It's happen to all of us. You race into the bathroom, forgetting your phone is in your pocket and before you know it, it's swimming in the bowl. For a second, you stand back in shock, looking down on your device, regretting all the things you didn't get to do with it before it left this earthly world. As the tears start running down your face as you watch it floating there, reality rushes in and you realize all your best selfles are saved on that phone. And it's the new iPhone 6!! Your hand plunges into the porcelain king to resuscitate your beloved smartphone.
So your phone has water damage? Well here's how to fix it.
1. Keep It Off
As soon as your phone gets wet, reach for it right away and turn it off. This is the most crucial step. You must cut the power before water seeps into the circuits. If you can do this first step, you are well on your way to saving it from drowning. Then wipe the phone with paper towels or toilet paper to get the water dried from the outside.
2. Do NOT Plug It In
Whatever you do, DO NOT plug your phone in. If water did reach the circuitry, plugging it in could be its doom. If you don't have an iPhone, then disassemble any parts your phone has like the SIM card and battery so they can dry out. Place the phone on a lint-free towel and place the parts in a storage bad with silica gel packets, which help absurd the moisture.
3. Don't Touch It
Again, for smartphones that aren't iPhones, you will want to leave the parts out to dry. It's not suggested to take apart the iPhone because you may mess up your warranty or cause further damage. Only do this if your are a pro. Even though it might be hard, you must wait 72 hours before turning it back on.
4. Try A High-Tech Vacuum Approach
If you want to forgo the hairdryer or rice trick, then you are in luck. There are two companies, TekDry and DryBox that both offer similar services that will dry our phone. These competing companies use a vacuum and low heat that vaporizes the water out of you iPhone, tablet, laptop or other smartphone device.
Because water boils at lower temperatures if the pressure is also low, this method gets rid of the water so that your phone is working again with its data still intact. Keep your phone off and bring it to one of the companies where you will place your phone inside the kiosk as the vacuum depressurizes and the low heat boils the water into a vapor. The entire process takes about 20 minutes and will cost you $20.
And it really works. "The day the iPhone 6 came out we bought one and dunked it," says Craig Beinecke, co-founder of TekDry. In the most extreme case, the company was able to save an iPhone that was found in a lake after more than day and left out to dry for five more days before going to TekDry.
5. iPhone Data Recovery Software
After doing whatever method you chose to dry out your phone, you will have to recover files from your iPhone. Sync you phone to your computer often so you also have your files backed up. If you don't have your data backed up, iPhone users can use iPhone Data Recovery to get their files back on their iPhone 6.
Connect your iPhone to your computer and click "Start Scan." Those with older iPhone models like the 4 or 3GS should use "Advanced Mode." The software can revoke messages, contacts, call history, calendar and notes for the 6, 6 Plus, 5s, 5 and 4s. When the software is done scanning, your deleted files will pop up. Choose the things you want back on your phone and click "Recover."
Besides recovering your files directly from the phone, you can also scan and extract your files from iTunes.
6. Does the rice trick work?
In the name of science, Gazelle submerged Samsung Galaxy S IIIs, iPhone 4S and iPhone 3GS into water. The Galaxies died right away, but the iPhones were still running. However, after air drying, the Galaxy S IIIs powered up as if nothing happened to them.
After testing a few methods, they found soaking your smartphone in dry, uncooked rice was the worst option for absorbing water. Other options that worked better were silica gel, cat litter and couscous.
If you are going to use this method, make sure to shake and blow/ vacuum as much water out of the phone as humanly possible. Use the "rice" methods as the last step to dry out any remaining water and cross your fingers to hope for the best.
7. Check YouTube For Tutorials
When all else fails, there are plenty of YouTube videos that will show you how to take apart your iPhone or Galaxy. These videos suggest opening up the phones, taking out the parts and letting them dry out. Since the first thing that gets wet is the battery, Galaxy devices can be saved easily since users can just pop in a new battery.
Water damage to your smartphone is one of the worst kinds of damage that can happen to your phone. So have these tips on hand to avoid your device from dying a watery death.
[Photo Credit: dirtyboxface/Flickr
