Whether you got caught in the rain while out and about, or you accidentally dropped your phone into the toilet, there’s no need to panic if you’ve got water in your charging port.
We’ll walk you through exactly how to get water out of a charging port.
How to Get Water Out of a Charging Port
Step 1: Unplug Your Device and Power It Off Immediately
Water itself won’t damage electronics—generally, it’s the mixture of water and electrical current that causes damage. If you find that there’s liquid in your device’s charging port, the first thing you should do is unplug it and power it off.
Step 2: Get the Excess Water Out of Your Device
Once you’ve cut off the power to your device, give it a gentle shake to get any excess water out. You can also give it a couple of firm taps against the palm of your hand to help knock the excess water out as well.
Step 3: Wipe Your Device Dry
After you’ve gotten as much of the excess liquid in your device out, wipe it dry with a soft cloth. Microfiber cloths work great for this, as they won’t damage the device and are surprisingly absorbent.
Step 4: Let It Dry
Now you’ve reached the hardest step of the process: waiting. Once you’ve removed as much of the excess moisture as possible, you’ll need to let the device sit unpowered to dry. You’ll likely want to give it at least a couple of hours to dry, but the amount of time you’ll need to leave it to dry depends on the severity of the situation.
For extreme cases, you might leave it to dry for a few days. Or, you might consider leaving the device in a sealed container with silica gel packets.
Things You Shouldn’t Do to Get Water Out of a Charging Port
Now you know how to get water out of a charging port. But what about the things you shouldn’t do? Here are a few things that you might be tempted to try, but shouldn’t if you want to keep your device in working order.
Don’t Use Rice
Conventional wisdom tells us that putting wet electronics in a bag of rice is a good way to help dry them. In theory, it makes sense—dry rice is absorbent, and can help draw the moisture out of electronics.
However, using rice is risky, as it can leave fine debris in the charging port that can cause damage to it. If you want to use something absorbent to draw the moisture out, use silica gel packets instead. Silica gel is much more absorbent than rice, and won’t leave damaging debris behind.
Don’t Poke Around in the Charging Port
It can be tempting to grab a cotton swab to try to soak up liquid in your charging port. But like rice, doing so can leave behind trace amounts of debris (cotton) in the port and cause damage to your device. It’s best to shake out any excess moisture and let time do the work for you.
Don’t Use Compressed Air or Hair Dryers
If you’re impatient, you could be tempted to use a can of compressed air or a hair dryer on your device to help speed up the drying process. However, using these can make the problem worse.
Using compressed air can push liquid further into the device, and can also introduce its own moisture to the device.
Hair dryers can also push moisture further into the device, and the high temperatures can also cause damage to components.
If you want to help speed things up, you’re better off leaving your device in open air with a light breeze, or sealing the device in a container with silica gel packets to absorb the moisture.
Don’t Power on or Charge Your Device Until It’s Completely Dry
You should give your device plenty of time to dry before powering it on or plugging it back in. Of course, you might not know when your device is completely dry by looking at it. So if you plug it in and get a notification about liquid being in the charging port, unplug and power down the device immediately, and give it some more time to dry.
Whether you got caught in the rain while out and about, or you accidentally dropped your phone into the toilet, there’s no need to panic if you’ve got water in your charging port. We’ll walk you through exactly how to get water out of a charging port.
