Tech firm hopes to fix water-damaged smartphones

Global Business

Smartphones may be among the hi-tech gadgets that will likely be given away as gifts this holiday season. Unfortunately, some of us will inevitably drop our beloved device into a toilet, the pool, or have some other water-related mishap. Usually accidents like that mean the end of your smartphone. But as CCTV America’s Hendrik Sybrandy reported, one company claims it has a device that can bring your water-damaged phone back to life.

Cell phones are now ubiquitous. We are attached to them like never before. “I pretty much lost my whole world,” said a phone user who dropped his in water.

A company called Tek Dry said this happens more than you might think. Their research shows 7 percent of all Americans’ cell phones take an accidental plunge each year. They claim that in just 20 minutes, they can bring water-logged devices back to life.

“It gets the majority of the moisture out in the first minutes or so and the idea is that you get the water out before it causes permanent damage and minimizes the chances for corrosion,” said Eric Jones, Tek Dry Co-Founder. He said he got the idea in business school.

“I had a friend [who] dropped her iPhone in a toilet and I knew she really didn’t want to buy a new one. The next day I called one of my friends from school and told him I had an idea for our business plan,” Jones said.

Submerging a wet phone in rice was seen by some as the best way to rescue it. But Jones said that’s a myth, and that Tek Dry’s patented technology combines negative pressure and thermodynamics.

“And that basically allows us to turn the water from a solid into a gas,” Jones said. He said not plugging in the phone when it’s wet and starting the drying process quickly both help the success rate.

“It’s better than do-it-yourself solutions, it’s cheaper than insurance, it’s faster than going to a long-term repair shop,” said Tek Dry co-Founder Adam Cookson. The Company said it had received calls for help from all over the globe.

“The most obscure one we had was from an island off of Madagascar,” Jones said.