel will keep starchy sticky rice residue off your phone screen and out of its charging or headphone ports.

Recap
Dropping your phone in water sucks, plain and simple. Luckily though, by using the home remedy laid forth above, you should be able to dry out your phone and prevent too much water damage.