Here's What to Do If You Drop Your Phone in Water (Hint: Don't Use Rice)

When you drop your phone in water, the first thing you probably do is panic. Then, after the initial shock and horror wear off and you quickly remove it from the water, wherever that may be (if it's a toilet, we feel your pain), you're probably wondering what to do next. Well, try not to further freak out, because you want to make sure you first remove the battery (don't bother powering it off unless that's your only option for cutting the power). This is to prevent it from short circuiting. But is it possible to save a phone that's been completely submerged in water? Sometimes. Here's what to try.

1. Drop the Phone Into a Bag of Drying Agents

The cheapest phone-saving strategy that many people seem to share most often is dropping your wet phone into a bag of dried rice, sealing it up, and allowing it to sit for 24 to 36 hours. It might be wise to lightly wrap the phone in a paper towel because when dry rice absorbs liquid, well, it becomes wet rice. And wet rice sticking in all of your phones orifices isn't exactly an ideal scenario. If it were me, I would not use a bag of rice unless I was completely desperate. There are much better drying agents to use, like the silica packets you find in shoe boxes, vitamin bottles, and sometimes freeze-dried fruits (the ones that say "Do Not Eat"). These are meant for keeping environments dry and would be a much better strategy than a bag of sticky rice.

2. Wash Your Phone

Say what? I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on using a phone that fell into a toilet bowl without washing it off. If it happens to fall into a large body of salty water like the ocean, you don't want to leave the salt water on there. When washing it, running water over it gently is probably your best bet, but do not submerge it in water.

3. Allow It to Dry For a Long Time

Forty-eight hours should be the minimum amount of time allowed for letting your phone dry. Waiting longer is even better. When you're setting it up to dry, try to avoid shaking it or moving it around too much because you don't want to shake the water into previously dry spaces. It's also a good idea to dry it at a slant after it has sat for a while, tilting it so the USB port faces down, allowing any remaining water to drain out of the phone.

4. The "Don't" List

Don't blow dry your phone or use heat sources to try and make the water evaporate. Phones, and technology in general, aren't huge fans of that type of suffering. Don't stick your phone in the freezer — water expands as it freezes. Don't try and use your phone to see if it still works right after the incident. And don't plug it in.

A wet phone isn't necessarily a death sentence for your trusty sidekick. With some preventative and preparatory measures, a wet phone might just be a minor problem rather than a major catastrophe.