10 Steps To Rescue That Wet Phone

It happens to the best of us.

No matter how precious our phones are to us and how careful we are about protecting them, we're still likely going to end up getting them wet. Whether you're accidentally taking it in the pool with you, leaving it in your clothes as they go through the washer, or dropping it in the toilet, your luck is going to run out at some point.

Even if you always remember to take your phone out of your pocket and hold it tightly, the world will sometimes just do what it wants. Once, I stood up after using a public toilet and my phone just slipped out of its case and fell right into the murky bowl. Yeah, that wasn't a fun day.

Fortunately, there's still a chance you can save your smartphone if it does end up taking an unexpected plunge. It's not guaranteed to work if you have an extreme case on your hands, but it's definitely worth a try before you count your beloved device out. It helped me during my gross toilet misadventure and it helped my mom after her phone went through the wash. With any luck, it could help you, too.

So here are the 12 steps you need to remember to give your wet phone a second chance at life.

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1. Get it out of the water immediately.

This seems like a no-brainer, but it's important to do this as quickly as you can. The longer it's underwater, the more likely it will be damaged beyond repair. 

2. Take out the battery.

If you can do this easily, do it right away without hitting any buttons or powering it off. The faster you can cut the power to your phone, the more likely you are to prevent a short circuit.

If it takes some tools to reach your battery, carefully power it off until you can get to them.

3. Remove the SIM card.

Depending on the type of phone you have, keeping this in good order ensures that all of your contacts and other data stay safe even if the device itself is ruined.

4. Wipe your phone down with a clean towel.

Be sure to keep the water away from ports and other openings as much as you can. Some people have tried other methods of drying off their phones, but some of them can only make the problem worse.

So if you get this next idea, cast it out of your mind right away.

5. Don't try to use a blow dryer on your phone.

It doesn't matter how low you set it, its heat will damage the phone's delicate innards. It's also a bad idea to put it in the oven or the microwave.

At best, you can use compressed air to clear the water out of any cracks, but this should be done carefully so as not to blow it further in.

If you don't have any, there are a couple of simple ways to get rid of the harmful moisture resting in your phone.

6. Pool together all your little bags of silica gel.

If you kept all of these little packets, now is the time to use them. Collect all the beads in a sealable container and bury the phone in them.

Don't worry if you don't have any because I didn't either. It turns out there's another simple way to do the same job.

7. Fill the container with uncooked rice instead.

Yes, rice is just as capable of absorbing moisture as many other desiccants and you're much more likely to have a lot of it at your disposal. Burying our phones in rice worked for both my mom and me, yet there's one helpful step that we didn't know about.

8. Loosely wrap your phone in a paper towel before putting it in the rice.

This can help prevent any rice grains from finding their way inside your phone. While my phone worked fine without this step, I was still finding stray grains inside it for months after I used the trick. 

9. It's very important that your container is as air-tight as possible.

After all, you only want your silica gel or rice to absorb the water inside your phone. Otherwise, the trick may not work as well because your drying agent is also taking moisture from the air around you.

10. Once your phone is secure, it's time to play the waiting game.

You're going to want to wait at least 24 hours, but some folks prefer to give it 36 hours before they take their phone out of the desiccant.

Now all you have to do is put it back together and turn it back on.

Hopefully those steps will save your phone just like they did for me. Good luck!

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