Emergency guide · June 2026
Phone dropped in water — what to do right now.
Your phone just got wet. Maybe it fell in the toilet, the pool, a puddle, or you spilled a drink on it. Here's exactly what to do in the next 60 seconds — and in the next 48 hours — to give it the best chance of surviving. Written by a technician who sees water damage every week.
Do NOT turn it on. Do NOT charge it. Do NOT plug anything in.
If your phone is still on, power it off immediately. If it's already off, leave it off. The single biggest cause of permanent water damage is powering on a wet phone — the residual moisture causes a short circuit on the logic board that turns a $49 cleaning into a $300+ repair. Every minute it stays powered on while wet increases the risk.
The first 60 seconds
Step 1: Get it out of the water and power it off
Remove the phone from water immediately. If it's still on, hold the power button and slide to power off (iPhone) or hold power for 10 seconds (Samsung/Pixel). If it won't respond, that's OK — just don't try to charge it or plug anything in.
Step 2: Remove the case and SIM tray
Take off any case — water gets trapped between the case and the phone body. Use the SIM ejector pin (or a paperclip) to pop out the SIM tray. This opens a small hole that helps water drain from the interior. If you have a microSD card slot, remove that too.
Step 3: Shake out excess water gently
Hold the phone with the charging port facing down and gently tap the side against your palm. This helps drain water from the USB-C/Lightning port and speaker grilles. Don't shake it violently — you'll push water deeper into the internals.
Step 4: Pat dry with a lint-free cloth
Use a clean, lint-free cloth (microfibre is ideal) to dab the exterior dry. Pay attention to the charging port, speaker grilles, and SIM tray slot. Don't use a hairdryer, heat gun, or any heat source — heat warps internal adhesives and can crack the battery. Don't push anything into the ports (no cotton buds, no tissue paper, no compressed air).
The next 48 hours
Place the phone in a dry, well-ventilated spot with the charging port facing down. A warm room (not hot — not direct sunlight, not on a radiator) with good airflow is ideal. If you have silica gel packets (the little "DO NOT EAT" sachets from shoe boxes), put the phone in a sealed container or zip-lock bag with as many packets as you can find. Silica gel actually absorbs moisture; rice does not.
Wait at least 48 hours before turning it on. 24 hours if using silica gel. This is the hardest part — the temptation to check if it works is strong. Resist it. Powering on a phone with residual internal moisture is the #1 cause of permanent logic board damage. The repair techs who see these phones every day will tell you: the ones that survive are the ones that stayed off long enough.
What NOT to do — the myths
Don't put it in rice. This is the most persistent phone myth and it's simply wrong. Multiple independent studies (including by Gazelle, iFixit, and various electronics repair associations) have shown that rice performs no better than open air at removing moisture. What rice does do is introduce starch dust into your charging port and speakers, creating a new problem. Use silica gel if you have it; otherwise, air drying in a ventilated spot is equally effective and doesn't clog your ports.
Don't use a hairdryer or heat source. The adhesives holding your screen, battery, and back glass are heat-sensitive. A hairdryer can soften the screen adhesive (causing separation), warp the battery (swelling risk), or crack the back glass seal. Room temperature air is all you need.
Don't put it in the freezer. This was a viral "hack" that makes no sense. Freezing water inside the phone doesn't remove it — it just freezes it in place and then thaws when you take it out, potentially pushing moisture into new areas. And ice crystals can crack solder joints on the logic board.
Don't charge it. Plugging a charging cable into a wet USB-C or Lightning port can short-circuit the charging IC (the chip that manages power delivery). iPhone will warn you ("Liquid Detected in Lightning Connector") and refuse to charge — this is a safety feature, not a bug. Samsung phones may not warn you. In either case, don't charge until you're confident the port is completely dry.
"But my phone is IP68 waterproof?"
No phone is waterproof. They are water-resistant — and there's a critical difference.
IP68 means the phone survived a lab test in clean, still, room-temperature fresh water at a specific depth for a specific time (typically 1.5m for 30 minutes). Your situation is almost certainly different: pool water has chlorine, seawater has salt, toilet water has bacteria, beer has sugar, and dropping the phone from pocket height creates impact force that can compromise seals.
More importantly, water resistance degrades over time. The rubber seals that keep water out are compressed every time you press a button, expanded every time the phone heats up, and weakened by normal wear. A 2-year-old IP68 phone has significantly less water resistance than it did on day one. Apple and Samsung both acknowledge this — and neither covers water damage under warranty, even on IP68 phones.
Treat water resistance as a safety net for accidental splashes, not an invitation to take your phone swimming.
When to take it to a repair shop
Immediately, if you can. The best outcome for a water-damaged phone is professional ultrasonic cleaning within 24 hours. An ultrasonic cleaner uses high-frequency sound waves in a specialised cleaning solution to remove all moisture and residue from the logic board — including mineral deposits from non-pure water (tap water, pool water, seawater) that cause corrosion over days and weeks.
If you can get to a repair shop within a few hours of the water exposure, skip the 48-hour home drying and go straight to the shop. Professional cleaning before corrosion sets in has the highest success rate.
After 48 hours, if the phone doesn't work normally. Common post-water symptoms: speaker sounds muffled or crackly, screen has spots or lines, charging is intermittent, Face ID or fingerprint doesn't work, phone overheats, battery drains unusually fast. Any of these warrants a professional assessment.
What water damage repair costs
Ultrasonic cleaning (standard treatment): $49–$99 AUD at most independent shops. This is the first step for any water-damaged phone. It removes moisture and residue from the logic board and internal components. Success rate is high if done within 48 hours of exposure.
Component replacement (if needed after cleaning): If specific components are damaged, they need individual repair on top of the cleaning. Screen replacement costs vary by model ($109–$619). Battery replacement runs $69–$169. Charging port replacement is $69–$149.
Logic board micro-soldering (worst case): If corrosion has damaged the logic board itself, micro-soldering repair costs $200–$400+. Not all shops offer this — it requires specialist equipment and training. This is where the cost starts approaching "replace the phone" territory. See our repair vs replace guide for the decision framework.
Total realistic range: $49 (cleaning only, phone recovers fully) to $499+ (cleaning + component replacements + board repair). The average water damage repair that walks into an Australian shop in 2026 costs $79–$199, because most phones that get professional treatment within 48 hours recover with cleaning alone or cleaning + one component.
The bottom line
Power it off. Don't charge it. Don't rice it. If you can get to a repair shop quickly, do that. If not, air-dry for 48 hours with the port facing down. The phones that survive water damage are the ones that stayed off long enough for the moisture to clear before being powered on. Patience is the cheapest repair you'll ever pay for.
For pricing on any specific repair that might be needed after water damage, use the repair calculator or browse all 75+ models with pricing. For city-specific pricing, see our city pages.