Mobile phone dropped in the water: How to rescue it

If your mobile phone has fallen into the water, you should act quickly. If it is not waterproof, you can save your smartphone with a number of tips.

Mobile phone dropped in water – what you can do

If your phone does not have an IP68 protection rating; it can be damaged quickly if dropped into water. You can save your phone with the following tips:

• Remove the device from the water as soon as possible and turn it off.
• Remove all possible parts of the device, such as the memory card and SIM card and place them on a dry cloth.
• If your smartphone has not fallen into water but into a liquid with sugar, remove possible stains with distilled water. You can either use a cloth or a toothbrush for this purpose.
• Afterwards, carefully dry any visible water on the back of the phone with a cloth. Shake and turn the phone to allow the water to run out.
• Now you should store your phone in a dry place and let it rest for at least 48 hours. The place should not be too warm so that your mobile phone is not damaged by the heat. During this time, you should not switch on the device or recharge the battery.
• When you have waited the time, you can test whether your mobile phone works again. There are cases where the owners were already happy about their saved smartphone, but such water damage can still have a negative effect months later.

This is what you can do wrong

Unfortunately, you can do a lot of things wrong in the heat of your rescue attempt. The following are some things you should not do:

• Contrary to popular belief, using rice to dry your phone in an airtight bag is not recommended. It offers no real advantages over air drying and may even harm the device, as water often remains in the device during the process.
• Do not dry your smartphone or individual parts with a hair dryer, heater or similar and protect it from direct sunlight. Excessive heat can destroy the device or only distributes the water even more in the hardware.
• Do not leave your phone on. You risk a short circuit.
• The above methods may work, but there is no guarantee that they will. If you want to be on the safe side, take your smartphone to an expert and have it checked out.