Water Damage

When your phone takes a dip there is a great chance that it will survive it if you do things right. After serious water intrusion (in my case my phone was in my trouser’s pocket when I fell into the canal, and it took me maybe a minute to get out) you will have to have it cleaned by a specialist to prevent corrosion, but that is actually not that expensive (GBP 20 in Edinburgh for an iPhone).

Here is what to do: 

• Wipe it off well. 
• The most important thing which has to be done RIGHT AWAY: Take out the battery as soon as possible. If you can’t do it yourself (because you have an iPhone) take it to a phone repair shop and have the battery removed immediately - really any seedy phone repair shop should be able to do that. 
• Take out the SIM card and dry it with a wipe - in case your phone dies you want to make sure your SIM card doesn’t. 
• Once the battery is out you still need to have your phone cleaned and wiped with alcohol by a professional, since remaining water will corrode the contacts over time. But you don’t need to do this immediately - a few days later should be fine. 

Here is what not to do:

• Don’t press any buttons! 
• Don’t charge it. 
• Don’t use a hair-dryer, oven, or microwave to dry it. 
• Don’t put it in a sealed plastic bag with rice to dry it as recommended in the internet- rice is dusty, and the dust is even worse for your phone than the water. 

Apart from using the microwave, I did everything wrong and my phone is beyond repair. The good news is, should I ever have a smartphone again and should I ever fall into a canal again with my smartphone in my pocket, I will know exactly what to do. Also, should anyone have a spare, unlocked iPhone I’ll be happy to give it a new (dry) home!