It can happen to anyone – we drop it in a puddle, use it in the rain, or even knock a glass of water upside down – but what if there was a simple at-home solution that was easier than filling it with a bag of rice?
1 YouTube videowhich has 45 million views, promises to do just that through sound vibrations, in theory “pushing water out of your phone's speaker and completely removing water from mobile speakers.”
Hundreds of thousands of viewers have praised the product in the comments section, claiming that the two-minute video helped them fix their phones after spills, drops or other water damage.
But skeptical tech experts wanted to test the so-called panacea if the new version of the device, which loses its water resistance over time, is submerged in water.
According to The VergeSpeakers work by pushing air out, so that force can dislodge water from your phone's speaker.
“We play the lowest sound that the speaker can play at the loudest volume that it can,” Eric Freeman, senior research director at Bose, told the outlet. “This maximizes air movement, which helps to dislodge any water trapped inside the phone.”
However, it's important to note that smartphone speakers, unlike larger speakers that can produce lower and louder sounds, are small and YouTube videos can't produce the “really deep bass.”
But in theory, sound on YouTube videos should work like the waterproofing feature on the Apple Watch.
“It's a specific vibration sound that pushes water out of the speaker grille,” iFixit repair engineer Carsten Frauenheim told The Verge. “Third-party versions are likely not ideally tuned, so we don't know how effective they will be on your phone, but we can test them.”
Working with a team from iFixit, The Verge writer David Pierce chose four phones he was “willing to destroy in the name of science” and submerged them in UV light — a Nokia 7.1, an iPhone 13, a Pixel 7 Pro, and a Pixel 3. The next day, the team checked to see if any water had gotten inside the phones.
The Pixel 7 Pro was dry, the Nokia was “not good,” while the iPhone 13 and Pixel 3 still had some liquid left over.
When a YouTube video was played on the phone, detailed footage of the device's speaker showed water splashing on it, but other water-soaked parts of the phone, such as the USB port and SIM card slot, were left unrepaired.
“I say [the videos] “It's kind of a chore,” Chayton Ritter, an engineering student who works on iFixit's editorial team, told The Verge. “It may not be harmful, but I don't think it's a permanent solution or a way to get all of the liquid out.”
