Texts recovery after phone thrown in toilet

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Gordy7

gordy7
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#255690 23-Aug-2019 21:58

A friend has asked if info (texts maybe?) can be recovered after mobile phone thrown into toilet.

Apparently there is some legal dispute going on.

I don't know the condition of the phone as yet or the mobile operator.

I suggested that maybe only contacts from the Sim and stuff stored on memory card will be recoverable.

Any options or suggestions?

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

gehenna

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#2304942 23-Aug-2019 22:09

Uncommon for contacts to be stored on a SIM these days. What sort of phone? iOS would have them in iCloud or a backup depending on when that was done. If they're only on the device itself, they'll be gone unless the phone can be powered up. Any repairer will wipe it. But it all depends on the device make/model/etc.

Gordy7

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#2304944 23-Aug-2019 22:17

Just a 30 second chat at this stage... I would guess that there is pretty slim chances of recovering anything.

If the phone remained powered when in the water then the guts would be pretty much corroded.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

KrazyKid

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#2304948 23-Aug-2019 22:29

Did the use Android messages?. That seems to be sync'ed to the web when I open it in chrome...

gehenna

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#2304970 23-Aug-2019 23:00

Only if the feature is enabled.

ANglEAUT

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#2305044 24-Aug-2019 09:19

Gordy7:

...

I don't know the condition of the phone as yet or the mobile operator.

...

Any options or suggestions?

Firstly, don't power on the phone. Put it in a bag of rice & store it in a warm / hot area for three days. The hot water cylinder cupboard is ideal for this. Get as much moisture extracted as possible.

As stated above, your recovery options vary based on phone OS.

iPhone - Hopefully they have iCloud backup enabled. Most likely, they will have lost only the current days worth of SMS's. Unfortunately, once iCloud storage gets full due to photos, a lot of people turn off backups. 😢 These days, iPhone default to storing the contacts in iCloud. Look in www.icloud.com for contacts & storage used. That will tell you if there is a usable backup.
Android - Good luck on this one. By default, the SMS's are stored on the internal memory, not on an external MicroSD. As a preventative measure, I use SMS Backup & Restore from SyncTech Pty Ltd for backups. As stated above, you can try to see if your SMS's are available via the web interface (https://messages.google.com/web). The Google KB article. Looking at "What gets backed up" on "Backup and restore your Android device", Google doesn't back up SMS's by default. Maybe they have a Samsung device linked to a Samsung account, so check there as well.
Considering there is an ongoing legal dispute, you might actually want to engage a data recovery specialist before you try anything yourself.

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Bung

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#2305178 24-Aug-2019 11:34

ANglEAUT
Firstly, don't power on the phone. Put it in a bag of rice & store it in a warm / hot area for three days. The hot water cylinder cupboard is ideal for this. Get as much moisture extracted as possible.

I don't think that is the best advice. You might get rid of the water but anything in the water will be left on the board.

My wife dropped her Microsoft 640 down a toilet at a 2 yr old's birthday party. By the time the phone was missed and we had looked in most of the more likely places about 30 minutes had elapsed. Then somebody mentioned that a toilet was blocked.
I fished the phone out and washed the worst of it. It was still running until I popped the battery out. I'm not sure how much water had got in before I took the phone out of its soft case. Even though I can't see any claims for water resistance I think the phone would have run long enough to transfer any data. Once the case was opened it was hard to tell how much was original soak and how much cleaning. As soon as I found the required Torx driver I split the case and used an aerosol isopropyl spray to chase any moisture or dirt out from under any pcb components. The alcohol dries quickly. The phone is still running 1 year later.

I believe pros use ultrasonic cleaning for liquid damage.

New World

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JaseNZ

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#2305221 24-Aug-2019 12:36

Phone in rice is a Myth don't do it, it can cause more harm than good.

https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Don%27t_Put_Your_Device_in_Rice._Here%27s_Why...

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding : Ice cream man , Ice cream man

ANglEAUT

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#2305717 25-Aug-2019 15:36

Bung: I don't think that is the best advice. You might get rid of the water but anything in the water will be left on the board ...

JaseNZ: Phone in rice is a Myth ...

The advice from the ifixit.com website is to open up the phone and by using 90%+ isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and a toothbrush. Sure, let me open up a modern day phone these days with no tools & designed by the manufacturer not to be opened up. Just look at the low repairability scores on their site. Sure, there are better tools for the job, but how many ordinary persons have them available immediately after a phone hits the water. Practically everybody has rice available to spare for this job. Just letting it sit there & dry by itself doesn't help much either.

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JaseNZ

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#2305718 25-Aug-2019 15:41

Yeah was not about ifixit or opening the phone was more the putting in rice is just a load of bollocks.

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Salami

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#2311059 5-Sep-2019 11:54

Rice will only absorb water from the outside and not the inside.

The hot water cupboard will cause more condensation inside the phone so more damage is likely to occur.

Pretty sure putting phone in rice and hot water cupboard is a myth