One of the most horrifying moments is when you see your smartphone take a dive into the water or when you accidentally threw it in a washing machine along with your clothes. No matter how your smartphone might have ended up getting wet, there’s an instant panic to get the water out immediately.
These days almost all smartphones come with irremovable backs and a uni-body design, making it hard to gain access to the internals of the device. Before these uni-body smartphones hit the market, we could easily take apart our smartphones and remove the battery and let the phone dry by itself.
With smartphone prices going up through the roof and access to internal hardware being limited, it’s super scary to see your smartphone get wet especially if the device does not come with an IP6X rating.
There are several myths floating around the internet which claim to remove water from your smartphone. We’d advise you to perform any of these methods with caution since water and smartphones are never really a good combination.
So without any further ado, let’s check out the best and safest ways to dry up your phone quickly.
Related:
- How to fix moisture detected problem on Galaxy S8
- How to find water damage on Galaxy S9 using Liquid Damage Indicator
Place it in a rice bag
While there are a few claims out there which recommend users not to place a wet phone in a rice bag since the rice can get mushy and cause more harm to the phone, this isn’t entirely true.
Before placing the phone in a bag of rice, first, we’d suggest wiping the exterior of the phone gently with a dry cloth. Do not use much force to avoid pushing water further into the device. Once the exterior of the phone is dry, then place the smartphone in a bag of rice.
Whatever moisture or water has managed to seep into the device would not be enough to make the rice mushy hence, there should be no harm caused to the device.
Depending on how much water entered into the device, you should keep the phone in the bag of rice from anywhere between 24 hours to 36 hours to ensure all moisture is drained out of the phone.
Use Silica Gel beads
Using Silica Gel beads are one of the best ways to remove moisture from anything, not only smartphones. You’ve probably already seen Silica Gel beads that come in small packs in clothing boxes or even other boxes in which the contents aren’t supposed to be exposed to moisture.
If you have a few Silica Gel packs laying about in your house, then now’s the time to make good use out of them. Gather as many Silica Gel packs as you can and place them in a bag along with the phone.
If you don’t have Silica Gel packs already, then you could also purchase Silica Gel beads from Amazon or eBay as they are quite inexpensive. Alternatively, you could also search on Amazon or eBay for smartphone drying kits which come with moisture absorbing materials which might work better than Silica Gel too.
Put your phone in a Redux machine
The Redux machines are currently only available at some locations in the United States so if you’re living in the US and have accidentally got your phone wet, then you could be lucky if you manage to get your phone to a Redux machine in time.
The Redux machine absorbs all the moisture from the phone leaving you with a fully functional device. The best part is that you don’t have to leave your smartphone in the machine for a day or even hours since the machine absorbs all moisture within an hour.
This is one of the best and quickest methods to remove water from a wet smartphone, however, the Redux machines are only available at a few locations. If you live in the US and are looking for the availability of a Redux machine nearby, then simply visit the link to check for the locations of a Redux machine.
What not to do
As we mentioned earlier, there are a few myths which claim to help remove moisture from your smartphone. Here are the things you shouldn’t do when trying to dry a wet phone.
- Do not use heat to remove moisture from your smartphone. Using a hair dryer might seem tempting given it’s indeed used to dry up water from the hair, however, using a hair dryer to remove water from your smartphone isn’t a good idea since heat can damage the smartphone and might even push the water further into the device.
- One of the silliest DIY tips doing rounds on the internet to remove water from a smartphone is to ‘submerge your phone in rubbing alcohol.’ This DIY should not be attempted at any cost since not only does it not work, it, in fact, can lead to more damage since rubbing alcohol is basically a liquid too and can damage the internals of your smartphone as well.
- DO NOT attempt to dismantle your smartphone by yourself. As we mentioned earlier, manufacturers don’t want users to open up their devices and fiddle around with the hardware hence, modern smartphones and sealed in such a way to prevent users from opening the device. Trying to dismantle your smartphone and remove the moisture by yourself might end up ruining the device to a point of no return.
On a side note, there are plenty of smartphones out in the market as of now with an IP6X rating which ensures the device is water resistant. This should not be mistaken as ‘waterproof’ since even devices with an IP6X rating can be damaged with water and aren’t totally free from the risk of water entering the device frame.
