Dropped your smartphone in water? Don’t worry here is how to save it

Holi festival just got over in India and Summers are fast approaching which means going around beaches, water parks and playing around water with friends and relatives. And that’s when people accidentally drop their phone in water. 

And if that happens, Don’t panic! If you act fast you can prevent your smartphone from becoming water damaged without spending a penny. Here are 5 simple steps to fix a phone dropped in water.

Step 1: Grab the phone

Weather you drop the phone in a pool, beach or sink. Grab it as soon as possible because ports like mic, 3.5mm audio jack and charging port may get effected if you leave the phone in water. The faster you take your phone out, more are the chances of the phone surviving.

Step 2: Switch Off

As soon as you take out the phone from water and if the phone is still on, just switch off, keeping it on in wet condition will damage the the circuit board.

Step 3: Dry it Off

Now that your phone is switched off, you have to make sure that you dry it out completely. If your phone has removable back cover – Remove the SIM card/s and also the SD card, though most of the phones have non-removable battery nowadays but if your phone has an option then remove the battery too. Once you have removed all the possible peripherals, use a blow dryer on the handset to dry it out. 

If you dropped your smartphone for a fraction of a second then this should fix it. If it was any longer then you need to follow step 4.

Step 4: Rice and Silica

Just because your phone is dried on the outside, it won’t be the case on the inside. To take care of that, fill a bowl with rice(uncooked) and bury your phone in it. The rice takes away the moisture trapped inside your phone, ensuring that it is completely dry inside-out. You can also fill a plastic baggy with silica packets (those little packets that you find in shoe boxes) and drop your phone in into it. Silica is a desiccant that sucks up water moisture, so it’s perfect for drying a wet smartphone.

Which ever method you choose you must leave in bag or bowl for a few hours and in some cases few days to make sure all moisture inside the phone is removed.

5: Turn on and Test it

Now that you have waited patiently for a few hours or days, it’s time for you to take it out and test it. If it doesn’t turn on, then sorry mate you are out of luck. If it turns on then you are good to Go.

It’s important to note, that the water inside of the phone could have corroded the handset’s internal components. If that’s the case, your phone might start to malfunction over time, at which point you’ll have to retire and recycle it.