Dropped your phone in water? Do these 5 things in the first 5 minutes
Forget rice. Here's what actually saves a wet phone — and what makes it worse.
Phone in the toilet, the pool, a pint? The next five minutes decide whether it's a £50 fix or a £700 paperweight. Don't panic — and don't put it in rice.
1. Power off immediately
Don't try the buttons in random order — hold the power + volume-down (iPhone) or power button (Android) and shut down properly. Water + electricity = corrosion in seconds.
2. Don't plug it in. Ever.
Charging a wet phone is the single fastest way to fry the logic board. Don't even check if it's working — just leave it off.
3. Dry the outside, don't shake it
Towel-dry the outside. Don't shake the phone, don't blow into the port, don't hairdryer it — all those push moisture deeper into the chassis.
4. Skip the rice
The rice trick doesn't work. Rice absorbs ambient humidity but it can't pull moisture out of a sealed chassis. What rice does do is push dust and starch into the ports. We've seen plenty.
5. Bring it in within 24 hours
A wet phone opened within 24 hours and ultrasonically cleaned has a 70–80% recovery rate. Wait a week and that drops to under 30% — once corrosion sets in, components are dead.
Our water-damage diagnostic is £25 — refunded if we can't save the phone. WhatsApp us a photo and we'll tell you whether to come straight in.