As the title says, I accidentally took my OnePlus Open into a swimming pool. I'm still kicking myself over it. I can't believe I did something so stupid.
I take very good care of my devices, and I was planning on how to keep them out of the water when I went to a company pool party. I left my OnePlus Watch 3 at home so there was no chance I would take it in the pool. I had my OPO in the pocket of my swim trunks, and I planned to put it in my bag when I got there. I should've just put it in the bag right away.
When I arrived, people kept telling me to hurry up and get in the pool. So, I did! 5-10 minutes later (I wasn't keeping track), I had the sinking realization that I never took my phone out of my pocket. I immediately took it out, tried to clean it up the best I could, and powered it off to prevent any shorts.
When I got home, I decided to take a risk. I had a bag of silica gel crystals from a craft project at home. I knew it would help dry the phone out, but the texture of the crystals was like sand. I knew it could also get into crevices and small parts. I went ahead and covered it in silica gel crystals in an air-tight tupperware container and left it alone for 48 hours.
When I took it out, I was relieved that it was almost fully functional—especially both screens. I noticed that the microphone didn't work, and I figured this was due to the silica crystals that may have been lodged in the microphone hole. I also noticed that the cameras were functional, but the inside of the glass over the cameras had condensation on it and resulted in extremely blurry photos .The worst result was the battery. At first, it wouldn't charge past 14%, and the phone would crash and restart into a boot loop. I had to boot the phone into safe mode to get it to start back up. The battery eventually charged to 100%, but it would deplete rather quickly.
I bought the phone refurbished, so I had no warranty on it (again, I usually take very good care of my electronics). I took it to a reputable cellphone repair shop to see what they could do. They were not able to source a battery, so I just asked them to do a professional cleaning. 24 hours later, the cameras shot crystal clear, and the microphone works just fine. They also got out all remaining condensation.
After all of that, the only problem that I still have is the battery draining quickly. It still charges just fine and doesn't boot loop anymore. And honestly, this is the best case scenario that I could've hoped for after it spent multiple minutes underwater. The battery is a bummer, but I'm just glad it works!
