It got wet.
Now what actually happens.
Liquid damage is the most unpredictable repair we do. Two identical phones dropped in the same glass of water can have completely different outcomes. We charge $65 to take yours apart and tell you the truth — what's actually wrong, whether it can be brought back, or whether we should be focused on getting your data out instead.
Every hour without intervention, the corrosion spreads further across the board.
Power it off
Hold the power button until it shuts down. Don't check if it works.
Don't plug it in
Power through wet contacts is what causes the worst corrosion.
Don't use rice
It does nothing. The myth is from 2008. Bring it to us.
Towel-dry the outside
Wipe ports and openings. Don't shake — pushes liquid deeper.
Get it to us fast
Best results are within 4 hours. Up to 24 hours is still workable.
The water leaves.
The damage stays growing.
Liquid damage isn’t a single failure — it’s a slow, invisible cascade that depends on what you spilled, where it pooled, whether the phone was on, and how long ago. We can’t quote it from a photo. We have to take it apart and look.
It’s not just water
Pure water is the easy case. Salt water, soft drinks, coffee, beer, juice — anything with sugar or electrolytes — is dramatically more corrosive and conductive. Sugar leaves a sticky residue that traps moisture for weeks.
Damage continues after it dries
‘It dried out and worked for a week, then died’ is one of the most common stories we hear. Corrosion grows wherever a tiny voltage is present — even off-charge — slowly bridging contacts and eating component legs. By the time it visibly fails, the board is often beyond a simple clean.
Every device fails differently
Where the liquid pooled determines what dies. Battery first, charge IC second, audio chip, baseband, display, NAND flash. Two identical iPhones can have totally different repair paths depending on whether they were lying flat or upright.
Some damage is invisible until power is applied
We can see corrosion under the microscope. We can’t always see component-level damage until we power the device on a controlled bench supply and watch what draws current — a job that takes hours, not minutes.
It’s board-level work
Beyond cleaning, fixing liquid damage often means micro-soldering individual components off the logic board: 0201-sized resistors, BGA chips, charging ICs. Specialist gear, specialist hands. Not every shop does it.
Ten faces of liquid damage.
The same spilled coffee can show up as any of these. Often more than one at the same time. Recognise yours below.
Won’t turn on at all
Charge IC short, battery short, or boot circuit corrosion.
Boots, then dies after 10 sec
Power management IC progressively failing under load.
No signal / SIM not detected
Baseband or antenna lines corroded — common on phones dropped in salt water.
Won’t charge / charges slow
Charge port itself + the charge IC behind it on the logic board.
Display dead but Apple/Samsung logo brief
Display connector contacts oxidised or display IC fried.
Camera not available
Camera flex contacts shorted — usually fixable by cleaning, sometimes not.
Microphone / speaker dead or distorted
Audio codec and speaker amplifier are right next to the charging port — first to flood.
Keyboard or trackpad ghost-typing (laptops)
Key matrix shorting under spilled liquid. Sometimes the topcase, sometimes board damage.
Random restarts & freezes
Intermittent shorts across a corroded board — gets worse over time, never better.
Boot loop
Storage controller or NAND lines corroded. Data may still be recoverable even if the device isn’t.
$65 to find out. Honest answer included.
The inspection is the most important part of the job. It’s why most shops won’t touch liquid damage on a flat rate. We do it properly and charge for it.
Drop-off & intake
We log everything you remember — what liquid, when, how long submerged, what worked before, what doesn’t now. Crucial detail.
Open & map damage
We strip the device down to the bare logic board, photograph the corrosion under microscope, mark every affected component.
Honest written quote
Three options costed: full repair, partial repair (e.g. boot but no camera), or data-only recovery. With our realistic chance of success on each.
Repair, with updates
If you approve, work starts. Ultrasonic clean, corrosion treatment, component-level micro-solder. SMS at every milestone.
The fairest way we’ve found to handle liquid damage.
Adequate bench time + microscope work
Fully deducted from the final repair price
$65 is all you pay — no further charges
From $100. Usually under $350.
Real-world ranges from the last 200 liquid-damage repairs across our bench. The $65 inspection fee goes towards whichever tier you end up in.
- Charge IC replacement
- Display IC
- Audio codec rework
- Battery + flex swap
- Display backlight rework
- Charge circuit
- Touch IC
- Battery + assembly reseal
- Keyboard / topcase replacement
- Logic board clean & rework
- SSD recovery
- Trackpad & speaker
We’ll tell you the realistic chance.
Most shops will quote you a fix and worry about whether it works later. We’d rather tell you straight after the inspection — ‘this one’s an 80% chance of full recovery’ or ‘this one we’d only attempt for data’. Then you decide. These percentages are real numbers from the last 200 liquid-damage jobs across our bench.
We’ll always recommend the best option for you, not the highest invoice. Sometimes that’s ‘pull the data, buy a new phone’ — and we’ll say it.
Full repair
Device returns to factory function. Often after a single clean + corrosion treatment, sometimes after micro-solder work.
Partial repair
Most functions return, one or two don’t. Common: phone works but camera flash doesn’t, or laptop boots but a speaker is dead. We’ll tell you upfront and discount accordingly.
Data recovery only
Device too damaged to be a daily driver, but the storage is intact. We pull your photos, contacts, messages, and files to a new drive. Often the real win.
Beyond economic repair
Board damage so widespread the cost approaches the price of a replacement device. We’ll say so plainly and only charge the $65 inspection.
Often the real win is your data — not the phone.
On most modern phones the storage chip survives water far better than the rest of the logic board. If a full repair isn’t economic, we can almost always still pull out the photos, contacts, messages, notes, and app data — and copy them to a new device.
We’ll cost this option alongside the repair when we quote you. Many customers choose the data path and put the saving toward a new device.
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Photos & videosCamera roll, hidden albums, screen recordings
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Contacts & messagesiMessage / SMS, WhatsApp, contacts & calendars
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Notes & documentsNotes, Voice Memos, Pages / Word, Numbers / Excel
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App data where possibleHealth, Wallet, third-party app saves
Don’t wait it out. Bring it in now.
$65 to find out. Deducted if you fix. Capped at $65 if you don’t. Walk in at DFO Uni Hill any time during opening hours.
Straight answers,
even the awkward ones.
What if my phone seems to work after drying out?
Bring it in anyway. Corrosion is invisibly continuing inside the device. We've had customers come back six months later when it suddenly stops — at that point it's a much harder fix than if we'd caught it the first week. The $65 inspection now can save a $300 repair later.
Why $65 when other shops do free quotes?
Free quotes on liquid damage means one of two things: the shop skipped the inspection and is guessing (you'll find out after they keep your money), or they did the work and built the cost into the repair price. We do the work properly — we give adequate bench time, take microscope photos, map every affected component — and charge for it. If you proceed, the $65 comes off the final price.
What does the $65 actually get me?
A full bench-supply power test, microscope photos of the corrosion you can take with you, a component-by-component damage map, and three options costed with realistic chances of success. You leave the inspection knowing exactly where you stand, even if you decide not to proceed.
What if the repair doesn't work?
If we quoted a full repair and only achieved a partial one, you pay the partial price. If we can't repair it at all, you pay only the $65 inspection. We never charge for work that didn't deliver.
How long does it take?
Phones: 24 hours to 5 days. Tablets: 48 hours to 5 days. Laptops: 3 to 7 days. We'll give you a realistic estimate with the written quote, and SMS at every milestone so you know what's happening.
Do you do data recovery if I never want the phone back?
Yes — it's about 40% of our liquid-damage workload. Sometimes the device is too far gone to be a daily driver, but the storage is intact. We pull everything to a new SSD or transfer to your new phone, then recycle the old device responsibly. From $189.
What about insurance claims?
Yes — we work with most major Australian insurers and can supply itemised reports, before/after microscope photos, and a written damage assessment for your claim. Bring your policy details with the device and we'll match the documentation to what your insurer needs.