Water damage: first aid for your phone

With a wet phone the first few minutes decide everything – and the best-known household remedies are exactly the ones that do the most damage.

Immediate steps – in this order

1. Get it out of the water and power it off. Don't check whether it still works first – every second under power can cause short circuits. Switch it off and leave it off.
2. Do not charge it! In the first few hours the charging cable is the biggest danger. Wireless charging counts too.
3. Open the SIM and memory card tray and take the cards out – that creates an extra opening for drying.
4. Dab and shake out: hold the device with the ports facing down and shake the water out carefully. Dab the openings with an absorbent cloth.
5. Let it dry – patiently: at least 24 hours, better 48, somewhere warm and well ventilated. Silica gel sachets in a closed box speed this up considerably.

Salt water and other liquids

Salt water, chlorinated water and sugary drinks are considerably more aggressive than tap water: salt corrodes contacts within hours, sugar leaves conductive residue behind. In these cases a quick trip to a repair shop that opens the device and cleans it properly is the only measure with good prospects – the sooner the better.

Once dry: test everything systematically

Water damage rarely shows up everywhere at once. After powering back on, test in this order: speaker (membranes suffer first – a muffled sound is typical), microphone, touchscreen, both cameras (any fogging behind the lens?), charging detection and the display. Repeat the tests a week later: corrosion works slowly, and a test passed today is not an all-clear forever.

Understanding "waterproof" correctly

An IP68 rating applies to fresh water under laboratory conditions – and seals age. A three-year-old IP68 device dropped in the sink is not a warranty case: most manufacturers exclude liquid damage from their warranty. The indicator is a liquid contact sensor inside the device that changes colour permanently on contact with water.