Today, every flagship smartphones are water resistant while some of the mid-range phones may not have the official IP rating but still keep water out of contact in favorable conditions. But there’s still a lot of smartphones that aren’t water-resistant and any contact with water that affects its internal assembly can render the phone useless. Water is a deterrent that can cause water damaged smartphone useless and thus, it must be avoided but since you can’t control every aspect of your life, suppose that you were clicking pictures poolside or beachside or just reading the news or going through your Instagram while relieving yourself if the urinal and suddenly the phone slips. What do you do? The phone has come in contact with water and now it could get damaged unless you do something to prevent it and here’s what you must do.
How to fix Wiko water damaged smartphone?
It is a tragedy if you accidentally drop or slip the phone in water or say spill tea or any other liquid on it and thus, there is a specific set of “do’s” and “don’t” that you must follow in order to minimize the impact and try to get the phone start working again. Before we can look into the procedure on what should be done, here’s what you should avoid.
First of all, you should panic even if you have accidentally/deliberated/negligently dropped the phone in water because the fact is, water act as a damaging agent for phones and the more it stays in the water, the more damage it makes and panicking can elongate that duration. Thus, no panicking. Next is not to try and switch off or press any buttons or dab or even press on the screen because it will push the water drops into the internal assembly where it can create havoc.
Just when you realize that the phone has come in contact with water, the only thing you can do is to take it out and don’t shake it much for starters. So, don’t move or shake or wobble the phone trying to squeeze out the excess water out of the phone because it ain’t gonna happen and in fact, it will damage the phone if it was without any protection at the first place. Then, don’t plug the phone to a charger and don’t use air blower or vacuum cleaner just yet as you need to follow the procedure mentioned below to ensure that the water damaged smartphone could be retrieved but again, there is no guaranteed since the said procedure is widely followed but works only a handful of times.
Here’s how you can retrieve a water damaged smartphone or at least give your best shot at it.
Step 01: Take out the phone
So, don’t panic and take out the phone out of the pool, toilet, or wherever it is in contact with water and keep it aside and wait for the next step.
Step 02: Wipe off the exterior
Take a clean cloth or microfiber cloth or paper towels would do to gently dab on the screen and the back panel trying to soak the excess water ensuring that you aren’t moving the phone much.
Step 03: Remove the accessories
As you complete cleaning the exterior, it’s time to dig deeper and remove the back panel. Depending upon what smartphone you use, it could either have a removable or non-removable battery so if it is the latter, do not attempt to yank it out. You need a cloth to dab on the interior of the phone and especially across the openings and slots like SIM card slot, microSD card slot, a gap across the battery, audio jack, USB port, mic hole, etc but again, do not push so hard because it could damage the particular component as well.
Step 04: Use a vacuum cleaner
Now it’s time to dig even deeper. A vacuum cleaner would allow you to soak out water that escaped to the internal assembly without opening any screws which could be problematic if you don’t know how to dismantle and reassemble a smartphone. You need to set the vacuum cleaner at a light setting and try to vacuum out excess water by pointing the pipe hose towards the openings as there are many.
Step 05.1: Use alcohol for cleanup (not for all)
Caution: This method isn’t for everyone since you need to know how to dismantle the phone and reassemble it to get it working again so skip it if you are naive or don’t know about the procedure or don’t have any guidance to do.
This particular method is effective and if I am not wrong, service centers would do it to clean up the internal assembly. In this method, you need to use isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol which you can dab across the integrated circuit (IC) of your phone with cotton. Since it is alcohol, it will evaporate and remove any residue or dirt or stain and corrosion which could hamper phone’s performance in case if the phone starts working again later.
Step 05.1: Use a ziplock bag and rice
This particular method is for all others who don’t have the expertise to yank up the panels and reveal the internal assembly and the fact is, the majority of people belong to this group and yes, there is nothing wrong in it. Well, uncooked rice or silica gel litter are two of the good water absorbent and I am sure you’ll find many but let’s stick with these two. So, you need to put the phone into the bag and fill it up with rice or litter and ziplock it. Depending upon the severity, you are required to keep the phone packed for 2 to 3 days without attempting to open it.
Step 06: Unravel the mystery
Say that after three days, you opened the bag, now you need to take it slow. The thing is, when you connect the battery with it (if removable), the phone will either turn ON or not and there are conditions under these two results too. If the phone turns on, you are in for a treat. On the other hand, if it doesn’t, there could be a number of things that you want to narrow down. First, it could be a drained out battery that you need to juice up to get it started but if it didn’t, then you need to report the issue to a service center.
Step 07: Inspect if the phone works or not
Let’s just suppose that the phone turned on because, for its opposite, we have Step 08. Once your phone is turned on, it would take you some time to notice if there are any changes in the performance, screen, display, battery life, and other aspects. Have a close look towards the changes and if they are worsening, you need to report the issue to a service center to get it fixed.
Step 08: Take it to the service center
You are trying to fix a Wiko water damaged smartphone and the fact remains that it is difficult to fix a liquid damaged phone since it isn’t as easy as physical damage. For anything that you can’t fix, you need help from an expert and that’s where the service center comes into play where technicians would be more than happy to help and resolve the issue though it will cost a premium if not covered under insurance or warranty.
What can you do to prevent further water damaged?
This is a golden question that people do ask once they know that water can have a detrimental impact on your delicate piece of electronic device i.e. smartphone. I would suggest a phone with IP rating if you are too clumsy that you usually drop the phone or if you are an aquaphile, you need a phone that has some degree of water-resistant to steer away from drowning the phone. Or else, if you can stay away from water and just need to make sure that the phone is protected against the splashes or a little water spillage, you can buy a water-proof phone cover or case to do the same.
