Water damage first aid: the first 10 minutes matter most

Pool, sink, toilet, rain — water and electronics are a bad mix, but a wet phone isn't always a dead one. What you do in the first few minutes makes the difference between a quick fix and a total loss.

Power it off and leave it off

The biggest danger isn't the water itself — it's electricity flowing through wet circuits and causing a short. Turn the device off immediately and resist the urge to check if it still works. Every time it powers on while damp, you risk frying something that water alone wouldn't have killed.

Dry the outside, don't cook the inside

Wipe it down, remove any case, and if your phone has a removable battery or SIM/SD tray, take those out. Then leave it somewhere dry and cool. Skip the rice — it doesn't pull moisture from inside the phone and the dust and starch can actually clog ports. And never use a hairdryer or oven; heat warps components and pushes water deeper.

Get it looked at fast

Here's the part most people miss: the real damage from water is corrosion, and it keeps spreading for days after the phone looks dry. A professional cleaning of the board within a day or two can stop that process and often fully save a phone that would otherwise be dead by the weekend.

If your device took a swim, the safest move is to power it down and bring it in. The sooner we can open it up and clean the board, the better your odds — and the lower the cost.