We have all experienced that dreaded moment when you spill a drink over the keyboard of your laptop, or drop your phone into the toilet. You get out the rice and open the airing cupboard and hope for the best, but fear the worst.
If you’re lucky, you will have all your data backed up, but if you’re one of the 36% globally (according to this Avast survey) that don’t think it is necessary, then you might be panicking a bit. All those memories of holidays, pictures of the children, baby photos, texts from that new partner, all those notes you were going to use later……..all gone!
Don’t fret too hard if the above is you. There are ways to avert disaster, but you need to follow some simple steps to increase your chances as much as possible.
How does water damage your phone?
It’s common knowledge that water is bad for electronics, but not everyone knows why. Well, if you listened during school, you’ll know that water conducts electricity and this can cause circuits in your phone to be shorted and send power surges to places you really don’t want them.
The other problem, even with mild water damage, is corrosion. The metals in the circuit boards react with the water and corrode, eventually breaking circuits and functionality being lost or the phone completely dying.
You may not even realise that the quick plunge your phone took caused any damage; it stayed on, you could still use it, you got away with it right? Maybe, but more likely is that the water is sitting inside your device, slowly causing problems and at some point you will notice the effects and they won’t be good.
This is when acting fast in the event of the dreaded dunking is so important!
Saving your water damaged phone quickly!
It’s important not to panic in the event of a watery accident, just follow the plan and you will give your phone the best chance of recovery.
- Immediately remove the phone from the water (obvious I know).
- TURN IT OFF!
- Clean it as best you can.
- Dry the phone as much as possible.
- Take out the battery (if removable), SIM and any other peripherals.
- Prop the phone up if you cannot remove the battery.
You’ve done the easy bits now, your phone has been given the best chance.
Please don’t do anything crazy!
Some people have been known to do some pretty silly things to try and save their phone, please DON’T do any of these…
- Put your phone in a microwave, you’ll start a fire and kill the phone forever!
- Don’t dry it with hot air, you’ll likely do more damage than good.
- Don’t leave it on a heat source, like a radiator or oven.
- And the one we all hear about all the time…..
- Put it in a bag of rice. This really doesn’t help, although it does draw out some water, it can leave dust and starch in the device, leading to a more difficult clean up to get it working again.
Get your phone repaired by a professional.
Sometimes people do get lucky and the steps above will be enough to keep your phone working for the rest of it’s usable life, but I always think if you want to be sure, take it to a repair centre or trusted professional.
If you want to make sure your phone will survive, or maybe you think it hasn’t survived and you want to try and bring it back to life, you can use our services to repair water damage and other board level issues. Check out our service page here.