Don't Panic! Here's How To Fix Your Water Damaged Device

Common advice says that if you've dropped your phone the toilet—or some other body of water—all you have to do is toss your afflicted phone into a bowl of rice and everything will be fine come morning.

Sadly, this is more a myth than useful advice. But that doesn't mean you should give up on your smartphone. Before you try going to a repair shop and potentially spending hundreds of dollars, there are plenty of DIY hacks you can try out.

Waterproof vs. Water-Resistant

First, it's worth knowing if your phone is in any real danger. In recent years, many phone makers have made their devices water-resistant. But water resistant is not the same thing as waterproof.

Waterproof means that a device is impervious to water for any duration while water-resistant means that a given device is graded for water exposure for a given amount of time and up to a certain depth. When we talk about watches, smartphones, and tablets, we usually mean water-resistant.

To figure out how tough your phone stands up against water, you'll need to familiarize yourself with the IP standard, which the International Electrotechnical Commission in Geneva, Switzerland drew up to designate how resistant an electronic device is to fresh water and other common materials like dirt, dust, or sand.

The next digit, following "IP," is the rating for a device's resistance to solids. So, all water-resistant phones start out with "IP6" in the code name, which tells you that no harmful dirt or dust will get into the unit even after direct contact for eight hours.

First, Turn Off Your Phone

After you've fished out your phone, immediately power down the device to reduce the chance of any electronic components shorting on you.

Next, use a pin or a SIM card removal tool to pop open the SIM tray and remove the SIM card. Water could have gotten into this tiny opening and you don't want to risk having to replace your sim card, too. It's not a huge expense but it can be a pain.

⚠️Also take out your battery, but more likely than not your phone doesn't have a removable battery.

Dry Your Phone ASAP

Next up: dry your phone off. This sounds like the simplest step, but this actually where things get tricky. While rice is that ever-popular urban legend, but it might not be the best material to soak up excess H2O.

Don't even think about taking a hair dryer to your handset. Added heat could cause corrosion if there is any water on your phone's hardware. Instead, start with a soft, microfiber cloth, the kind you use to wipe smudges off of your glasses. If you can remove the back panel of your phone, use a cloth to wipe down the components inside.