Prevent phone water damage - How to dry an Apple iPhone 5, 5c and 5s.

Andy C

• 2 min read

Some smartphones like Motorola’s Defy and Defy+ or Sony’s super-resistant Xperia Z are not afraid of water.

Those good old Nokia phones are also not afraid of anything in the world, even time.

But if you’re a lucky owner of an Apple iPhone, you already know that water isn’t its the best friend, and letting it get wet isn’t the smartest thing you can do.

However, sometimes incidents happen, and not really waterproof devices that don’t have any protective cases, too, fall into water or down the toilet.

So what should you do if you’re a victim of phone water damage? Actually, there is no guaranteed way to make it work after it has taken a shower, but you shouldn’t give up anyway – if you follow the steps below and do everything quickly, the chances are high that you’ll be able to revive it.

1.** Take the iPhone out as soon as possible** – don’t let it spend too much time in water.

2.** DO NOT try to switch it on, no matter what**. It will only make the things worse. Also, DO NOT try to plug it into a charger for the same reason – even if it was possible to save it, after its contact with electricity you can just throw it away and buy a new one.

3.** Take out the SIM card**, but be very careful not to shake the iPhone too much, or the displaced water can harm the phone even more. Try to wipe the SIM card with a towel.

  1. Some people advise using vacuum cleaners to draw the residual moisture, but even if it works with devices that have removable batteries, it won’t work with the iPhone, unfortunately. So don’t waste your time on it. Neither should you use a hair drier – it’s completely senseless.

  2. When the SIM card is removed, put your iPhone in a huge bag of silica gel if you have one (which is not likely…) for at least two or three days – silica gel absorbs moisture better than anything else.

  3. If you don’t have any silica gel at hand, you can try using uncooked rise instead – it can also draw out the moisture. Just fill a big bowl with rice and bury your phone in it, again for two-three days.

7.** After those two to three days**, when your phone is most likely completely dry, you can put the SIM card back and try to turn it on. If you’re lucky enough, your iPhone will be working again. If no… well, at least you’ll know you did everything you could.

8.** One more thing:**it is usually useless to take a drowned iPhone to the shop you bought it from, since the technicians there will know it was soaked (there are special “Liquid Submersion indicators” on the iPhone – they turn pink when water touches them), and it’s a non-warranty case. However, you can still need the help of the guys from the service center to do a factory reset to make the phone work better.For the latest Apple iPhone 5 deals and, visit the Mobiles.co.uk Apple shop