Cell Phone Water Stickers

While we have to deal with water every single day in some form or another, it can be a nightmare for anyone who has a cell phone or a blackberry. Getting these items wet by rain or dropping them into a sink of dish water is the last thing any owner of one of these wants to do and most of the time, they think that if this happens, they have to get a completely new phone. While this is sometimes the case, it is not always true.

If you have one of the newer cell phones on the market, odds are good that if you get it wet and it stops functioning, your warranty will not cover it and you will not be able to cover up the fact that the phone was in fact damaged by water and not some other means. This is because most cell phones and small electronic devices whose warranties do not cover water damage now come equipped with small stickers on the inside of the phone’s battery compartment that trigger when they get wet. There is a powdered dye on the underside of the sticker and when it gets wet, the dye coats the sticker and changes its color. This is good for the manufacturer to keep people from claiming that there was a problem with the product originally and that it was not submerged in water. This is bad for the consumer, however, because these stickers have been known to trip and change color in areas with high amounts of humidity. This means that if you live in such an area and your phone stops working for some hardware or software-related reason, you cannot get a new phone under your warranty because they will say that the phone was water damaged, often without even doing any real looking at the phone components for signs of it.

If you do drop your phone into water, get it out as quickly as you can. Do not leave it under the water for more than 20 seconds, but if it is plugged into the AC in your house, unplug the adapter from the wall first. Wipe off the exterior, remove the battery, and place both in a bowl of uncooked rice overnight (at least) and wait until the phone is dry before you try to use it again. Try both the AC and the battery; if the battery does not work and the AC does, then you just need a new battery, which can be purchased for a small amount compared to the value of your phone.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.