Galaxy S10 Plus showing ‘moisture detected’ warning and won’t charge [Troubleshooting Guide]

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is IP68-certified which means that it’s dust and water-resistant for up to 1.5 meters (submerged depth) for 30 minutes. In other words, there wouldn’t be any problem at all even if your new phone got splashed with water or you accidentally dropped in the sink. You can even go swimming in the pool and take pictures underwater. But such certification doesn’t make the phone formidable. Needless to say, it may still be damaged with water.

That’s the reason why Samsung put a sensor to detect moisture usually in the charging port of the phone. If that sensor indeed detects moisture, you will receive this notification or error “Moisture has been detected. To charge your device, your charger/USB port is dry.” Once the error shows up, you can expect that your device would also not charge. However, there are things you can do when this issue happens. Continue reading as I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy S10 Plus to make it charge again.

Before anything else, if you have other issues with your device, try to browse through our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed several issues with this device. Odds are that we’ve already published a post that tackles similar problems. Try finding issues that have similar symptoms with what you currently have and feel free to use the solutions we’ve suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you still need our help, then fill up our questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

Troubleshoot Galaxy S10 Plus with ‘moisture detected’ error

Most of the time, the moisture detected warning only pops up when there’s moisture in the charger port so our first priority would be to address. After that and we’re sure that it’s not just due to some traces of moisture, then we’ll address other possibilities. Here’s what you need to do…

Step 1: Clean the USB / Charge port

Before doing this, you must turn your phone off completely so that there wouldn’t be any complications if there’s indeed a presence of moisture in the charging port. Once the device is powered down, try doing this:

1. Get a small piece of tissue paper and then insert it into the port. Leave the tissue for a minute or two make sure it absorbs moist if there’s any. You may have to do it a couple of times just to make sure.
2. Blow into the port to get rid of dirt and other elements that might be blocking the connectors from making proper contact. If you have a can of compressed air, then give it a blast.
3. Look into the port to check if the pins are in their proper places and not bent. If there’s a pin that’s bent, then try to straighten it out using a pair of tweezers but be gentle so as not to damage it even more.

After making sure that there’s no moisture in the charge port and that all connectors are fine, try charging your phone again and see if the error still shows. If it still does, then move on to the next procedure.

ALSO READ: How to Hard Reset or Master Reset your Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

Step 2: Physically check the cable and charger

It’s a no-brainer that after making sure that there’s no moisture in the charge port, then it’s possible that the phone can detect it from the cable that’s used to bridge the current from the power adapter. Thus, you have to physically check both ends of the cable to make sure there’s no sign or trace of water. Aside from that, you also have to make sure there is no lint, debris or any other foreign materials that might be obstructing the charging process.

You also have to check the power adapter itself. Try to see if there’s moisture and other foreign materials or even crooked connectors. You may use a small piece of tissue and insert it to the port to absorb the moist or use a pair of tweezers to get rid of lint or debris. After making sure there’s no problem with either cable or adapter, try charging your phone and if the problem continues, then try the next step.

Step 3: Check for possible sign of liquid damage

The sensor doesn’t only detect moisture in the charge port but also in other parts of the phone. If you knew that the phone got wet at some point, then there’s always a possibility that the water found its way into your device and that could be the reason why you keep on getting the ‘moisture detected’ error. The best thing to confirm this is to check your Galaxy S10 Plus’ Liquid Damage Indicator (LDI):

1. Remove the SIM card tray.
2. Look into the SIM slot to find a small sticker.
3. If the sticker is white, then your phone is safe from liquid damage but if the sticker became red, pink or purple, then it positive that your device has liquid damage. In this case, bring the phone back to the store.

Assuming that the error is still showing up even if the LDI is showing no signs of liquid damage, then move on to the next step.

Step 4: Try bypassing the ‘moisture detected’ error

At this point, it is possible that the error message is triggered by some kind of firmware issues or glitches. If you badly need to charge your phone so you can continue troubleshooting, then you should try the following procedure. It’s not really a solution but it can sure help you one way or another:

1. Plug the charger to a functioning wall outlet.
2. Connect the other end of the cable to the charger and the other to your phone.
3. The warning will pop up as soon as the phone is connected to the charger and the charging process stopped.
4. This time, reboot your phone while it’s connected to the charger.
5. Your phone may continue charging without being greeted by the warning after the reboot.

ALSO READ: How to Factory Reset your Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

Step 5: Run your Galaxy S10 Plus in Safe Mode and charge

By default, the service that handles charging isn’t loaded when the phone is in safe mode so naturally, the error won’t show up when you charge the phone while in this mode. Needless to say, you can charge the phone successfully. So if you don’t want to troubleshoot your phone just yet but simply want to replenish the battery, then run your phone in safe mode if you don’t want to do the previous step:

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
3. When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.

Once the device enters this mode, just connect it to the charger and leave it to fully-charge its battery.

Step 6: Master reset Galaxy S10 Plus and see if error won’t show up

You need to do this if the ‘moisture detected’ error didn’t go away after doing the previous procedures. This will rule out the possibility that the problem is with the firmware. If the issue continues even after the reset, then you can expect that it’s a hardware problem and a technician should take care of it for you.

So, backup all your important files and data and then factory reset your phone and see if it charges properly after that:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
5. Press Power button to select.
6. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
7. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
8. When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

You must bring your phone back to the store or shop if the ‘moisture detected’ error still shows up even after the reset.