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The Impact Of Water Damage On Smartphones And How To Fix It

Water damage on smartphones? Water damage is a common problem for many smartphone users, and can have significant impacts on the device’s performance and longevity. If a smartphone is exposed to water, it can cause serious damage to the internal components, leading to issues such as a malfunctioning touch screen, dead battery, or even a complete failure of the device.

In this article, we will discuss the impacts of water damage on smartphones and how to fix it.

What are the impacts of water damage on smartphones?

There are several ways in which water can damage a smartphone. The most common is accidental exposure, such as dropping the phone into water or spilling liquid on it. These damages leave behind severe impacts, such as: 

Corrosion

When water gets inside the internal parts of the mobile, it can cause corrosion of internal components and damage to the motherboard.

Short circuits

A short circuit is a connection between two points of a circuit that should not be connected. When a mobile device is exposed to water, the water can seep into the device and cause a short circuit. This can lead to a device malfunction or even a complete breakdown of the device.

Battery damage

If water gets inside the battery, it can corrode the electrical contacts and cause a short circuit, preventing the battery from charging or discharging correctly. Moreover, if the battery’s casing is compromised, water can seep inside and cause irreversible damage to the cells. In a nutshell, water can severely damage the battery, reducing its lifespan and causing it to malfunction.

Display damage

Water can lead to display damage on mobiles when it becomes trapped inside the device.  It can cause discolouration, dead pixels, or even a complete display failure.

Speaker and microphone damage

When water comes into contact with a microphone or speaker, it can cause electrical damage to the components. This is because water is a conductor of electricity, which can cause a short circuit in the circuits of the microphone and speaker. This can lead to permanent damage to the microphone and speaker and can cause the phone to malfunction.

How to fix water damage on smartphones?

To avoid water damage, it’s important to keep your smartphone away from water and liquids as much as possible. If you do get water on your phone, it’s important to act quickly to minimise the damage. The first step is to turn off the device and remove the battery if possible. This helps to prevent short circuits and electrical damage.

Remove the battery

If your smartphone has come into contact with water, the first thing to do is to remove the battery. This will prevent further damage from occurring.

Dry the device

You can use a clean cloth or paper towels to gently blot the phone, and then use a dry cloth to remove any remaining moisture. If you have access to a desiccant, such as silica gel, you can use it to help absorb any remaining moisture.

Visit a repair shop

If your phone has suffered water damage, it’s important to get it repaired as soon as possible. In some cases, you may be able to fix the damage yourself. For example, if the battery has died, you may be able to replace it with a new one. However, in many cases, it’s best to take your phone to a professional repair shop.

Conclusion

It’s common sense to keep your phone away from water. However, in the event that your phone does get wet, it’s crucial to act quickly and seek professional repair to minimise any damage.

With the right assistance, you’ll be able to get back to using your phone for texting and browsing the internet in no time. Don’t hesitate to take action now and protect your smartphone from the detrimental effects of water.

At Fixsmart, we’re experts in fixing gadget issues. Contact us for all your repair needs.

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Why should You Avoid the Temptation to Replace Your iPhone’s Battery

Avoid the Temptation to Replace Your iPhone's Battery

iPhone. One of the best things that science has provided to the world. Surely the iPhones are packed with the latest piece of modern technology embedded inside. You have got the best chipsets, the best camera, and other necessities.

Unlike all of the equipment inside the iPhone, the battery is a little different. It degrades over time and limits your ability to go throughout the day with your phone.

Of course, you can replace the battery when it becomes unusable, but you should control your temptation of doing that.

We are going to talk about the drawbacks of replacing a battery and also the proper procedure of replacing an iPhone battery. Let us begin.

Reasons why you should avoid replacing iPhone battery

There are a lot of reasons why you should avoid replacing a battery in an iPhone. Not only does it involve a lot of risk and complications in the process, but it may also create some problems for your phone in the future that you will not like. Moreover, the creator of iPhones, Apple, is against unauthorized iPhone battery replacement.

Let us talk about the risks of iPhone battery replacement.

Damaging internals

The first risk comes with damaging the internals. As you may have experienced, Apple iPhones are the most powerful smartphones in the market, but they need to be handled with care. Any miscarriage of the phone can damage it totally.

When repairing the phone, you need to take off the display first which requires you to heat it. This may burn the display pixels in some cases. The new iPhones have a really fragile display and earpiece wire. That can easily break when you are removing the display for repairs.

Breaking one of these wires can cost you spending more money on repairs.

Exploding lithium-ion batteries

Apple iPhones run on Lithium-in batteries. Pretty much every smartphone nowadays runs on the same type of battery. These types of batteries are known to catch fire and explode in some extreme cases.

When replacing a battery, you may replace it with an unofficial one without the Apple warranty. Those types of batteries may explode. So there is a risk of losing your entire iPhone, and injuring your hand if you replace its battery with an unofficial battery.

This is one of the main reasons why Apple is getting strict with its anti-repairing policies for unauthorized repairs.

No battery health

You may have heard about Apple promoting customers to not use unauthorized repair for their iPhones. Well, Apple took it one step further by tempering with their battery health programming.

If you replace an iPhone battery with an unauthorized repairman, the phone will no longer be able to display battery health.

Even if you replace it with an official Apple iPhone battery with the Apple warranty, it would not work.

Moreover, there will be a notification saying that something is wrong with your battery.

This can be bypassed if you repair it from an official Apple outlet.

No waterproofing

The very first step of replacing your iPhone battery is to open the phone physically to access the battery.

This involves heating and melting the glue that was holding your phone together. This glue sealing is also responsible for making your phone waterproof. So, taking this seal out means no waterproofing.

While it is true that the repairman will put the screen back with glue sealing, it won’t be as strong as it was with the factory glue sealing. So there is always a chance of your phone losing its waterproof rating.

Apple’s anti-repairing history their products

We have seen all the risks of replacing a battery and why you should control your temptation of replacing it. But everyone has to admit that you will have to replace the battery at some point when it loses its health and becomes unusable. Apple did keep that in mind and does provide repairing service. But they strongly discourage unauthorized third-party repair.

When people did not listen to Apple, Apple started implementing some active penalties. For example, if you replace the OLED display panel with a third-party service provider, the true color option will no longer function. As for the battery, the phone will not display battery health percentage if the battery is not replaced officially.

You may ask why is Apple doing this? Money? No. The real reason why Apple is doing this is to ensure the safety of the customers and protect their own brand image.

The anti-third-party repair policy for the battery replacement makes sense. Unauthorized battery replacement may make it explode and it can make the brand image of Apple take a downturn. Exploding battery phones are very dangerous for brand image, take Samsung for example.

That is why Apple is implementing such strategies. But Apple did ensure that a third-party battery replacement will not hamper the phone’s overall performance. So that’s good news.

Either way, if you really want to replace your Apple iPhone battery, then go to an authorized Apple repairman. They will replace your battery with an official one. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about the battery health percentage. The authorized Apple repairmen have the proper equipment to install a microchip that reads the battery health.

It may cost higher than a third-party service repair, but it is worth the price.

Why do we even bother replacing the battery in the first place? That is to get rid of the degraded one and get back the original battery life we had when we first had the phone. So yes, replacing a battery is necessary at times.

Conclusion

It is true that at some point you have no choice but to replace your battery. We are not telling you to not replace the battery at those moments, rather we are telling you to control your temptation until that moment arises.

Replacing a battery from an official Apple outlet is not cheap. It is pretty expensive. Thus you should minimize the time you replace a battery by controlling your temptation.

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Things You Should do When Your Phone Falls in Water

water damage repair
Given the fact that water is almost everywhere, it’s quite understandable if you drop your phone in the water. As common as the problem isit can still scare you out of your wits, especially for those fearing water damaged iphone. After spending your savings on the dearest possession only to have your money flow in the water (quite literally) is something we all wish to avoid. Here are a few ways to water damage repair the lost soul of your phone if it slips from your hands.

Time to turn it off!

The most common way to get your phone back to life is by turning it off as soon as possible after the accident. Touching the buttons shall not only put pressure on any existing liquid inside your phone, but will further cause water damaged iphone or worse, shock you through the electricity and water. Hence, it’s the best solution to keep it switched off before jumping to other remedies.

As hard as it must be to not check if your device if working or not, you have to resist the temptation for the greater good.

Get rid of the case

After turning it off, it’s time to get rid of any extra accessories or case that your phone is wearing. These accessories may have water trapped in them, which shall flow to your phone’s internal system as time passes. Thus, it’s wise to avoid the trapping of any liquid in the case or other additions of your phone.

Along with the phone case you should get rid of the screen protector as well; it might have water underneath the protector that cannot dry off it it’s not taken off entirely. Following these steps, you’ll be able to wipe the phone clean with any cloth free of lint. The goal here is to absorb all the liquid from your phone without keeping any remnants behind. If you don’t have anything fancy around you, a tee shirt can be of great help.

Liquid-less Ports

Next, the ports need to be dried off. Often, dropping your phone causes water to get inside through the charging and earphone ports. These liquids usually get trapped and cause further water damage in iPhone as most people do not pay heed to these ports. However, it is essential to tilt your phone at different angles to ensure no port has liquids inside it. To go one step further, you can even use a mild hair dryer on the ports to ensure the water has dried off completely; remember the keyword- MILD.

Another thing to avoid during this time is charging or plugging anything into your phone. Not only will this disrupt the internal system of your phone, but it is extremely hazardous. Make sure to maintain all precautions before dealing with your phone- it’s electricity and water we are talking about.

Take the SIM card out

Even drying off the ports might fail to water damage repair your iPhone if liquid is still trapped inside. Taking your SIM card out and leaving the port open increases another ventilation space for your phone to dry off. Moreover, taking your SIM card out ensures that it stays functioning and dries off completely. Be careful while ejecting the SIM card out, as the process can be dangerous. For iPhones, you can use a pin or a paper clip that is straightened out to eject your SIM card.

It’s always a good idea to use protective gloves to avoid any mishaps or electric shocks.

Wait, wait, wait

If you have completed all the aforementioned steps, now is the time to store your phone on a window sill or an open shelf to dry off. Remember to not put it in a box or closed container, as the humidity will not let your device dry off completely. In most cases, you have to wait for one or two days before being able to turn your phone back on. Therefore, resist the temptation to turn the phone on and check- it shall cause further water manage on your iPhone. In addition to these, make sure there is adequate ventilation available for your device to dry.

It’s vital to NOT store your phone under direct sunlight as it can hamper the system rather than reviving it. A cool and dry place is perfect for the steps to be performed.

How can you tell your phone has dried?

This is a common question for people with water damaged iPhones. When can you possibly understand if your phone has dried? Well, there’s no way to confirm if it has dried off completely or not; there might still be dangers of using the phone and it can also stop working three weeks down the line.

The best way to cope with this is to turn on your phone after two whole days of the drying procedure. In most cases, this works as the phone is given plenty of time to dry off. However, it’s better to stay safe than sorry. As soon as your phone turns on, make sure to retrieve a back up of all your information from the device. This ensures that even if it stops working some day in the upcoming weeks, you’ll still have a backup of all your data. It’s wise to keep a backup device ready as well, in case of emergencies.

Rice Method?

Often the online sources will tell you to stick your iPhone in a bowl of rice. Don’t do that.

Refrain from using the rice method as the grains can enter through the ports and break your phone eventually. Moreover, enclosing the iPhone in between uncooked rice will make the drying process go slower. Don’t believe the stories of people who managed iphone water damage repair through the rice method- chances are, they could have done it faster without the rice itself.

Bottom Line

Your phone is arguably your most prized possession and letting it slip into water might cause you immense stress. Use the steps to water damage repairyour phone for the time being, and don’t forget to remain cautious!