Thread: Is it possible to recover files from a wet cell phone?

The problem is this: I walked home in the pouring rain with my cell phone in my pocket (power was on). Water soaked through, and got onto/into my phone, while it was on. When I got home, I opened it and saw no change on the screen, so I stupidly, stupidly, STUPIDLY let it be (I had pulled an all-nighter and was slightly delirious in my defense, but the move was still idiotic), inside a towel on it's side in the hopes that it would dry.

I checked it later, (I had left it on, again, stupid me) and the screen had started to go dark, too dark to see practically. I finally removed the battery, but not the SIM card or any other part. Now it's been taken to Best Buy where it was bought, and the SIM card was taken out and put inside a little Samsung phone.

What I would like to know is: is it possible to retrieve text messages and my address list from the phone? I still have the phone, but I haven't turned it on again. Some of my text messages were saved on the SIM card and were transferred to the new phone, but not all of them. Is it possible to retrieve the rest, or are they gone for good?

Any advice/criticism will be welcome, thank you in advance.

Who is your carrier? Does the phone still power on at all?

I have sprint, and have had a similar situation. Sprint does not use SIM cards, but if the phone had any life whatsoever, even if you could not see the screen, a Sprint store (your equivalent) could tether with thier super devices and copy all your info to a new phone.

OK So...

Buy some uncooked rice, if you have some already great! Put the phone into the rice, for at least 1 day. Leave it covered in a large layer of rice, don't just put it on top of the rice. The rice would take probably a day to soak the water remaining in the phone. It should turn on again.

Shinobi beat me to the punch. Uncooked rice in a sealed container is the way to go. It's worked for almost every phone I've tried it on. If it doesn't work, you can open up the phone, and use rubbing alcohol to clean all the contacts on the circuit board(s) and put it back together. If it doesn't work then... you're likely out of luck.

Would I need to remove/put back any of the parts I fiddled with for this to work?

Also Kraker, the carrier is AT&T, not sure if they have a similar arrangement. The phone itself wasn't purchased in a carrier store though, it was a Best Buy.

Originally Posted by Kraker Jak

with thier super devices

they're called computers kraker

Nope just put the phone into the rice.

All right, done. Thanks guys, I'll report about it later.

Alright, I'll be interested to hear how it goes! Remember, a whole day at least!

Denatured alcohol, drop it in, let it completely submerged, remove it. Shake it (get any of the alcohol out that you can by shaking), then drop in rice.


Though rice will only help catch moisture from evaporation. So if theres any damage, its not going to undo it or prevent any more, just a less damaging alternative to doing nothing.

Though the alcohol remove any water, though, if left too long the acidic nature could cause damage. But, aslong as theres not puddles/large amounts, the alcohol will dry near instantly, especially with the aid of a fan.


but if you have a smart phone, theres prolly a sd' card in there thats safe, wouldnt get damaged unless there was water pressure to force the water inside the sd card, sd card will jsut have to worry about the contact points. Sd would ahve a lot of good stuff on it, not all your stuff, but some good stuff.