My phone fell in the pool: how to revive a soaked phone

I didn’t realize the mistake until after I had already jumped into the pool. Clothes on, pool cold; I thought my cannonball would impress some friends. One problem in this plan: there it was, my wet iPhone sticking to the side of my pocket.

This is one of the most common technological accidents that happens during the summer. Since many of us are always attached to our smartphones, and we are frequently at the pool or the beach during these summer months, we are putting our phones at risk for this type of accident.

If this happens to you, like it did to me, the first thing you should do is to react calmly, then carefully take the following steps:

What is the first things to do with a wet phone? Maybe it’s obvious, but the first thing you need to do is rescue it! Every second you wait to get your phone out of the water, there’s a higher chance of your device filling up with water, lowering its chance for recovery.

Once your phone is out of the “danger zone”, the next step is to take out the battery… if it is, in fact, an extractable battery (which is becoming increasingly less common in mobile devices). If you have an iPhone or another closed model, the best and only way you can save it is by turning it off. The objective is to stop the electric current in order to prevent a possible short-circuit.

If it is possible to remove the battery, that should be your next step.

Whatever you do, do not attempt to dry it using heat. In fact, forget about dryers, microwaves, or ovens: they could cause damage to the internal components of the phone. Instead, dry the device quickly using a clean and dry towel to remove the water before it fills the ports inside of the device.

We have a couple of recommendations for the next steps. The first recommendation is also the most common, to submerge the mobile in rice for 24-48 hours. This solution is cheap, simple and relatively effective, but there is also a downside. If the rice is able to absorb the water, you could actually end up with a bunch of rice stuck inside the phone’s ports and connectors. Or, if the rice’s shell comes off it could get caught inside the device.

Be careful, the grains of rice could get stuck inside the device’s ports and connectors.

The next time you go to the beach or pool, make sure to use this effective and special product for drying mobile phones. Or better yet, make your own version for free. How? Save those little sacks that come in your shoeboxes or other articles of clothing. These have Silica gel whose job is to absorb moisture.

Don’t throw them away. Save them in an airtight jar and you’ll be better prepared for next time (this DIY project might even work better than a specialized product!). All you need to do is put your wet phone in the bottle with the silica packs and leave it there as long as possible until it dries.