If you’ve dropped your iPhone and need help fixing it or simply wish to know more about saving a water-damaged phone then read on.

Does the word “poolside” ring siren alarms in your heart? Have you kept your promise to never put your phone on the dinner table again? In the year 2020, over 65% of all accidental smartphone damages were caused by either dropping your phone in the water, that includes the bathroom and the toilet, or having water spilled on it.

Saving up for a new iPhone 12 or the iPad Pro is a commitment that every user makes to himself. Upon achieving this goal every single person wants to take utmost care of their devices and avoid any unforeseen accidents. But that’s just what accidents are, they just happen.

If your phone does sustain such damage but isn’t completely wrecked, there are still things that can go wrong if you don’t fix the issue right away. Many users have reported their home buttons not responding, a majority of users have reported camera and speaker damage – hardware damages are to be expected from water damage since it messes up the internal circuiting, and is rare cases users have also reported data loss.

In the event that your phone IS damaged by being dropped in water or having and liquid spilled on it, there are a few things you must keep in mind to make the process of recovery easier and faster.

First and foremost, do not panic. It is important to keep your head calm and analyze the situation. Retrieve your phone and proceed to wipe it with a dry cloth. It doesn’t matter where you dropped your phone, you need to make sure it does not sit in the water any longer than it has to.

Most phones these days are water resistant but these are usually just marketing ploys and the real water resistance benchmarks are a lot lower than what they promise. This is because phone manufactures don’t expect or account for people to be testing their phones underwater and the water resistance feature is only to ensure minimum damage in the event of such accidents.

Next you want to turn off your phone, remove the SIM tray and air out any water that might be trapped inside. Most times this step is enough to fix it completely with a little rest of course. We get so many pre owned iPhones that are sold off by their owners after a minor water damage. These sorts of surface level damages can be easily fixed so you have nothing to worry about.

As a precaution, it is always recommended to back-up your data beforehand. Whether it’s your contacts or pictures on your camera roll, it is important to have everything backed up in case your phone never turns on. This is done to prevent loss of data that is crucial to you, the user. Albeit, you must try to turn your phone on to see if it still works or how bad the damage is. If it doesn’t come on don’t worry just yet. There are other ways to try and save your phone.

But be sure to take the pieces apart (your SIM card, SIM tray and battery if removable) and dry all these parts thoroughly, preferably with a warm towel. This will help soak up the water on the surface and stop it from seeping into the inner layers if it hasn’t reached there already. Under no circumstance must you put your phone in rice overnight expecting it to be fixed magically. There is no evidence backing such a claim. If anything, it might cause dirt to lump and seep into your phone worsening the damage cause by the water that seeped in.

If your phone works but you want to sell it off then you can do so with us as SmartphonesPLUS. We get tons of requests for buying water damaged phones which we fix down to the T and put them back in 100% working condition. Our refurbished iPhones for sale are some of the best in all the online marketplaces available.

So, what are the ways to revive your phone at home?

Look for silica gel that you can find in places like old shoe boxes, a handbag, your medication or perhaps in a gum container or any other place where the product is required to be preserved in good shape. Silica beads or silica gel helps keeps things dry and prevent any reaction to moisture when kept in an air tight enclosure. You will need a handful of it since your phone needs to be fully covered in it so if you don’t find enough around the house you should buy some and keep handy for such contingencies.

Surround your phone will silica gel, completely encapsulating it and leave it overnight or for 24 hours to let the gel do its job. It takes time to pull out all the moisture from between the inner electrical parts of the phone so don’t turn your phone on unless you’ve had a look at the insides by shining a light on it and it actually looks better.

Another nifty home remedy for drying wet phones is to use a hairdryer or a vacuum. Applying hot air on your phone from a hair dryer will help evaporate all the tiny clusters of water molecules trapped in those difficult little corners that are impossible to reach. Similarly you can use a vacuum cleaner with the little nozzle, to suck out any trapped water. After doing so put your phone in a warm place to try and get rid of any water that may have escaped and try turning it on after 24 hours or so.

If none of these home remedies work at this point your only option is to take your phone to a professional. At SmartphonesPLUS.com we ensure to do our best on every single repair project we undertake so bring your phone over to us at the locations given below and we’ll have an expert take a look at it.

We carry out most of our repairs with customers visiting our physical store and dropping off their devices with us. We operate out of Iowa at two separate locations – Coralville and Cedar Rapids. Full addresses are below:

1. SmartphonesPLUS Cedar Rapids
Store Hours:
Mon – Sat 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sun 11:00 – 5:00 pm
Store Phone # – (319) 214-7438
1100 Blairs Ferry Road NE, Suite 105
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

2. SmartphonesPLUS Coralville
Store Hours:
Mon – Sat 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sun 11:00 – 5:00 pm
Store Phone # – (319) 359-2324
2445 2nd St, Suite 1

Coralville, IA 52241

We specialize in cell phone trade in and repairs so if you want to trade in cell phones for new ones you’re welcome to check out our trade in deals as well.