Phone went in the water? What you do in the next hour matters more than anything we can do later. Here is the honest version - including when it is not worth saving.
Turn it off and leave it off. Do not plug it in, do not press the power button to check. Most water-damaged phones are killed by electricity moving through wet circuitry, not by the water itself. A phone that is off and wet is often recoverable; a phone that is on and wet corrodes while you watch.
Rice is a myth that costs people their phones. It draws moisture off the outside while the inside keeps corroding, and it buys the delay that does the real damage. Bring it in the same day if you can - the difference between hour one and day three is the difference between a clean and a board repair.
We open it, disconnect the battery, and ultrasonically clean the board to lift the corrosion before it eats through traces. Then we test it and tell you what survived. Sometimes everything does. Sometimes the board is gone and the honest answer is that the phone is worth more to us as parts than the repair would cost you - we will say so, and we will still get your photos off it if we can.
If the phone matters because of what is on it rather than what it is worth, say so when you hand it over. That changes what we do first.
7712 Montgomery Rd Unit I, Cincinnati, OH 45236 - on Montgomery Rd in Kenwood. Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 12pm-6pm. Call 513-745-0059.
No. It is a myth, and the delay it causes is what does the lasting damage. Power the phone off and bring it in the same day.
No - that is the single worst thing to do. Current through a wet board is what causes permanent corrosion. Leave it off until it has been cleaned.
Often, if it is brought in quickly and was not powered on while wet. We clean the board ultrasonically and test what survived.
We quote it after opening and cleaning it, because it depends entirely on what the water reached. Call 513-745-0059 - and if it is not worth repairing, we will tell you that instead.
Often yes, even when the phone itself is not worth repairing. Tell us that is the priority and we will work to that.