You’ve dropped your precious cell phone into water, now what? Hopefully it wasn’t the toilet you dropped your phone into, or if it was, hopefully you didn’t use the toilet at that moment. All of us at some point of time drop our phones in something we know is going to ruin it. I’ve dropped my phone quite a few times into water, but luckily it was either a phone that was in such a bad condition that it was on its way out, or it just didn’t get spoiled because I took it out soon enough. But if you find yourself in a situation where the phone has been in the water for quite a long time for you to consider it as good as gone, then give the following steps a try. These are just tips at trying to revive your phone and I still can’t guarantee if it’ll really work, but if you dropped your phone in water, then why not give it a shot.
1) Ever wondered why water and smartphones don’t mix? It’s because the water short circuits the power provided from the battery to your phone. So whatever you do, if you’re phone has switched off, then DO NOT turn it back on.
2) The next step is to pull out whatever is removable. SIM card, battery, memory card, everything. Unfortunately some phones like the iPhone just do not come with a removable battery. So you’re just going to have to follow the next few steps and hope that you’re phone still comes on.
3) Well this step may not seem very smart, but it’s actually worth a shot. Did your phone fall into saltwater? Salt can corrode your phone even faster, so dunk it into freshwater, give it a shake in the freshwater quickly and pull it out again.
4) The next step is to blow out as much excess water as possible. Pull out the vacuum cleaner and attach the main pipe to the end that blows out air rather than sucks it in. Give the phone a good drying after this. Remember don’t think about putting your phone in the oven even on low. This again can burn out circuit wiring. Don’t even think of the microwave or a hairdryer with a heating element.
5) After this, I suggest you carefully place your phone into a covered container or zip lock bag with a lot of uncooked rice. The reason behind this is that rice has a lot of powdery starch content that is good at absorbing water (which is why water gets so cloudy every time you throw rice into it). So take a zip lock bag and put enough rice to cover the entire phone well. Throw in the other parts that got wet like the battery, memory card, SIM card, etc. Keep it in there for a good 24 hours. Alternatively you can try the same method but instead of rice, use moisture absorbing Dry-Packs, sometimes in pad form, other times in pellet form, usually some mixture of Silica Gel. I have found this to be very effective at removing the moisture from a device.
6) Again like I said this is just a 50-50 chance of recovering your phone from damage that is not too serious. So once you have left your phone in the rice bag for 24 hours, take it out, put all the parts back together, charge the battery till it reaches a full charge, and then cross your fingers and pray to god that it comes back on. I hope it does.
Staffwriter, Pinstripe Magazine. Bringing you the latest in Men’s Fashion, Gear & Gadgets, Beautiful Woman and more
