Many #GalaxyS8 and #GalaxyS8Plus owners would like to think their device is fully protected from water by intentionally submerging them. While that may be fine for devices that has 100% functioning water protection in place (there’s no way to check this), some may find belatedly that damaged has already taken place. As a precaution, and we’ve been trumpeting this when Samsung first released their water-protected Galaxy S7 years ago, never use your phone underwater! There’s no 100% water proof smartphones at this time so don’t push the limit of your device’s water resistance. Today’s post will give a few tips and reminders to those experiencing problems after getting their S8 and S8 Plus wet.
Problem 1: What to do if your Galaxy S8 Plus was water damaged
I’ve read information about the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus being a phone that can take great underwater pictures/videos. We tried it out and maybe used it for about an hour (not submerged all of the time). When we were done at the pool, my phone was just at 5% battery remaining. When I tried to charge it, I got the error about moisture detected and phone keeps vibrating. What I did is that I used a hair blower on the charging ports wherein after 5 minutes, the phone started to charge again. When it was at 29%, I had to step out so I stopped it from charging and brought it with me and still functional. Less than 10 minutes later, when I pulled it out of my pocket, it has no display and it’s like completely off. I returned to my room and plugged the charger in, still no lights. I did the volume down + power, connect the charger, used the hair blower again for 20 minutes (monitoring device heat as to avoid overheating or something like that), left it alone overnight, but all shows no good result or progress. It’s currently on a tupperware with rice grains. Any other thoughts or troubleshooting steps that I should do? I’m worried that the board may have died but it was working perfectly normal before I brought it with me and suddenly just stopped. — Clark
Solution: Hi Clark. The Galaxy S8 Plus has IP68 certification, which means it can withstand dust or water, and can be waterproof up to 1.5m for 30 mins. In theory, the device should be able to work normally even when submerged and Samsung exploited this as a selling point well enough. The thing is, water resistance in this line of devices does not work 100% of the time. This is based on experience by countless other users and now, by you.
Although Samsung does not say how exactly they achieve water-resistance protection on their flagship phones, we know for a fact that it’s through ingenious engineering design and some form of nano technology. This combination is easily compromised by a lot of factors though so it can never be relied upon all the time, as you may have known by now.
The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus water resistance works more reliably for occasional water splashes, or rain water exposure. However, it’s still highly recommended that you never intentionally dunk the device in a pool or ocean. Doing so might create unnecessary pressure around the device which might cause some water to penetrate the internal water seals.
If the only thing that you did before experiencing the problem was to take underwater photos, then it’s safe to assume that your S8 was water damaged. All you can do at this stage is to a set of “first aid” techniques to hopefully minimize or eliminate water from the system. If there was already enough water to have damaged some components in the main board, you’re out of luck. Damaged components are permanent so there’s no amount of software tweaks that you can do to bring them back to their former state. Depending on the damaged part, other components may or may not be damaged if you continue to use the phone. Should any of our suggestions below fail to fix the issue, or if your S8 Plus remains unresponsive, you should contact Samsung so they can examine the device.
Make sure to observe the Don’ts
Water and electronics, even the ones with water resistance ratings, don’t mix. Needless to say, it’s foolish to intentionally submerge your S8 or S8 Plus in a pool. Since you’ve already did that, here are the rest of the things that you should not do next:
- don’t power on the phone
- don’t charge the phone,especially if the charging port is not completely dry
- do not use hair blower or can of compressed air to dry the charging port. This will greatly increase the chances of water being pushed inside the phone
Dry the phone
Ideally, you’re supposed to disassemble the device first before drying. With the Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus, disassembly is borderline impossible for average users, not to mention the fact that it would also void the warranty with Samsung (which means Samsung will no longer fix your phone even if you’ll pay them for it). The most that you can do in this case is to remove the external case (if you’re using one), wipe the device thoroughly, shake the phone to get rid of water inside the charging port, and let nature takes its time. Water naturally evaporates even in room temperature but it can take some time.
A faster way would be the one you did — by putting the device in a sealed container that has rice in it. Rice is a good household material in absorbing water moisture but even then, it still needs a few days to do its trick. And drying your S8 this way is not a guarantee that every moisture will be completely removed.
A more thorough and faster way to dry an electronic device is by using a special tool. This tool may not be available in repair shops so if you want to go this route, make sure to ask the technician if they have it. As mentioned above, drying an electronic device is best done when the phone is disassembled so you’ll still end up voiding the warranty if you let a third party shop dry the phone for you.
Let Samsung fix your phone
Since there’s nothing much that you can do on your end at this time, we highly recommend that you let Samsung take care of your phone. Bring the device to their service center and ask them if there’s a chance that it can be fixed. If you’re lucky, drying the device may be enough. In many cases though, water damaged electronics don’t last long before symptoms of hardware malfunction returns so don’t lift your hope too high to avoid disappointment.
Problem 2: Galaxy S8 keeps showing moisture detected error
I got this phone brand new at the end of last year. recently my battery life has been going downhill very fast. the remaining time and time till charging finishes are both very inaccurate. it only lasts about 4 hours at very low brightness and sound. it was fine about a month ago. i’m not sure but the cause may be due to some moisture in the charging port i had about a week ago. ever since then the screen response is slightly of point and the charge is getting worse. i got some water in my hands and tried to wipe off something sticky from the screen, and it said i has moisture for a while. after a while of trying to fix it it the charger started working but i think if still did damage. please help. the phone isn’t even that old and it’s already having these type if problems, its getting me anxious and very unsettled. — Sora
Solution: Hi Sora. Your Galaxy S8 is water resistant so unless you tried what Clark above did, it should be good. The moisture detected error you’ll get after your S8 got wet can be expected, especially if the charging port got wet as well. What you need to do is avoid charging the device until you’ve got the charging port dried completely. To do that, try to vigorously shake the device so water from the charging port are dislodged. Afterwards, wipe the phone and the charging port area with a clean soft cloth, then air dry the phone. You can also place it near a source of gentle heat, like the back of your TV or computer but not near an oven or furnace. Avoid applying direct heat on the charging port as that might damage the internal components. Water generally dries up on its own so just don’t use the phone for 24 to 48 hours. Once the charging port is dry, the moisture detected error should stop showing as well.