**DISCLAIMER: This post is solely based on experience. I cannot vouch for the results used with other methods, but please feel free to try them if need be.**
NOTE TO SELF: Never put your phone in your back pocket before you have to pee.
Yeah, more on that in a sec…
But first, good morning everyone and Happy How-To Tuesday!!!! 🙂
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That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see your phone where it shouldn’t be – submerged in water – is certainly unpleasant, but not an uncommon experience.
I have good news: YOUR PHONE CAN BE SAVED!
You’ve probably heard a story similar to this one: “My friend’s phone died after it fell into the toilet, but he put it in a container of rice and now it’s fine!” Is it really though?
A couple of questions first:
- If your phone gets wet, what is the absolute best way to recover it?
- Is rice really the best household agent for drying out a drowned phone?
Here’s what happened:
Not even realizing my phone was in my back pocket, I was about to pee when I heard a soft plop! in the toilet bowl. I let out a big “NO!” when I realized what had happened, but thankfully, I grabbed it while it was only submerged for about 1-2 seconds. I took off the case, dried it off as best as I could with a clean towel, and then attempted to see if it still worked. Luckily the phone was still working, but my touch screen wasn’t….I went into panic mode and went to the first solution I’d heard about: putting it in a bag of rice. I left it in there for a little over an hour, and when I returned to check on it, the touch screen still wasn’t working. Yeah, I know you’re supposed to leave it in there for 24 hours, but I’m a bit of an impatient mamacita.
So alas poor rice, you were not the one for me.
Hmm, how to speed up the process….
You know what I put it in?
Not silica gel, not rice, not couscous………OLD-FASHIONED ROLLED OATS.
Yes!!!!! Would you expect anything less from me?! I left it in a bag of rolled oats for about 2-3 hours and then tried to see if the touch screen worked again.
IT DID!
Oats, you never fail me. You are my one and only. 😉
However, I recommend focusing on shaking, blowing, or vacuuming as much water out of the phone as you can before trying to dry out your device. Use oats as the last step to really absorb the rest of the moisture.
Also, as soon as your remove your phone from the water, be sure to power it down so it doesn’t short-circuit. Since my touch screen wouldn’t work I couldn’t do this, but my phone wasn’t in the water for very long. I ended up turning it off later when the touch screen worked for about a second.
You could also air it out: In dry climates, good air circulation may be all you need. A fan may improve airflow through the phone’s ports.
But really, who would’ve thought that oats worked the fastest? Honestly, I laughed so hard at myself.
If it doesn’t work, you could resort back to rice, but I don’t think rice will be as faithful as oats. Again, it depends on how badly your phone was submerged.
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Forever and ever.
Have a wonderful day everyone! 🙂