Accidents happen.
If you’re ever in a situation where your phone is giving you problems because you got caught in the rain, or dropped it in the sink or toilet, here are 5 steps you can try:
- Turn the device off and do not charge it – You want to keep the phone non-operational while it dries out.
- Drip dry and shake off as much water as possible
- Dismantle whatever you can – If you are able to remove the battery and cover, do so. The more you expose the better it will dry.
- Cover your phone in a bowl of rice – Rice will help absorb moisture (at least it did for this Washington Post writer) like how it does in salt shakers.
- Draw it away with a vacuum cleaner held over the affected areas for up to 20 minutes in each accessible area, having already removed the majority of liquids and moisture manually and dried all visible moisture by hand, so that none enters the vacuum cleaner. This method is preferable to leaving it to dry naturally as it halts any oxidation from occurring deep inside, such as can result in functional issues later on. This is the fastest way (less than thirty minutes after your phone drowns, it can be completely dry and working, especially if you are able to also partly or fully disassemble it) to quickly get all the internal moisture out of the phone effectively and stop the internals from ‘rotting’ away. Remember that the goal is to suck all the moisture and humidity out of the phone not to blow it even further in and create even more evil humidity deep inside
All in all, the idea here is to get it as dry as as possible – in as quick a time as possible. You’d be surprised how many phones spring back to life once they are dried out. Speaking from experience, I once completely submerged my trusty old Nokia 3315 several times during a camping trip (I forgot it was in my pocket). I just dried it out, and it was just as good as new :)
Note: Fans and hair dryers are not a good ideas as they tend to force moisture further into the small components deep inside the phone eventually causing corrosion.
Update: 17th April 2008: Point 5 changed from refrigeration to drying with a vacuum cleaner (Thanks WikiHow)
On a related note, here’s a video on how to fix your laptop should you spill liquid on it.
Have you ever dropped your phone into water? Tell us about it in the comments!
one of my friends went hot-tubbing with his cellphone in his pocket.
still worked, but had some strange behaviour afterwords.
that’s how you build “character”
I wonder if it would be better to emerse the phone in to fresh water after it had fallen into salt water than go to a recovery process. Also one might want to remove the battery pack immediately after the accident. When one tries to salvage an engine (gas or diesel) the best strategy is to keep it emersed until one was ready to drive off the moisture because a humid surface in presence of air was the most destructive in terms of oxidation. Perhaps there are components of a cell phone that de-solve
in water that would preclude such an approach.
Here’s what I did after my friend put her phone into the washing machine (in the pocket of her jeans):
• Got it out of the washer quick. There was water inside both inner and outer displays.
• Took out the battery.
• Set the kitchen oven to low — 140F=60C. Put a cookie sheet above the electric heating element to make sure the phone isn’t exposed to direct radiant heat.
• Put in the phone for 10 minutes
• Pull it out of the oven, and water is gone! But displays are black.
• Cool it, water is back as condensation, but displays look more normal otherwise.
• Back into the oven. Repeat the heat-cool cycle five times and the water stays gone.
• Put the battery back in, it works! Outer display remains a little discolored.
That was two years ago. The phone needed a new battery after a year, then finally died for good recently.
YMMV
Last summer I dunked my motorola Razr when I fell off of a dock with it in my pocket. (Sorry, no video) It was completely drenched
I immediately took the back off and removed the battery and memory card. I then set it on a rock in direct sunlight on a 90+ degree day. It actually became hot to the touch. By sunset, the heat had completely driven the moisture out, I put the battery back in and it has worked just fine. The only lasting effect is that my “6″ key needs to be pressed a little harder or it doesn’t work sometimes.
New phone fell into swimming pool – once recovered, immediately removed battery (this is key!). Patted dry all surfaces, shook out any water that could be shaken. Left on towel overnight, blasted with hairdryer to get rid of any remaining moisture. Put battery back in and powered up, but took apart again to make sure it completely dryed over the next day. Worked fine until replaced 3 years later.
Main thing is to remove battery as fast as possible to prevent shorts.
I dropped my new Samsung SGH-t519 (last year) in floodwater after getting out of my vehicle. I grabbed it from the water so quickly, I bet it wasn’t in there for over 2 seconds. I slid off the back and rubbed the battery dry on my scrubs, and did the rest of the phone too. I got lucky, and never had any problems with it due to water.
Back in 2001, water got into my home from a tropical storm; after turning off the electricity and unplugging everything I could think of, I started putting stuff up onto furniture and in boxes, then because I spent a lot of time trying to get my inherited dining set onto food cans (and my cat caught his tail on fire from a candle, but I dipped him in flood water before the flame got to his skin), I forgot that we’d recently put MY pc on the floor (I had unplugged and put up the power strip, and completely forgot about the tower, argh).
I drained out the 1/2″ water and put it up; it still worked later, after the phone company had to re-install the phone jacks that rusted. But the pc wouldn’t run as long without crashing as it did before the flood. I didn’t know how to disassemble it to dry it out — that probably would have helped.
A Married Man thanks you for the advice.
Sigh
Last year while I was on an excursion in Amsterdam, I went into the bathroom to change&bath, with my phone- a nokia 6630- im my pants’ pocket… somehow the pocket opened (dunno how, it was zipped closed), and off the phone went: hole-in-one, right into the toilet O_O
Luckily, the hotel was kept very, very clean, and the toilet bowl was thoroughly cleaned mere moments ago- so I took the soaked phone out, and in a moment of panic-inspired lucidity, ripped the battery out, took off the front mask, and shaked it like crazy :D That was a moment worth seeing :)
After a day of drying on the window, the phone continued to work happily- and it still does, to this very day ;)
I’m lucky enough to work in a facility with a lyophilizer (freeze dryer). I’ve helped several friends and family dry out phones and watches.
1. Get the battery off or out fast.
2. If it fell in salt water, immediately immerse it again in fresh water. Several rinses may be required, but get all the salt out.
3. Put the phone in the freeze dryer for 24 hours.
Freeze dryers are much more common than you think. You might work near one and never considered using it for this purpose.
This technique was inspired by my training in the Navy for recovering aircraft electronics. We used to rinse salt water exposed electronics then seal it in 50 gallon drums of fresh water. As long as it was under fresh water, corrosion would not start. The drums were shipped to a depot where the freeze drying would occur.
Hmmm, didn’t know that rice had another use than just being tasty. Certainly worth a try the next time my phone gets immersed in water.
let’s face it i was going for a piss and on the phone to someone, dropped it, broke for like 3 months now it’s working fine. my simple advice is just wait 3 months.
Some of these tips are pretty good, I followed something similar and it saved my phone (presumably).
But Rice is not there to absorb moisture. It’s there for impact power to keep salt from clumping. So says Alton Brown :)
I dropped one of my phones in the pool and then i got a new one and i fell off a moving car, it still works but there is a large crack on the screen and the ink leaked out and now there is a big splotch on my screen that looks like a black leaf
Disagree on dryers – helped me 3 times. Only be careful to not overheat the phone. Disagree on fridge too – objects, that are colder than surrounding air, collect moist, so get it from fridge – you are at step one again.
When i dropped my sony ericsson into a small pool at a waterfall, i grabbed it out asap… and did a mental calculation as to whether i could fit a new phone into my budget (No…)
A friend who was with me took of the cover and the battey, and left it to dry in the hot afternoon sun while we chatted. It dried out somewhat but misted up soon afterwards because of the water already inside the phone.
That evening, we set it to dry over the bedside lamp at the hotel (incandescent bulb). We sat the phone on the bottom end of a drinking glass inverted over the bulb. Next morning, no mist! And the phone works fine now.
cheers
Once my little one put my mobile phone on mouth and it stopped working. But I managed to get it repair after a while
I’ve lost both my phone and my digital camera to the ocean.. The problem with both was the corrosion factor.
handy hint… for liquids other than water… soda,juice, coffee. Clean with rubbing alcohol. remove and disconnect all power supplies, clean batteries separately .submerge item in alcohol or clean it thoroughly with alcohol and swabs. Alcohol will evaporate and item should be like new 24 hours later. make sure completely dry as liquid will act as a conductant and bridge between the tiny diodes on circuit boards and short or fry your compont
I’ve done the phone in rice thing. The phone still works. I’ve never heard of drying it with a vacuum cleaner. The rice thing was suggested to me by someone who works at a cellular store.
Came across your post with stumbleupon…Love your blog, its on my feed reader now…
I once dropped my sony walkman mobile into salty sea water…but then it never switched on again…great tips to save your mobile nevertheless…
Last summer I dunked my Razr when I fell off of a dock with it in my pocket.
I was fishing in Key West from a friend’s boat and accidentaly dropped a borrowed fishing rod into the water. With zero thought, I dove into the water after the pole and was able to catch it. Unfortunately my cell phone was in my pocket. I thought the phone was a goner. I immediatly took off the battery and rinsed it in fresh water because I knew that the salt water would be death. I got as much of the water out of it as possible and wrapped it in a towel. The next day I put the battery back in it and it worked!
I’m in the process of doing this and it seems to be working… my phone wouldn’t turn on and now it is so i’m gunna try the rice thing
Thank you for the information, hopefully i will never have to use it.
I was thinking of adding:
Step 1/2 If no contract, or no sadness, Flush Twice
Step 4 1/2 Add soy sauce and wasabi
Step 6 Lie to the snide cell phone boutique Nazi about how it got
hot and went fizz pop because Sprint/Verizon/AT&T suck the air out of heads, the “minutes” out of life and money out of the wallets in exchange for crappy electron flow and 2500 page service agreements in Washington D.C.
my little girl dropped my sony ericson mobile in a cup of coffee the screen has now gone blank n it wont turn on is there any way i can fix it now
Clare: You can try the tips detailed in the post… you also have to be prepared to face the possibility of the phone not being able to work again. All the best!
i was leaning over to lift up the toilet seat, my fone fell down , i grabbed it otu as soon as i could , i dryed it off, tho it wasnt working properly, i then left it for a wile and all the buttons were working except for the 0 button. so i left inon the radiator and now no buttons at all work except for when i hit the menu button it presses the 0 button :S its weird. any advice?
@lynsey: Sounds bad – I think you have to go beyond the DIY methods prescribed here and bring it back to the shop.
My treo and I went into the pool. I took the phone apart and dried as much water as I could. Then put the parts in a plastic zip lock bag with desiccant over night. Phone works fine now.
my phone just fell i the water this morning coz i was late and my mother in law passed me the phone and i didnt catch it so you know what happend it goes on but the buttons doesnt wana work and i feel frustrated what must i do.
can anyone help me my phone fell into the water and now the buttons doesnt wana work any advice
My Razr V3 dropped into the toilet hole just now, i picked it and then i found out it cannot start again. i picked my backup battery still nothing. now im in the process of drying it out in the sun. pls wish me luck as i dont have money buy a new phone.
Wow! this is more common than i thought. I got up yesterday morning (still sleepy)lol and picked up my new cellphone and was checkin the internet as i was going to the restroom and dropped the damn phone in the toilet!!! idon’t know how i did that. Anyway, it is the motorola hint and my husband had just bought it for me 3 weeks ago. I took the battery out fussing and cussin as i was doing that lol lol!! and i let it dry all day, i tried to plug it up yesterday evening but nothing. I also took it to the store and he said that it didn’t appear to have water damage so last night i put the entire phone and the battery in a cup of uncooked rice. LEt’s see what that does. I hope it works that phone cost almost $300!!!!! lawwd have mercy!!!! lol lol
i was at a friends house and i let her see my phone, moments later she starts laughing and completly drops my touch screen samsung eternity into a class of ice water. blow dryed it twice. it worked fine
i droped my phone in the toilet and i tried 2 dry it with a blow drier, that didnt work, so i tooh out the baterie and put all the pieces in rice. it worked but the screen doesnt turn on. i know the actual phone works because i called my number and my phone rings. i also get text messages, but i cant read them. how do i fix the screen
heeyy x i dropped my phone in some juice that had spilled i dried it off but by the time i had noticed it, it wasn’t working i just done it i half took the back off, the battery out aswell as the sim card. what can i do now and how long should i leave it to dry out?? i can’t try the rice thing though because i havvent told my mum, i only got the phone 2-3 months ago so my mum would be so mad at me. i want to try something so that i can fix it without her knowing but not anything obvious any idea’ss ?? xx
i left my phone with me and i go swim in sea.then i never take out the battery immediately and i just left it there to dry.WHAT SHOULD I DO??????????
I am not sure if vaccuming your dropped phone is a good idea.
I would prefer to protect my phone by leashing on phone leash.
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i dropped my Nokia E71 phone two days ago into a bucket of soap water. quickly took it out from the water and i took out the battery too. i quickly went to dry it with a towel and tried to shake out the liquid. it went into shock. and after that i went to dry the phone with a small fan. and i switched position for a few times so that any remaining water could flow out. my phone works fine now just that it has blotches on the LCD screen.
i think the most crucial thing when one drops phone into water is to remove the battery. cause once the phone short-circuits, its a goner.
and most warranties dont cover water damages hence must pay.
if nothing is shown on the screen, most probably, the LCD is damaged. hence have to repair.
after reading all the above replies, i feel more optimistic now as i think i can believe that my phone can last minimum 2 years (fingers crossed)
Thanks for sharing Kylie :)
I did all those steps, and I tried to turn on my phone after I was done WITHOUT the battery, and all it does is vibrate..
Is that a good sign?
Please help!!!
@ chelsea
oh. then i am not very sure already. is everything dry? or u try to put in your battery to see if it works?
ok this may sound a bit retarded … i went to the beach one day and completely forgot my phone was in my pocket i ran into the sea and then 10 seconds later (OH SNAP) took the phone out of my pocket the screen is just flashing white :/ didnt know what to do so i just threw it back on to the beack thinking it was ruined …….good job i did it is ruined xD
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