How to save a water damaged cell phone?

You are doing the best thing you can right now. I would leave it in the rice for a few days. But be prepared for it to never work again.

Do you have insurance on the phone? If so, the best thing to do might be to go ahead and put in a claim for a replacement.

My son’s phone drowned in his backpack when a water bottle came open, and it never revived. Insurance on his succession of ill-fated phones has proved to be a good investment.

I would say that, that is a good thing to do. I don’t know about the rice, but taking out the battery was a good idea. I did that with one of my electronics that fell in some water and it still worked after. I suggest putting the battery back in and trying it every now and then.

Open the battery compartment and let it dry out thoroughly. Put it some place where there is slightly warm air flowing, like on top of your refrigerator or in front of the air exchanger near the floor. Look for a 2 mm square pad on the phone and the battery. If they are white that means you might be ok. If they are both pink your chances are slimmer.

@worriedguy , what’s that 2 mm square pad? Where? Pad made of what? Is it a light?

Forget the rice, if you have an air conditioning unit, or space heater. Place the device in front of the a/c or heater until the internal components are dry. Depending on the type of device, you see electronic devices have circuit boards and electrical components with engineered paths for the electrical current to flow when it is run through them. Droplets of water bridge the gaps between the wires and conents causing arcs and shorts, thus burning out parts and causing problems. When you said the device would not turn on it sounds like you tried to turn it on whennit was wet, if so you may have already caused damage, but we won’t know until you completely dry it out and try it again. To be safe dry it out for 24–36 hours then put the battery back ina try it agin, hopefully you backed up all of the data from the device on a regular basis beforehand. Otherwise your screwed in that sense, if it doesn’t work after you dry it, contact your equipment insurance company through your service provider.
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I thought I heard somewhere that desiccant packs (those little packs that tell you not to eat them that come with new shoes and purses) can help dry out the phone and the battery. While I was doing a search to see if that was correct I found this link you might find helpful. Good luck!

Put it in a bowl of rice for a few days, it worked for me, or put it on top of your cable box or a blow dryer.

@Nicole8, I wonder if you might be forgetting to read the question details and the other comments before posting.

Jeruba, your right. I always read the answers after I comment.

@Jeruba The 2–3 mm white square is a telltale patch that changes color if the device ever gets wet. It turns pink if it gets wet enough to do damage. Look for a white, dull finish

Oh—a tiny rectangular do-nothing indentation that is sort of grayish in color? I never knew what that was. How about that! @water_123, do you see this on your phone?

@Jeruba Yep! That’s it. Any company making phones is very conscious of reducing parts and reducing costs. They will kill an employee if that would reduce production cost by one cent. Nothing on/in your phone is there by accident.
That little square helps them void your warranty when you send it back saying your phone stopped working.

I’m impressed, @worriedguy. GA.

(Do you work for a cellphone company?)

No, but I do work with many kinds of electronics. We have telltales for UV, IR, Vibration, temperature, and water.

@jeruba no I do not see this on my phone, and after being in rice for hours, I put my battery in my phone too see if it works, everything seems fine accept for text my text messaging, the keyboard wont let me put some letters, and it is very annoying, Do you think i should leave it in rice longer and see if the keyboard goes back to normal?

and there is no pink indicaters on my cell phone

If you don’t see pink that is good. Pink means you’re screwed. Check you battery too the telltale might be there as well. I will see if I can find a picture for you.

I just checked my motorola and the telltale is a white circular sticker about 4mm in diameter. It is on the battery and the phone.

How do you make something solid and nonvolatile that changes color when exposed to water?

I do not know if there is a chemical reaction or not. I would use a water soluble encapsulated dye protected by a water soluble gelatin that dissolves and releases the dye when wet.

well there is no pink indicater, and my phone works :) accept when i text the keyboard comes in and out?

That is great news. Keep it on top of the refrigerator or in front of the heat exchanger vent for a couple of more days.

I dropped mine in the hot tub , it stopped working, and I used a hairdryer on it. Problem solved.