Is Your Smartphone Water-Resistant?

Smartphones are valuable gadgets for everyday life but are also very fragile. If they get in contact with water, they may be susceptible to damage, even if not immediately. That’s why manufacturers have made efforts to make water-resistant smartphones. But a phone that is water-resistant is not completely waterproof, and it can be damaged when it gets wet. In this article, we’ll provide you with vital insights below about smartphone water resistance.

Know the Ingress Protection (IP) Rating

Knowing your smartphone’s IP rating is the most common way to tell if your phone is water-resistant. An IP rating lets you know how much protection your device has against dust and water, liquids, and moisture. The first number shows dust protection and is usually between 0 and 6. The second number offers protection against water and is generally between 0 and 8.

The devices with the best water-resistance provisions will typically be those with IP67 or IP68. The device can survive a dunk in water for a while with such a rating, usually 30 minutes. But it’s important to know that freshwater is used to test devices for IP ratings. This means that the results may be different if the phone is exposed to different environments like salty water, water with chlorine, or different liquids.

Smartphone companies also market their products as being water-resistant, but most warranties don’t cover water damage.

Test Using an App

If you have an Android phone, you can test its water resistance by downloading the Water Resistance Tester app from the Google Play Store. It works by accessing your phone’s barometer to test the device’s waterproof IP rating. It uses the smartphone’s barometric pressure sensor to determine minute differences in pressure.

It assists people in checking for waterproof sealing over time or after repair. Due to your device getting older, the seals can potentially be compromised. For example, smartphones that may have had a battery change, screen replacement, or any other job that required opening up the device may have compromised seals.

If your device gets exposed to water, to be safe:
Use a waterproof phone cover.
Check the phone screen for any moisture to get an idea of the extent of the damage.
Please turn it off and use a cloth to dry it up as much as possible.
If the battery is removable, take it out and look for a white patch with a red pattern. If the colors are intact, water has not gotten in, but a trace of pink indicates water’s presence.
After a while, you can switch up the phone to see that the ports are still functional.
It is advisable to take the phone to a care center as a precaution against further damage.

The Bottom Line

Even though your smartphone may be tagged as “water-resistant” with an excellent IP rating, it does not mean that it is invulnerable to water damage. You need to be fully responsible for your device and have realistic expectations. Unfortunately, even manufacturers don’t cover water damage. Thus, don’t subject your device to an unnecessary water test.