You or your kid just dropped your phone. It’s cracked. And to make matters worse, a unicorn named “Jorgie” just flew by quick to throw your cracked phone in the toilet. Now it’s wet!

Double whammy!

You’re probably thinking. I’m screwed. How am I going to fix my phone?

I’ve gone through both a cracked phone as well as a wet phone. So I feel your pain.

After having an Android for several years, I finally took the plunge into the land of Apple’s Iphones. I’m always pretty happy with it. They are constantly updating stuff, so I have to be sure in keeping up with my software updates.

Aside from the “technical glitches” that most smartphones have on occasion, there’s also the dreaded cracked phone or wet phone dilemma.

“Help, I’m cracked!”

A cracked phone screen is the worst. In certain instances, you may have cracked your phone just enough to be usable. But that crack is so damn ugly, and it will stare you in the face every time you use your phone. And you know you’re on that there Facebook all damn day.

On other occasions, your crack is so out of whack that your phone is rendered broken and won’t even turn on. That blows. How are you going to take all those selfies? How will you video little Johnny’s 3rd grade concert?

Instead of getting super annoyed, eating a sleeve of cookies and punching yourself in the boob, take a deep breath and check out some options:

1: Maybe using that cracked phone for a while won’t be that terrible. (As long as it still works, go for it!)

2: You can ask to borrow someone’s old phone until you figure out what to do with your cracked piece of junk. You should just need to switch out the SIM card, and the cool people over at www.makeuseof.com explain why:

What sort of information does a SIM card hold? The most important bits of data include the IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) and the authentication key that validates the IMSI. This authentication key is provided by the carrier. If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty, SIM authentication goes like this:

  • On startup, the phone obtains the IMSI from the SIM card and relays it to the network. Think of this as the “request for access.”

  • The network takes the IMSI and looks in its internal database for that IMSI’s known authentication key.

  • The network generates a random number, A, and signs it with the authentication key to create a new number, B. This is the response it would expect if the SIM card is legitimate.

  • The phone receives A from the network and forwards it to the SIM card, which signs it with its own authentication key to create a new number, C. This number is relayed back to the network.

  • If the network’s number A matches the SIM card’s number C, then the SIM card is declared legitimate and access is granted.

Long story short: this data not only determines which network to connect to but also acts as the “login credentials” which allow a phone to use said network.

You can get the full details about switching over a SIM card with your phone here:

3: Try to fix the crack yourself! Moms are not only nose wipers, chefs, nurses, teachers, coaches and hair dressers to name a few, you can also now add certified phone crack fixer to your resume. Thanks to Youtube, there’s thousands of people crawling to show you a video of how to fix a crack.

This dude gives a pretty good run down of how to do it. You’ll need some minor supplies and a blow dryer. It’s a little fucking scary, so if you’re gonna try this, be brave!

 

Alternatively, you can just call your phone service provider. If you’re lucky, you might be eligible for your upgrade, or maybe you even have insurance on your phone. Call and ask!

 

From a preventative measures perspective, get yourself a screen protector like this one to give yourself a fighting chance at keeping your screen crack-free:

 

 

Whatever the outcome of your CRACK, we hope it’s rectified quickly. 😉
Now, moving on to the other phone dilemma. A wet phone.

“Help, I’m wet!”

If you haven’t dropped your phone in the toilet, you haven’t really lived.

Said no one. Ever.

Motherhood consists of spills, toilets and baths. Over and over, and over again. Until someone passes out.

Our phones sometimes get caught up in that mess. My kids on any given day will knock over a glass at least once. Is my Apple Iphone nearby? You betcha’! Does it get wet? Every time. Sometimes it’s fine. Sometimes it’s not.

When it is fine, you thank your lucky stars and go on Facebook to continue your scrolling. When it’s not, you panic and run to the kitchen cupboard to see if you have any rice.

Why rice? EVERY TIME I’ve had an issue with a device getting wet, someone has told me…” put it in a baggie with rice.” Okay. For those of you who’ve tried this, did this work? I bet the majority will say, “nope!”.

The folks over at gazelle.com did some experimenting with rice, kitty litter, oatmeal and other stuff to see which might fix a wet phone. Which of these did best and worst (spoiler alert, rice is NOT king), and which phones performed best after a water test. Get all the details here.

If you’re really in a jam and want to give something a try, check out this Youtube video on ways to fix a water damaged phone:

 

And if you don’t have a phone case, get one like this now! It can help keep your phone safe from at least minor spills!

 

Tell us about your cracked or wet phone experiences now on our Facebook page.

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