Water damage: what to do in the first 30 minutes
December 19, 20254 min readDr Phone Fix Group Engineering
Rice does nothing. What you do in the first half hour decides whether the board survives — here is the sequence that actually works.
Liquid rarely kills a device instantly. Corrosion does, over hours and days, as moisture reacts with the board's power rails while current is still flowing.
Do this
Power the device off immediately and do not press any buttons. Dry the exterior, remove any case and SIM tray, and keep it upright and cool. Then get it to a repair lab as fast as possible.
Do not do this
Do not charge it, do not use a hairdryer, and do not put it in rice — rice absorbs nothing from a sealed chassis and buys corrosion another day to spread. Ultrasonic cleaning within 24 hours is what actually saves boards.