Can you tell by looking at a cell phone if it has water damage? Did you just purchase a used phone and it was working for awhile but all of a sudden it's not working at all or acting funny? Cell phones will act weird when they get water damage, some of the things that may occur are: it shuts off for no reason, it's stuck in car kit modes (LGs are known to do this), having a black or blank screen, the cell phone can not dial out or dials out numbers on it's own, the other person you are talking to you can hear you but you can't hear them. Note other things will happen when phones get liquid damage and not all things that I've mentioned above will happen when your phone has liquid damage.

First of all let me tell you how you can tell if there is water damage. Then in another review I've written you can find out how to prevent it. (Look under my guides on preventing liquid damage). The first thing you want to do is take the battery off. On some of the phones you will notice on the battery there is a piece of lithmus paper on it (it is normally a small circle with a white background and markings in a different color on top of the white background). This paper can sense any type of liquid damage, whether it was dropped in a bucket of water or you used it out in the rain. Normally there is a circle with 2 different colors, either red and white or purple and white. The red or purple will show up as an X or as a + inside the circle. The background will be white. When the phone comes in contact with any type of moisture the two colors on the lithmus paper blend together to make one. So if the circle on your battery is all pink or all purple that's a sure way to tell some type of water damage has happened. Cell phone companies later added the lithmus paper to the back of the phone underneath the battery. Normally if you look at the bottom of the phone with the battery taken off you will see it on the side of the phone towards the antenna, but it can also be at the bottom or top. The colors of the lithmus paper are the same as if it were on the battery (white and red or white and purple)  before and after liquid damage occurs. The one thing that this prevented was water damage could still be determined even if the battery that showed water damage was switched out for a new battery. (If yous has the lithmus paper on the phone and it's still 2 colors you may in fact not have water damage.) To make sure, check the charging port (normally at the bottom of the phone). Do you see any type of corrossion damage (is it green inside the charging port, is it rusty?) If so some type of liquid came in contact with the phone and there is liquid damage. No amount of cleaning the port will help, corrosion inside the phone has already started and soon your phone won't work properly or won't work at all.

Want  to learn how to prevent liquid damage with a new phone? Read my review on preventing liquid damage on cell phones. If this guide has helped please let me know by clicking Yes on the Was this guide helpful. If you have any comments or suggestions for this review, feel free to contact me!