Short answer
If you dropped your phone in water, take it out, unplug it and switch it off if it went under. Remove the case, wipe it dry, tap the water out of the ports and air-dry it before charging.
A dropped phone in water is rarely dead on arrival. Most phones survive the water itself. The damage usually comes later, from what happens in the next few minutes and the next few days.
That is awkward, because the advice online disagrees with itself. One guide says to pull the SIM tray at once, another says never to open it wet, and wait times range from five hours to three days. This guide gives the five steps first, then settles the arguments.
Push the water out now
Volume all the way up, speaker pointing down, phone away from your ear. On iPhone, turn Silent mode off first.
What happened to your speaker?
Hold the phone away from your ear. The tones are loud on purpose.
Turn the volume all the way up and point the speaker down.
More options
Dropped Phone in Water: The Five Things to Do First
These are in order of urgency. The first two take seconds, and they do more good than everything that follows.
- Get it out and unplug it. Pull any charging cable from the phone and from the wall.
- Switch it off if it went under. Hold the power button and slide to power off, without testing apps first.
- Strip it. Take off the case and any accessory, but leave the SIM tray shut for now.
- Rinse, wipe and tap. Rinse off anything that was not clean water, wipe the phone with a lint-free cloth, then tap it against your palm with the port facing down.
- Give it air and time. Stand it in a dry room with a fan on cool, and keep it off the charger.
The order is deliberate. Power and time under water decide how far the damage goes, so they come before anything cosmetic. Drying only helps once the phone has stopped pushing current through wet contacts.
Each of those steps hides a decision, and the second one causes the most arguments.
Should You Turn the Phone Off or Leave It On?
Switch it off if there is any doubt. Electricity moving through wet contacts is what turns a damp phone into a corroded one, and a phone that is off has far less current flowing. That matters most in the first minutes, when water is still moving around inside.
Google tells Pixel owners to power the phone off, dry it with a soft cloth and let it air-dry. Samsung gives the same instruction when moisture is detected. Apple’s drying guidance does not mention powering off at all, which is why guides written around iPhones often skip it.
| Situation | Off or on? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fully submerged, any phone | Off | Water may be past the seals |
| No water-resistance rating | Off | Nothing stops water reaching the board |
| Screen flickering, heat or odd behavior | Off | Signs that current is going where it should not |
| Rated phone, splashed or rained on | Can stay on | The openings are wet, the inside is sealed |
| Salt water or a sugary drink | Off after rinsing | Residue conducts and corrodes |
Leaving it off overnight costs nothing but a few missed messages. The same logic applies to how long it was under.
Does It Matter How Long the Phone Was in the Water?
Yes, though less than the searches suggest. People look up one second, two seconds, five seconds and ten seconds as if each had its own answer.
For a phone with an IP67 or IP68 rating, all of those are inside the lab test, which runs for 30 minutes at a fixed depth. For a phone with no rating, even a second is enough for water to enter through the ports and the gaps around the buttons.
| Time under water | Rated phone (IP67 or IP68) | Unrated phone |
|---|---|---|
| A splash or a second or two | Dry the outside and clear the speaker | Switch off and air-dry for a day |
| Five to ten seconds | Same, and delay charging | Switch off, dry for a day or two, expect some risk |
| A minute or more | Switch off and dry fully before use | Switch off and take it to a repair shop |
| Unknown, or found later | Treat as a long soak | Treat as a long soak |
Ratings also fade. Seals wear with age, drops and repairs, so a four-year-old phone has less protection than the box promised. The details are in is your water resistant phone actually waterproof.
What If the Phone Fell in Water but Still Works?
Then the hard part is believing there is anything left to do. A working screen proves that nothing has failed yet, which is different from proving that the inside is dry.
Repair technicians describe the same pattern again and again. The phone works for days. Then the speaker fades, the camera fogs or charging becomes unreliable as corrosion spreads across contacts that stayed damp.
Three things are worth doing while it still works. Back up photos and messages today, dry the phone as carefully as one that is misbehaving, and hold off on cable charging until the port is dry.
Over the following week, watch for:
- The speaker getting quieter or starting to crackle
- Fog behind a camera lens
- A charging cable that needs a wiggle to connect
None of that takes long, and it is cheap insurance against a surprise next week. What the phone landed in matters just as much.
How the Liquid Changes the Plan
Clean water evaporates and leaves almost nothing behind. Everything else leaves something, and that residue does the long-term damage.
| Liquid | What it leaves | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Tap water or rain | Very little | Wipe, tap out, air-dry |
| Toilet water | Bacteria on the outside | Rinse briefly, dry, then clean the outside with a disinfecting wipe |
| Sea water | Salt crystals that corrode metal | Rinse with fresh water at once, dry, get it checked |
| Pool water | Chlorine and other chemicals | Rinse with fresh water, then dry |
| Soda, juice, coffee or beer | Sticky sugar film | Rinse soon, before it sets |
| Washing machine | Detergent, which works against the seals | Switch off and take it to a repair shop |
Rinsing a wet phone feels like making things worse. Apple and Consumer Reports both recommend it for anything other than plain water, because residue is harder to shift than water. Keep it brief, with a gentle stream over the affected area.
Toilet water is unpleasant but chemically mild, so the phone is usually in less danger than its owner’s dignity. Apple allows a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe on the outside of an iPhone, as long as moisture stays out of the openings.
More on the worst offenders is in saltwater and pool water.
Drying It Properly: Air, Silica Gel and Time
Moving air does the real work. Stand the phone upright on a cloth with the port at the bottom and point a fan at it on a cool setting. Then leave it alone, which is harder than it sounds.
Silica gel packets in a sealed bag are a fair second choice, particularly in a humid room. They pull moisture out of the surrounding air, so they help evaporation along without touching the phone.
How Long to Wait Before Switching It On
Advice ranges from a few hours to three days. The right figure depends on the phone and on how wet it got. Consumer Reports dried its test phones in front of a fan and checked them at 24, 48 and 72 hours.
| Situation | Sensible wait before switching on |
|---|---|
| Rated phone, brief dunk, stayed on | No wait, but dry the ports |
| Rated phone, fully submerged | About 24 hours |
| Unrated phone, or a long soak | 48 hours |
| Salt water or a drink, after rinsing | 48 hours, then a repair check |
How Long to Wait Before Charging
Charging is the riskier step, because it puts current through the wettest part of the phone. Apple says to wait at least five hours before charging with a cable, and a Samsung phone refuses to charge while its water-drop icon shows.
Wireless charging is the safer choice in the meantime. The full breakdown is in how long to wait before charging a wet phone.
Waiting is where most people reach for the pantry.
Can Rice Really Save a Wet Phone?
No. The belief is understandable, since the phone often works after a day in rice. It would have worked after a day on the shelf as well, and the shelf does not leave starch in the charging port.
Apple now tells owners not to put an iPhone in a bag of rice, because small particles can get inside. Open air and a fan dry a phone at least as well. The longer comparison is in rice vs silica gel for a wet phone.
Rice is at least harmless most of the time. Some other reflexes are not.
Panic Moves That Make Things Worse
Every item here feels helpful in the moment. That is what makes them common.
| Move | What goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Plugging in to see if it charges | Current through wet pins corrodes them |
| Hair dryer, radiator or oven | Heat weakens seals and can warp parts |
| Shaking hard or blowing into ports | Drives water deeper |
| Compressed air | Forces water past the mesh |
| Cotton swab or alcohol in the port | Leaves fibers and can damage contacts |
| Pulling the SIM tray while wet | Opens a path for water to run inside |
| Pressing buttons to test them | Works water into the switch |
The SIM tray is the one that surprises people, because so many guides list it as a first step. Apple’s advice is to make sure the phone is dry before opening it. An hour makes no difference to the SIM.
Of everything in the table, plugging in is the move that turns a recoverable phone into a repair job. The charging port holds water longer than any other part, and it carries the most current.
Once the outside is dry and the phone is back on, one problem usually remains.
Getting the Sound Back Once the Phone Is Dry
Muffled, quiet or crackly sound is the most common leftover, and it is often the easiest to fix. Water sits in the speaker grille long after the rest of the phone has dried.
The cleaner at the top of this page plays a low tone that pushes that water out. Turn the volume up fully, point the speaker at the floor and run the It got wet cycle two or three times. It is worth doing even when the speaker sounds only slightly dull, because water left in the grille can carry dust deeper into the mesh as it dries.
There are step-by-step versions for both platforms, getting water out of an iPhone speaker and removing water from an Android phone speaker.
If the sound never comes back, it belongs on the list below.
How Do You Know If a Phone Is Permanently Water Damaged?
Look for faults that appear or grow after the phone is fully dry. A problem that fades over a day or two was water, and one that spreads is corrosion.
| Sign | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| Fog or droplets behind the camera lens or screen | Water is inside the body |
| Speaker crackles at every volume when dry | Damaged speaker |
| Charging is unreliable or the port warning stays | Corroded port |
| Battery drains fast or the phone runs hot at rest | Short circuit on the board |
| Lines, dark patches or ghost touches on the screen | Display damage |
| Green or white crust in the port | Visible corrosion |
Technicians also check a liquid indicator, a small sticker inside the SIM slot that turns red or pink after contact with water. Apple publishes where the indicator sits on each iPhone model. A red indicator settles any warranty question quickly.
Should You Repair It, Claim on Insurance or Wait?
A phone that dried out and behaves normally can simply be watched. The lists below mark the line between waiting and acting.
Keep watching at home if:
- The phone has a water rating and the liquid was clean water
- Every function works once it is dry
- The speaker cleared after a few cycles
- A week has passed with no new faults
Act now if:
- It went into salt water, a drink or the washing machine
- The phone has no water rating and was fully submerged
- Any sign from the table above has appeared
- It will not switch on after two days of drying
Standard warranties from Apple, Samsung and other makers do not cover liquid damage. Insurance and plans such as AppleCare+ often do, for a fee, so check the policy before paying a repair shop.
A repair shop can open the phone, clean the board and replace a corroded port. The earlier that happens the better the odds, since corrosion hardens with time and spreads to parts that were never wet.
No single rule covers every phone, though a backup made today pays off in every case.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Phones Still Work After Being Dropped in Water?
Yes, most do. Phones with an IP67 or IP68 rating are built to survive a short dunk, and many unrated phones recover if they are switched off and dried quickly. The risk is corrosion that shows up days later, so dry it properly even if it works.
How Long Can a Phone Survive in Water?
It depends on the rating. An IP68 phone is tested for 30 minutes at a set depth in fresh water, and an IP67 phone for 30 minutes at one meter. Those are lab figures for a new phone. A phone with no rating has no guaranteed time at all.
What Is the Fastest Way to Dry a Wet Phone?
Moving air is the fastest safe method. Wipe the phone, tap the water out of the ports and stand it in front of a fan on a cool setting. Heat is faster still, but it damages seals and parts.
What Pulls Moisture Out of a Phone?
Dry, moving air does most of it, and silica gel packets in a sealed bag help by keeping the air around the phone dry so the water inside can evaporate. Rice does very little, and it leaves dust behind.
Will Water Damage Go Away on Its Own?
Water will, but residue and corrosion will not. A muffled speaker or a port warning often clears as the phone dries. Faults that appear later, or get worse over several days, need a repair shop to look inside.
Should You Take the SIM Card Out of a Wet Phone?
Not straight away, because opening the tray on a wet phone gives water a way in. Once the outside is dry to the touch, removing the tray for a while does no harm and lets the slot air out.
How Do You Clean a Phone That Fell in the Toilet?
Rinse it briefly with clean water, dry it, and wipe the outside with a disinfecting wipe once it is dry. Keep moisture away from the openings and avoid bleach. Then follow the normal drying steps.
Does a Water-Resistant Phone Need Any of This?
Yes, the outside steps still apply. The rating protects the sealed electronics, while the speaker, microphone and charging port still fill with water. Dry them before charging, and clear the speaker with a tone once the phone is on.
Conclusion
When a phone goes into water, the first minutes decide most of the outcome. Get it out, unplug it, switch it off if it went under, strip the case and let moving air do the drying.
Skip rice and heat, wait before charging, and clear the speaker once the phone is dry. If new faults appear over the following days, back up the data and get the phone checked.
