Can You Really Save Your Wet Cell Phone?

Thank you to U.S. Cellular for allowing me to be a member of their Blogger Brigade. All opinions are 100% my own. Take a look at this Parent-Child Agreement if you’re looking to set some ground rules for cellular use within your family.

Your afternoon at the lake couldn’t be more perfect. Your family and friends are all having fun, the sun is out and you’re getting your tan on. The water’s cool, but not cold and the perfect selfie opportunity presents itself…and then it happens. Your hands area little damp because well, summer at the lake and you thought you were safe near the beach in that six inches of water, but you were wrong…very wrong. Mid selfie your grip loosens just slightly and you fumble around trying to catch it in mid-air but you just can’t and in a few short seconds, you find yourself fishing for your lifeline – your cell phone is drowning in that six measly inches of water. Nnooooooo!!!

For a lot of people, this is one of their worst nightmares. Personally, I have to admit, I think once I got over the temporary shock that I actually just did that, then would come the panic. Did I lose my contacts? Or the very worst thing that could ever happen, all of my precious photos. Please tell me I can get them back! According to a recent U.S. Cellular survey, 65 percent of people would rather live without TV than without their smartphone and I can honestly say I  think I’d be part of that group. Because guess what? I can stream shows on my smartphone or tablet but I can’t take pictures and keep tabs on my kids with my television.

 

From what I hear though, a water logged cell phone can in a lot of cases, be salvaged with little to no loss of data. The key though, is to act quickly so the damage can be minimized. The longer your device is in the water, the more damage will be done so that means try not to panic and fish that phone out as soon as you possibly can. Contrary to popular belief hair dryers and warming it in the oven are not good solutions (yes people have tried this believe it or not). The heat can quickly warp the phone’s circuits and melt its internal components…such delicate little flowers our devices are.

 

Steps To Save Your Water Logged Phone

• Act fast. Retrieve the smartphone as quickly as possible, taking it out of the water right away. The longer it’s submerged in liquid, the more likely it is to be irrevocably damaged. Makes sense right?

 

• Take out the battery. Don’t “test” the phone to see if it still works by turning it on and off because pressing the screen and buttons could push liquid farther into the device. The critical first steps are to power off the phone and take out the battery. If the phone doesn’t have a removable battery, power off the device right away to prevent a possible short circuit.

 

• Remove any accessories. Take off any cases or covers, and remove all memory cards, headsets or other accessories. Take out the SIM card and carefully dry it off with a soft towel or cloth. The SIM card may retain data even if the waterlogged phone itself is damaged.

 

• Wipe down the smartphone. Carefully wipe the phone with a clean, soft towel or cloth. Try to avoid getting water into the phone’s cracks, indentations, ports or other openings. If water is trapped in a crevice, use a can of compressed air to blow it out, taking care not to blow the water further inside the phone.

 

• Use a fan. A fan can blow air across the phone’s openings to help dry it out, so keep it blowing for at least a few hours.

 

• Take the phone to your wireless carrier. If these methods don’t effectively fix the phone, don’t despair. Sometimes it can be fixed even when home remedies haven’t worked. Be honest about what happened and walk an associate or technician through the steps that were already taken to try and fix it.

 

 

Preparedness Isn’t Just for the Zombies

Have a back-up plan. Most people will submerge their smartphone in water at some point, so be prepared by stocking up on products that have been proven to work. Solutions like the Bheestie Bag or Dry-All are specifically designed to dry out wet mobile devices. These products can often prevent lingering moisture that can do further damage to the phone so not a bad idea to have some on hand…you know just in case. You can also hoard desiccant packets. Whenever free desiccant packages (such as silica gel) come with orders of shoes, electronics or other products, save them.  Make sure to keep them in a safe place, but if you need to, you can pour their contents into a container with an airtight seal and if when a wet phone needs rescuing, simply place it in the container and the desiccant can help absorb the water.

 

The best thing you can do though, to avoid a wet phone disaster, is to even before the phone gets wet, make sure important data, photos and contacts are backed up. If the phone is not recoverable, at least your important information and memories are saved and you’ll save yourself a lot of grief and guilt. (It’s horrible thinking you’re responsible for losing the only photos you had of your kids 1st birthday or teens high school graduation…trust me!) You may also want to consider insuring your device. It’s a few extra bucks a month on your cell bill, but today’s devices aren’t cheap and U.S. Cellular for instance offers Device Protection+, which not only replaces a water-damaged phone, but also comes with tools to back up your data and protect against Malware. And really, peace of mind is priceless.

 

So, story time! Have you ever had a phone or tablet mishap? Did your water logged device survive the ordeal? How did you revive it? Have you tried any trick that did / didn’t work well? Let me know in the comments below and thanks for reading!!