How to dry a wet Galaxy S8 Plus, fix for Galaxy S8 moisture detected error, other issues

Samsung’s latest flagship devices, the #GalaxyS8 and #GalaxyS8+, are both wonderful inside and out. Hardware-wise, the S8 is superbly designed and can take punishment from dust and water exposure. There are cases though that an S8’s built-in dust and water protection are not enough. In this article, we give you the tricks that you can do to deal when your S8 appears to stop working normally due to water exposure.

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

Problem 1: How to dry a wet Galaxy S8 Plus

Hello, I just went through the suggestions on your site and felt the need for more personal advice. I was on the beach yesterday and my phone, a Samsung S8+ was in bag and got water. It was off because the charge was over. It took me an hour to get home and I immediately put it in rice at 9PM. Today, (the following day) at 9 am, I tried to charge it but it brought the water drop symbol, so I took it out immediately. I’ve removed my SIM card. What did I do wrong? Should I put it back in the rice, did I put it in the rice for a short time? I don’t have a vacuum or a hair drier, as suggested on the site, so how do I dry it? — Maria Katiti

Solution: Hi Maria. Your Galaxy S8 Plus is IP68 certified, which means that it can resist dust and water penetration for up to 5 feet for 30 minutes. Unless you intentionally spray it with pressurised water, putting your device in a wet bag should be safe. If you find your phone in a watery situation, here are the things that you need to do:

Use clean, soft cloth

This is the first common sense trick that you should do. Although it’s designed to withstand occasional dust and water exposure, you shouldn’t put in a situation where it can regularly come in contact with water for a long time. Drying your S8 thoroughly with a clean, soft cloth should be a priority. When drying your device, gently pat the primary microphone, speaker, and earpiece with clean,soft cloth only.

Prevent salt accumulation

Salt water can cause more severe long-term damage to any electronic device than fresh water so make sure that you remove all traces of salt water from the device. If your phone got wet with salt water, wash it with fresh water first, then dry it with clean, soft cloth. When washing with fresh water, make sure to do it gently. Keep in mind that your phone is water-resistant so you can gently pour fresh water in the charging port and other areas without the risk of damaging the device. This is an important preventive step to remove salt accumulation in the earpiece, external speaker, microphone, and charging port.

Air dry your phone

Water normally evaporates on its own after some time. Let your S8 air dry after wiping it to allow hard to reach areas to release moisture. Do not place your phone in direct sunlight or a heat source like a furnace or oven though. Doing so can damage other components permanently. If you want to hasten evaporation a bit, place the phone at the back of a TV to allow it to heat up slightly. Don’t leave it too long in the same area though as heat from your TV’s exhaust may reach intolerable levels for the exposed parts.

If your phone’s speaker or microphone volume seems lower than usual, that may suggest water is still present in them. Be sure to dry the phone out for longer.

Galaxy S8 moisture detected error

Your Galaxy S8 may not charge properly or at all if the charging port is wet, or if the system still detects moisture in the charging port area. Be sure to dry the charging port properly first before you attempt to charge it again.

Problem 2: Galaxy S8 dropped in toilet won’t turn back on

Hi. I dropped my Galaxy S8 in the toilet last night and quickly removed it and dried the phone and put it in a bowl of rice. The phone automatically turned off. I then took the phone over to Staples and had it tech dried tonight. But still no luck; it will not start up. I also tried all the tricks to get it to start power button, volume down trick no luck, power button volume up no luck, home button and volume up and the power button no luck. It shows no sign of life. Nothing. What can I do? I bought the phone when i was living in Geneva Switzerland. it is unlocked. Currently i live in US and have T-Mobile. What can i do? — Maggie

Solution: Hi Maggie. Although you’re thinking that water damage may be the reason why the phone fails to turn on right now, water may actually have nothing to do with the issue entirely. Like what we said above, Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus devices have dust and water protection. Dropping your S8 in water should not cause the phone to turn off right away and never to turn back on. Instead, the impact with the side of the toilet bowl or the surface may have actually caused unnecessary shock that broke the motherboard or some components inside. In other words, water damage is the least of your worries right now. Wet devices, even those without IP68 protection can continue to work unless the battery or power IC has been affected. On the other hand, most accidentally dropped devices usually stops responding right away. Let a professional check your phone so you’ll know if there’s something that they can do to fix the hardware. Better still, contact Samsung and let them fix or replace the phone.

Problem 3: Galaxy S8 screen replacement cost

I dropped my phone and it got ran over by a empty trailer. It cracked the screen but it worked just turned purple at the bottom. The purple spread as the day went on. Now it’s a black screen. I can hear the notifications and the light at the top is flashing. I really would rather not pay 250 to change screen. But not sure if I can just buy a screen and change it or if it needs something else. Thanks so much! — Jackie

Solution: Hi Jackie. Screen discoloration is a clear indicator of a broken screen assembly. Since you can’t obviously fix bad hardware with software solutions, you either have to do the screen replacement yourself, or let a technician do it for you. Either way, you can expect to shell out at least over $200 dollars.

Doing the repair yourself means you’ll need to buy the repair kit as well as the new screen replacement. Taking into account the price of Galaxy S8 and S8+ replacement screens, you’ll most likely end up with about $300 if you do the repair on your own. If you let a technician do it for you, it may cost you more.

Based on the symptoms you mentioned above, the most likely problem may be isolated to the screen only so doing the screen replacement procedure properly will most likely fix the problem. If you want to save money by doing a do-it-yourself screen replacement, try to visit YouTube and look for a good guide on how to do it.

NOTE: Opening your phone up and replacing the screen will compromise the built-in IP68 protection. Be sure to take extra steps not to expose the phone to water or moisture to avoid water damage.

Problem 4: How to fix Galaxy S8 moisture detected error

My phone won’t charge at all. It all started when I plug my car charger to my phone and it said moisture detected in USB port. so I tried charging it with my wall adapter and it still won’t charge. all the while my VR gear application keeps popping up when I unplug my charger. please help me I don’t know what to do. I’ve also done a soft reboot multiple times and cleared my cache multiple times and it still won’t work. — Zach

Solution: Hi Zach. Galaxy S8 moisture detected error usually pops up if your device has gotten wet and the charging port was not properly dried. In order to prevent damaging other components, your phone will not charge at all if it detects moisture in the charging port, hence the moisture detected error.

But, if you never exposed your S8 to water, it’s possible that other factors may be to blame. To fix the issue, try our solutions below:

Restart the phone. Sometimes, a simple troubleshooting step like a restart can work wonders. Make sure that you do it before doing any other solutions below.
Do a soft reset while charging. Another good trick to do in this case is to force the phone while it’s charging. You can do it by connecting your phone to the charging cable and to the wall outlet. Once you’ve done that, reboot the phone by pressing and holding the Volume Down and Power keys for at least 10 seconds.
Clean the charging port. The charging port may sometimes collect foreign objects or dirt so proper charging may be impeded. Be sure to check the charging port using a magnifier or similar tool to see clearly inside.
Reset USB settings. Resetting your phone’s USB settings may unclog any firmware bug causing the problem. To do that, go under Settings>Apps>USB Settings>Storage>Clear Data. once you’ve cleared the data of USB settings, restart the phone.
Perform a factory reset. Since the only different thing that you did was to charge the phone via your car’s charger, it’s possible that there’s a software glitch causing the issue. If all our suggestions above won’t work, consider reverting your phone’s software back to their defaults and see what happens. To factory reset your device, follow these steps:
- Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
- Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
- When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
Contact Samsung for repair or replacement. If the steps above won’t work at all, it’s possible that there’s a hardware error with your phone’s USB port. Call Samsung so you can set up a repair or replacement.
Use a wireless charger. As a remedy, you can charge your S8 wirelessly. This can be your go-to option while waiting for say, a confirmation from Samsung for repair or replacement. Wirelessly charging your device can take longer time to finish so don’t expect to top up your S8 like when you’re using a regular charger.