Don't be fooled: Why your phone isn't water resistant even if the manufacturer says it is
Your phone being waterproof means that the device has passed several very specific tests in a laboratory, so that the certifying company gives it a certain level of protection. Generally, this level of protection ensures that your mobile phone will be able to withstand an accidental drop in water, or a splash of not very high pressure.
However, over the years we have seen some manufacturers use the concept of "waterproof" to promote the water resistance of their phones. This is the case of Samsung, which has recently been mired in controversy after carrying out promotional campaigns of this type, and has therefore been accused of misleading advertising by some consumer organizations.
In order not to trust companies and to know why you should not immerse your smartphone in water, it is necessary to understand how water resistance works, and what makes a mobile phone pass the tests mentioned above.
To obtain a certain level of protection, manufacturers use materials capable of isolating water from the outside of the phone, preventing it from entering the phone, an accident, as we saw before when we talked about the famous " rice solution ", which is not a solution to save mobile phones that have fallen into water but can have serious consequences due to corrosion.
Usually, the element that gives current smartphones a certain level of water resistance is the adhesive that binds their structure and some components, keeping them fixed in position. This adhesive creates a seal that prevents liquid from penetrating inside the phone. This is why we can usually find this material in all the openings of the phone through which water can enter, such as the ports, around the buttons or in the SIM / microSD card slot.
Taking this into account, any mobile phone that has been previously treated, for example to repair it, will have lost part of this adhesive, and therefore its ability to resist water will have been greatly reduced, if not completely disappeared.
But even if you're absolutely certain that the adhesive isn't damaged, an IP67 or 68 rating doesn't guarantee that a phone is water-resistant. As iFixit , one of the biggest references for electronics repair and disassembly, notes, the adhesives and silicones that manufacturers use to keep water out of phones can, over time and due to phenomena like temperature changes, exposure to chemicals like chlorine in pool water, or something as simple as bumps, drops, or damage that can be caused by dirt, and a lot of scratches on screens that have been caused over the years, make a phone less water-resistant.
In short, yes, it is possible that your mobile phone can withstand a fall in water or a short swim in the pool. But this does not mean that the device is prepared for it.
On the other hand, it is that in certain conditions, and in the event that the device has not been tampered with and its adhesive has not been subjected to any type of corrosion, it will be able to go through situations similar to those in which it was tested in the laboratory, in a more normal environment.
Therefore, you have to think twice about whether it is worth taking your cell phone to the beach or to the pool this summer