When water goes wrong

We’ve all done it at some point or another. Whether it’s leaving a pair of earphones in your pocket when they go through the wash or dropping your phone in the washing up bowl, we’ve all managed to get out beloved electronics wet at some point or another.

It’s bad enough when you damage something relatively cheap, but when you soak your refurbished iPhone XS Max, it can seem like the end of the world. Your iPhone isn’t just an expensive bit of kit, it’s one of the cornerstones of your life. These days, we use our phones for everything from personal organisers to social hubs, and the prospect of losing that connection is enough to cause panic in anyone.

The more complicated iPhones have become, the more vulnerable they have become to damage. Thankfully, the internet has plenty of solutions to the problem of when you give your iPhone an unexpected bath.

Rule one: Don’t panic

While we can almost guarantee you won’t remember this if you drop your phone in the bath, it’s worth remembering that modern iPhones are built and certified with a certain amount of water resistance. In the case of most of them, they can be submerged in a couple of metres worth of water for up to around 30 minutes and survive.

With that in mind, a little dunk in the sink is not going to destroy your phone if you get it out quickly. If you don’t panic, there are steps you can take to ensure that the damage isn’t too extensive.

The first thing you should do is turn your phone off. If it is turned off in the water, don’t try and turn it back on, as this can cause further damage. No matter the level of resistance a phone has to immersion, electricity and water are never going to mix. Take the phone out of a case and dry it off with a towel.

The next step is to try and get as much moisture out of the internal workings of your phone, and for that, there are a couple of different methods.

Rice, rice baby

We’ve all heard the old trick of putting your phone in a bowl of dry rice to suck out the moisture. The unsurprising thing about the old trick is that it doesn’t actually work. While you can cover your iPhone in rice if you feel like it, you’re better off leaving your phone uncovered in an airy location – the airflow is what dries your phone, not the rice. The important thing is to leave your phone turned off and dry for at least 48 hours.

A better option is those small silica packets you find in packages of clothing – unlike rice, they are specifically formulated to soak up moisture. You need to have enough of them to completely cover the device, and they can be bought online.

And when it’s the choice between buying some silica packets or an entirely new iPhone, it’s an easy decision to make.