Dropped Your Phone in the Toilet Water? Do This!
Last Updated on August 24, 2023 by toilethaven
There is always a small amount of water at the bottom of the toilet bowl. It makes sure that sewer gases don’t come up to your bathroom. Although that’s a good thing, it may turn out to be a nightmare if you drop your phone in the toilet bowl and don’t know what to do next.
Everyone these days goes to the bathroom with their phones. I love going through emails and social media feeds as I do my business on the toilet. Unfortunately, most bathrooms don’t have shelves to place your phone, and that’s how most phones end up at the bottom of the bowl.
Investing in a toilet paper holder with a shelf is one way of ensuring that you don’t drop your phone in the toilet.
After dropping your phone in a toilet or water in general, you need to act quickly and correctly in order to salvage it. Below is a step-by-step guide on what to do if your phone accidentally drops in a toilet.
What to do When a Phone drops in the Toilet
There are two proven ways of drying water from your toilet. The method of choice depends on where you are and what you have. Let us look at both of them.
Method 1: Dry Your Phone with Uncooked Rice
- Retrieve it quickly. I know most people have never envisioned themselves putting their hands in the toilet bowl. As gross as it sounds, pick it up with your hand. The longer it stays in there, the more water it takes in.
- Wipe it clean with a towel. Grab a paper towel, hand towel, or any other towel you can find, and wipe the phone dry. Blow in the air to remove water from the headphone jack and the charging port. If it has a phone case, remove it. Some water could still be trapped between the case and the phone.
- Turn the phone off. If possible, remove the battery, SIM card, and memory card. If the phone is off, don’t attempt to power it on to see if it works.
- Pour a generous amount of uncooked rice into a bowl and bury the phone inside with the battery and other components. Leave it for 24-48 hours. Periodically mix up the rise and change the phone’s position within the bowl.
- After waiting for as long as you can, try and power on your phone. Most of the time, this will work. If it does power up immediately, there is a possibility that the battery is flat. Charge it and see if it will respond. Hopefully, this works.
Warning: Never use a hair dryer or microwave in an attempt to dry a phone. That is a sure way to destroy it completely. The heat from these 2 appliances will interfere with the phone’s internal electrical components. The best way to dry the cell phone ports is by blowing in compressed air.
Method 2: Dry the Phone with Silica Gel
I’m sure you have seen those small bags with even smaller balls inside attached to new electronics or even clothing labeled “DO NOT EAT.” They are used to absorb moisture and thereby keep those products dry at all times.
They are called silica gel and can also be used to dry a phone once you have retrieved it from a toilet.
In order for this substance to be of help to you when you drop your phone in water, you have to be prepared. Unfortunately, this is not something people buy and store in the house the way they store rice.
And by the way, you cannot start collecting these small bags from your shopping packaging and storing them away in a container, hoping to use them later. They are designed only to be used once.
Fortunately, you can buy this kit from PackFreshUSA. It is loaded with this substance, and it is interesting that you can travel around with it. Just in case! It would be chaotic to have to move around with a bowl of uncooked rice as your phone emergency kit.
- Fast, Efficient Drying System: Nine Lives Wet Phone Fix is the fastest, most efficient drying system available for your phone and other electronics.
- Advanced Drying Technology: Utilizing molecular sieve technology to quickly dry water deep inside the device better than other methods such as rice, silica gel, and clay desiccants.
- Absorbs Water Permanently: Water is absorbed permanently. Nine Lives can extract a full teaspoon of water in under 2 hours! Other desiccants can release water under certain situations or leave dust...
The Nine Lives wet phone kit can retrieve up to a teaspoon of water in 2 hours and only weighs 1.6 ounces. It measures 6.5″ x 3.75″ x .75″ and will fit and revive any other electronic device, not just a cell phone.
How to Prevent Dropping Your Phone in the Toilet
While knowing how to fix a toilet that has dropped in a toilet is important, knowing how to prevent it in the first place is even more important. But how do phones fall in the toilet in the first place?
Putting your phone in your back pocket is a sure way of dropping it in the toilet while lowering down your pants or getting them on. This mostly affects women because their pants don’t have deep front pockets or have none at all.
Another way people drop their phones in the toilet is by placing them on top of the tank. If, say, you were scrolling on your phone and finishing up on your business, you want to rise up to get cleaned and flush, you will want to place your phone somewhere.
Unfortunately, the top of the tank is the only place you can place your phone. A small movement in the toilet will have your phone either on the floor with a cracked screen or drowning in the toilet bowl.
So, how do you make sure this does not happen? Since I bought a toilet paper holder with a small shelf, I have always had it easy since there is always a place to secure my phone. You can choose to go for this freestanding toilet paper holder with a shelf or a wall-mounted toilet paper holder with a phone shelf.
I like the freestanding toilet paper holder since you always see it beside the toilet, which triggers you to touch your pocket and retrieve your phone. This holder costs almost nothing compared to the price of a brand-new phone. They are stylish, too.
Another way of avoiding dropping your phone in the toilet is by flushing it with the lid down. This applies to people who use their phone while on the toilet. As soon as you rise, just put the lid down before placing your phone anywhere.
Most people drop their phone in the toilet the moment they stand because they don’t have a secure place to hold it. The only viable option is the top of the tank.
Apart from preventing your phone from dropping in the toilet, flushing a toilet with the lid down also prevents germs from jumping all over you, especially in a public toilet.
The last option is not to go to the bathroom with your phone. This is, however, not ideal because most of the time, we need to be with our phones at all times. It is also worth noting that people don’t drop phones in the toilet while using them.
Most of the time, phones drop in the toilet when the owner is not using them at all. Knowing what to do when the phone drops in the toilet and acting quickly is what will ultimately give your phone a chance to survive.