It can happen to the best of us, we’re at the beach, by the pool, or the most common one, using the toilet (yuck!), when our phone slips and falls straight into the water! That’s it, right? You may wonder if you can generate cash for your phone for whatever value you can.

Follow these steps immediately after dropping your phone in water—let’s call it CPR for your drowned phone—and you may be able to save it’s life!

How to Save a Phone from Water Damage

Step 1:  Remove it from water. Take your phone out of the water as soon as you possibly can! The longer that you phone sits in the water, the more damage it will create as the water seeps into your phone. 

If you’re able to get your phone out of the water as fast enough, you may experience no water damage to your phone whatsoever, but we wouldn’t risk no following the rest of these steps!

Step 2: Take the battery out or shut your phone off. Certain phone models (such as the iPhone) won’t allow you to easily remove the battery, but if you can take the battery out of your phone, do it! If you can’t take the battery out of your phone after it falls in water, then turn it off as quickly as possible. 

Step 3: Remove all obstacles. How is water going to get out of your phone? Through all the ports and small openings in your phone, so don’t block them! Remove these items:

●      SIM card

●      Micro SD card

●      Headphones

●      Phone case

Step 4: Get out as much water out of the phone by hand as possible. Try to tilt your phone from side to side where openings are to see if you can get any liquid to drain out.

Step 5: Suck the water from your phone. If you have a wet/dry vacuum, get it out! You can use your vacuum try to suck some of the water out, just make sure you’ve already done step 3 first.

Step 6 [Optional] : Open it up. Your phone’s warranty has already been void by dropping your phone in the water, so opening it up won’t do anything but help! We’ve labeled this as optional  because you may not have the right tools on hand to accomplish this—smartphones have very tiny screws. You can do a search online for guides to open up any type of smartphone.

Step 7: Dry your phone out. You have 2 options some it comes to drying a phone after it falls into water: let it air dry or absorb it. 

You might feel like you’re not being proactive enough about drying your phone by letting it air dry, but this can actually be an extremely effective method if the air isn’t humid.

If it’s too humid to allow your smartphone to air dry, absorbing the liquid is going to be the route to go. Try these options to absorb water:

●      Silica Gel: You know these little tiny packets that come in just about everything you buy that say “Do Not Eat”? They’re perfect for absorbing water from smartphones! Try using silica gel crystals, found on Amazon or look for crystal cat litter at your local supermarket or pet store.

●      Instant Couscous or Rice: Forget about regular rice, instant is the way to go! Instant rice absorbs water more quickly than regular rice.

You might want to keep either of these in stock in your home just incase.

Give your phone a few days to dry and do not turn your phone on—resist the urge to check your phone or else you may cause more damage. In a couple days charge up your smartphone, cross your fingers, and power it up!

If it just won’t turn on, it’s time to say goodbye to your phone and start the search for a new phone. If you don’t have the money saved up for a brand new smartphone, think about buying a used phone to save so money! 

Check out some great used smartphones we have for sale now right now.