What to Do When Your Phone is Water Damaged (Hint: Don't Use Rice!)
It’s a situation almost everyone has faced at least once: you’re reaching for your phone, and in a split second, disaster strikes. Maybe it slips out of your pocket and lands in the toilet. Maybe you knocked over your iced coffee and watched it soak into your charging port. Or maybe you’re at the pool, enjoying a sunny day, when suddenly your phone cannonballs into the deep end.
In that moment, your stomach drops. Your heart races. You scramble to grab your device, praying it still works, pressing buttons, shaking it around, and — for many people — immediately thinking of the one piece of “advice” we’ve all heard:
“Put it in a bowl of rice.”
The “rice trick” has been around for years. It sounds logical — rice absorbs moisture, so maybe it’ll draw out the water from inside your phone, right? Unfortunately, that bit of folk wisdom has caused more ruined phones than it has saved. Not only is rice slow and ineffective, but it can actually make the situation worse by allowing corrosion to set in and leaving tiny starch particles behind.
Here’s the good news: you’re not helpless. There are proven steps you can take in the crucial first minutes after your phone gets wet — steps that give your device the best chance at survival. In this guide, I’ll walk you through what really works, why rice is a myth, and when it’s time to call in a professional.
Immediate Action: 5 Crucial Steps to Save Your Soaked Smartphone
Time is everything when your phone takes an unexpected bath. The first few minutes can make or break your chances of reviving it. Here are the five steps you should take immediately — no guesswork, no gimmicks.
This is hands down the most important step.
Water itself isn’t the true killer — electricity is. When water comes into contact with the phone’s circuits, it can cause a short. That short is what fries your motherboard, screen, or battery.
If your phone is still on after the dunk, resist the urge to check if it’s working. Don’t text someone “my phone got wet,” don’t try to call it, and don’t press the power button repeatedly. Turn it off and leave it off.
Think of it like a car engine flooding: the more you try to start it, the worse the damage gets. Shutting down cuts off the electrical current and reduces the risk of catastrophic failure.
If your phone was charging when it got wet, unplug it right away. Water and electricity are a dangerous combination for you and the phone.
The same goes for headphones, USB devices, or anything else attached to the device. Leaving accessories connected creates more pathways for water to travel inside and makes drying harder.
