Content

• Steps
• Advice

If your phone is dropped in water and you have to find a way to handle it, don't worry. There are many ways to handle this situation without having to put your phone in a bowl of rice. In fact, rice isn't even a reliable ingredient for drying phones. When you want to dry your phone, it is imperative that you take it out of the water and take it apart as soon as possible. Dry the components and put them in the desiccant for at least 48 hours. Also, do not shake the wet phone as this may make it worse.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Choosing desiccant ingredients

1. 

   Try a glass beads cat litter. This sanitary sand is made from silica gel. This is a great hygroscopic effect and will be effective in drying wet phones. You can buy glass beads cat litter at any supermarket or pet product store.
   • Do not use other types of sanitary sand. Clay or powdered sanitary sand will stick to the phone and leave wet streaks of clay.

2. 

   
   
   Try instant oats. Instant oats absorb more water than plain rolled oats and much better than chopped oats. If you have instant oats at home, this is probably the most effective ingredient you can use to dry your phone. However, if you use oats to dry the components of the phone, you will notice that the phone has little sticky spots left behind by oat dust.
   • You can buy flavorless instant oats at the supermarket.

3. 

   
   
   Find desiccant packages that you can use. Desiccants are packages about 2cm long that are placed in many products such as shoe boxes, dry food (such as beef jerky or seasoning) and electronic devices. Desiccant packages often contain silica particles that have a high absorbency, so they can absorb moisture in a phone. You do not need to tear the desiccant package. Just stack the desiccant packages on top of your phone and wait for them to absorb the moisture.
   • This option is only feasible if you have saved many desiccant packages for many months. However, this is not a bad idea either: a lot of people own a smartphone, and the likelihood of dropping it in water at any given moment is quite high.
   • Or, if a desiccant pack is not available, you can order it in bulk at online stores.

4. 

   
   
   Use the couscous to dry the phone. Couscous is a type of ground wheat that has been ground and dried. This small, dry seed has the same effect as instant silica or oat grains and will absorb the moisture in phone components. You can buy couscous seeds at grocery stores or supermarkets. Couscous seeds won't leave any dust on the phone, so this option is cleaner than instant oats.
   • Be sure to buy unflavored couscous.
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Part 2 of 3: Take the phone out of the water

1. 

   Remove the phone from the water immediately. Regardless of whether you drop your phone in the toilet, bathtub or a lake, the first thing to do is get it out of the water right away. The longer you leave your phone in water, the more severe it will be damaged.
   • Leaving the phone in water for too long can cause water to get into electronic components.

2. 

   Remove phone battery and external parts. Before you go to drying out the outside of your phone, remove electronic components. Open the back cover of the phone and remove the battery and SIM card. If your phone has an SD card, don't forget to remove it too.
   • The internal components determine the performance of the phone. If they get wet, the phone will not work.

3. 

   Blow water out of the phone's components and dry it with a towel. Blowing your phone's electronic components removes most of the water in it. Next, wipe each part with a clean cloth to absorb any remaining water on the surface. You should only use desiccant to absorb the remaining water in the components.
   • Instead of blowing, you can also shake the components vigorously. However, be careful not to throw the battery in a strong position in the room.
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Part 3 of 3: Use desiccant ingredients

1. 

   Put the phone components in a box with a capacity of 1-2 liters. If you want to put the phone in a desiccant layer, you'll need a lot of this material. So look in the kitchen cabinet and take out a big empty jar, big bowl or big pot, and put all the disassembled phone parts in it.
   • You don't need a phone case. This accessory is not critical to the performance of the phone and will dry by itself when exposed to air.

2. 

   Pour at least 4 cups (340 grams) of the desiccant onto the phone. Do not save on the desiccant you choose. You will need a large amount of desiccant to soak up the remaining water in your phone's electronic components.
   • Cover the contents of your phone if you are using an inedible desiccant such as silica gel.

3. 

   Put the phone in the desiccant for 2-3 days. It will take a long time for the phone to completely dry and function properly. Therefore, keep the phone in the desiccant material for at least 48 hours. If you take out your phone too soon, there may be water inside the phone.
   • If you need to use your phone during this time, you can ask to borrow from friends.Or, get in touch via email and social media instead of texting and calling.

4. 

   Plug in the phone and try to turn on the power. After 48-72 hours, you will remove the phone from the desiccant. Clean up the desiccant from the phone and insert the battery, SIM card and SD memory card into the phone. The last thing is to press the power button to turn on the phone.
   • If your phone doesn't work after drying - or, if it boots up but flickers or the screen goes down, you need to take it to a repair center.
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Advice

• If you don't have a desiccant, put the phone in a cool room and let the fan blow into the phone.
• Do not place the device in a warm oven or dryer. Heat can damage or even melt important phone components.
• If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone (or another Android model), you can open the back cover with your fingernails. Some machines will need a small screwdriver, such as the one used to screw the glasses. On the iPhone, you must use a special spiked screwdriver.