One of the worst enemies of any electronic device is water . Since the dawn of time, anything made by electronic circuits, if put in water or even if it gets wet, can stop working and break definitively with little hope of being able to repair it.
There is not much hope therefore, a soaked cell phone that falls into a puddle of water, in the bathtub, in the sink, in the toilet, in the sea or even taken in a heavy rain is irreparably damaged and the same also applies to laptops, tablets and other electronic devices .
In some cases, however, it can be saved and this is why in this article we try to find out the most used methods to save a mobile phone, an iPhone or a tablet wet or fallen into the water .
Against water it is important to act quickly because as we well know water is the enemy of electrical circuits, a wet device could short circuit and also, in the worst cases, give us an electric shock.
The effects of water entering a mobile phone or any other electronic device are condensation on a hot circuit board such as the processor or the penetration of water under the screen and into the battery cavity.
Basically, leaving a phone, tablet (or other electronic device) on when wet is a bad idea.
The first thing to do if your mobile phone or tablet gets wet or falls into the water, therefore, is to turn it off immediately, without wasting time to see if it still works or not.
Unfortunately, not all smartphone phones allow you to remove the battery, but if possible, before removing the battery, it is better to remove the battery and leave the mobile phone open to be able to dry it from any visible drop .
Use a cloth or napkin, tissue paper or kitchen paper, all over the edge of the screen, on the screen itself, around all the screw holes and anywhere on the outside to dry the surface of the device, mobile phone or tablet.
Then find a flat and dry surface to disassemble the mobile phone by removing covers, batteries, SIM card, SD or MicroSD card (obviously where present) and whatever you can.
In this way the various parts can be dried separately by enlarging the spaces and avoiding, as far as possible, that water enters the mobile phone.
To dry empty slots like the SD card slot, tissue paper can be used to absorb water.
I also recommend shaking your cell phone in the air to let all the water out inside it.
Obviously you have to dry your smartphone or tablet also inside to try to remove all traces of damp as soon as possible.
Fortunately, there are some grandmother's methods that often work (without any guarantees) for drying the inside of a cellphone.
Inside a computer, smartphone or tablet there are electronic circuits, processors, buttons, all sectors in which water can cause damage.
Once the device is turned off and with all the SIM and SD cards removed, you can attempt a recovery of the mobile phone by drying the internal circuits and the processor.
To do this you can use a hairdryer, the classic hairdryer that generates hot air.
Keep it at the minimum level and far enough from the mobile phone or device to dry and use the hot air concentrating in the battery area and inside the SIM and SD card slots so that the air gets inside.
Be careful though not to heat the screen which can damage the touch-screen interface.
Continue drying for about 30 minutes.
Among the methods for drying an electronic device such as a mobile phone if it is wet with water is the oven .
Then put the smartphone or tablet in a small empty box on a baking sheet and turn it on at minimum with a temperature of 40 or 50 degrees and no more.
Leave it there for a whole night until it dries.
Another suggested solution is to put the cell phone in a bowl of uncooked rice which works as a sorbent.
Then put the device under a layer of rice in a bowl making sure it is covered at each corner and leave it there overnight to let the rice absorb all the water.
Rice is one of the solutions to be adopted in case the mobile phone falls into the sea, in salt water.
A lot of silica gel that is often found in electronics packaging can work the same way to absorb water from inside the cell phone.
If you have several sachets of silica available, put the device to be dried in the middle, covering all sides and leave it overnight.
There are also those who say that by immersing the device in pure alcohol, the water is chased away.
When you take it out, the alcohol evaporates without leaving a trace.
Personally I would try this solution only for experimental purposes or if it falls into the sea .
This is because there is little chance of salvation against salt water so it is worth trying an extreme solution like this trying to get the salt out of the way.
Instead of acool it would be better to use distilled water to get the salt out of the way.
All these solutions can work in some cases depending on the seriousness of the situation, but without any guarantee.
Keeping your phone or tablet away from steam, safe from rain and in places where it is unlikely to be exposed to water damage is of course the best option!
