So You Dropped Your Phone in the...

How to Rescue a Wet Phone

A few years ago, I wrote about how I dropped my brand-new Samsung Galaxy phone in a puddle of dirty slush, outside a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn, NY. While sipping my wonton soup, I tried to figure out how to get home without my non-functioning phone's GPS assistance.

I thought about asking for a takeout container filled with uncooked rice, but my fortune cookie told me "You will soon witness a miracle." So I decided against the rice, and that turned out to be a good thing.

Fortunately, I already knew that the worst thing you can do is the first thing most people want to do: press the power button to see if the device will still work. That is a good way to create a short circuit that will fry the electronics and ensure the device never works again. So resist the urge to power-up a dripping wet phone. (Hey, that would make an excellent fortune cookie saying!)

With apologies to Brittney Spears, oops, I did it again. My next adventure was taking my Motorola Moto for a 15-minute swim in a chlorinated pool. Sadly, at less than a week old, it proved to be a poor swimmer.

If a waterlogged device won’t power up then the obvious next step is to plug it into a battery charger, right? No; that’s like tossing a hair dryer into a bathtub. You may fry the charger as well as the device.

Speaking of hair dryers, they are often used to dry out a wet phone, laptop, tablet, or other device. This technique is based on the right idea: get rid of all moisture before attempting to power up the device. But it’s a long, tedious process, even if done correctly.

Recommended Steps to Dry Out a Wet Phone

Start by removing any phone case, screen protector, headphones, charging cables, or other accessories that may be attached to the phone, since these things can trap moisture inside the phone.

Next, remove the SIM card and memory card (if your phone has one), and lay them on a clean surface to air dry. Aside from these components being sensitive to water damage, removing them will open some "holes" in the exterior of your phone where water might have collected, allowing some moisture to escape.

Gently pat down the phone's exterior with a paper towel or soft, lint-free cloth. Here, you want to eliminate as much moisture as you can from the surface without applying too much pressure that could force more water into the device. Refrain from blowing or shaking the phone as this could disperse water droplets to other parts of the device.

It should be obvious that it's useless to dry only the outside of the device; it’s the moisture deep in the circuitry that causes electrical shorts. So to blow-dry a device effectively you will have to open its case, voiding the device’s warranty in many cases. Even then, you won’t be able to blow warm air directly on all wet components unless you completely disassemble the device.

Many phone vendors have moved to sealed unibody designs that are difficult to open. There are plenty of Youtube videos that show how to take apart various gadgets, but it's really something that’s best left to trained professionals. If you are able to open the device, remove the battery, and set it aside.

Hair dryer heat can damage circuitry as easily as electricity can. Never leave a hair dryer blowing on a wet device even on its lowest heat setting. The “no heat, air only” setting will still generate hot air from the dryer’s motor if the dryer runs a long time.

If you dropped your phone in salty or dirty water, I recommend gently rinsing it in distilled water or isopropyl alcohol BEFORE attempting to dry it out. Distilled water does not conduct electricity and can safely be used for this purpose. Alcohol binds with water and is very good at pulling moisture out of small spaces. Both distilled water and isopropyl alcohol can be found at most pharmacies. When possible, purchase 90% (not 70%) isopropyl alcohol.

Why do I suggest rinsing your phone before drying it out? It's not obvious, but when electronics get wet, the damage isn't caused by water only. It's the mineral and other contaminants (think toilet, ocean, pool, mud puddle) in the water that can short out circuits and solder pads.

So What About the Rice Method?

You've probably heard that the best thing to do with a phone after it's been dunked is to put it in a sealed container with uncooked rice. Gazelle, a company that buys and resells used electronics, tested various drying agents on phones that had been submerged in water. What they found was that "Dry, uncooked conventional rice was the worst of the seven options tested. It absorbed the least water in 24 hours, losing out to silica gel, cat litter, couscous, instant oatmeal, classic oatmeal and instant rice."

What Gazelle and other researchers have found is that natural evaporation is the safest way to dry out a wet device. Just let the device sit in low humidity for at least three days. A fan gently blowing across the device will help by removing humid air that arises from the drying device. Do not leave the device where it will be exposed to direct sunlight, which may overheat it.

Desiccants such as rice and silica gel are able to absorb only tiny amounts of humidity from ambient air; they are not sponges for soaking up spoonfuls of water that may be inside of a drowned phone, tablet or laptop. Burying your device in a bucket of rice or silica gel granules will slow drying considerably, giving the wet components more time to rust, and dust from the desiccant may cause more problems. Use it only as a last resort, after giving the air-dry method a try.

That reminds me of my third wet phone incident. My smartphone was stashed in the side pocket of an inflatable boat, which unexpectedly filled with water when my friend climbed in after a swim. He offered to buy me a new phone, but I told him "Don't worry, it'll be fine." When I got home, I removed the back cover, and left the phone by a clip-on fan for about 24 hours. It powered on, and worked fine until I eventually replaced it.

Put It In the Dryer?

Of course, putting your wet phone in a clothes dryer, oven, or microwave is a bad idea. But if you’re fortunate enough to live near a service center that offers water damage repair services, you can get your device professionally cleaned and dried.

TekDry was a startup several years ago that promised to revive waterlogged phones, key fobs, remote controls, flash drives, and other electronics. They used an impressive-looking contraption that sealed your device inside of a pressurized vessel that evacuated air with a combination of low heat and a vacuum. A similar device called the Redux was available at Verizon's Wireless Zone stores. I was traveling when my phone got dunked in the pool (see above) and tried the Redux. My phone was relieved of 2.1 milliliters of water after an hour in the Redux, but it still refused to power on.

Both of those companies are now defunct, presumably because they had little success in bringing water damaged phones back to working condition. My assumption is that they failed because neither method opened up the phone to allow sufficient drying, and they didn't take into account the contaminants in the water that can cause circuit damage.

No matter what technique you try, keep in mind that you might successfully dry out your device, but it may fail to power on due to a battery that was fried by the submersion. Before giving up, try a new battery (this may require a visit to a repair center) and see if that does the trick.

Your thoughts on this topic are welcome. Have you successfully rescued a wet phone? Tell me your story. Post your comment or question below...