how to deal witha wet phone?

Kitten knocked over a glass of water, and splashed my Samsung 10e phone.  One reason I bought this phone was its claim of water-resistance.

Phone is working just fine.  It's charging that is the problem.  When I plugged in the USB cord, I got a loud tone and a "warning: moisture detected" popup screen.  Obviously, if you can't recharge a phone, it's worthless after a day or two.

Okay, what I've tried so far:

First step.  Shake phone gently to see if any interior water can be dislodged.  No effect.

Second step: Put in bag of rice for a few hours.  No effect.

3rd Step: Use filtered fan to gently blow air into USB opening on phone (and on to the separate USB cord.  No effect.

4th step: In bag of rice overnight.  No effect

5th step.  Buy new USB-C cord.  No effect.

6th step: in bag of rice, but outside, to add warm heat to the equation.  No effect.

Any suggestions?  I the one thing I will not do is a Master Reset of the phone, as this would result in the loss of all my data.  (Even though phone is otherwise working perfectly, I can't even save all my data to my desktop, as the phone freezes each time a USB cord is inserted.)

What I did do, and what I assume should work: Went on Amazon and am rushing a wireless charger to my house.  I can't think of any reason why this will not work.  But even if this means I can recharge my phone, it still means I can never connect it to my computer (backing up videos, etc; doing global backup of phone, etc) or connect it to my TV (for streaming content through the TV.

I am surprised that exposure to water that was limited to 5 seconds (and a splash, not where the phone was submerged) could do such long-lasting damage.  Definitely not what the Samsung ads show. 

Check YouTube for tutorials and do a web search for print sites.

Everything that I have ever read or viewed says that using rice is 100% useless and will actually hold moisture in vs. dry it out.

Look in pill bottles for Dessicant pouches or vials and put a bunch of them together in a plastic bag with your device. Dessicant is what you need, not rice.

I think that you need to give it TIME to dry out, even if just sitting out in the open or in warm dry air.

Ideally, you could take it apart to dry out faster. For some devices it's actually very easy using just a credit card to pry off the display and to open it up if there is no battery access. Again check YouTube for disassembly or repair tutorials.

My one experience with rice was with a completely bricked old Sansa MP3 player (soaked during a thunderstorm while running) - I gave up after a day, ordered a replacement and by the time that was delivered three or four days later the wetted one worked again.

My guess would be the water combined with internal grease or muck to foul electrical contacts - several times I've had good success using no residue electrical contact cleaner on camera controls, keyboards, static-y stereo knobs, car electronics, old tape and VCR guts and recording heads, etc. Best start sparingly with the little spray guide tube and let it fully evaporate - I'd keep it well away from screen and camera elements - could be shot inside the charging jack or control buttons or otherwise if the back can be opened up. Available at hardware and electronics shops as well as online . Good luck.

Thanks for your suggestions.  Nothing specific worked.  But, this morning, the problem was gone!  I guess it took the phone 3 full days to dry out.  But hey, the story has a happy ending.

I much appreciate the responses I got.

Jeff Peterman wrote:

Did you take out the sim card and make sure that it, and the compartment it was in, were dry?

Yes.  (I should have included that info in my OP.  An oversight on my part.)

Jeff,

Yes, that is my assumption.  Whatever water was in there just evaporated over time.  I guess the moisture sensor is REALLY sensitive.