How to get your photos off a dead or water damaged phone

There's a specific sinking feeling that comes with a dead phone. It isn't really about the phone. You're thinking about the videos of the kids, your dad's voicemails and the only pictures from that trip. Take a breath. Here's what we'd tell a friend.

First, check for a backup

Your photos might already be safe, and it costs nothing to look. Use any computer or a family member's phone.

iPhone: Sign in at icloud.com with your Apple ID and open Photos. If iCloud Photos was on, your pictures should be there. If you've got a Mac or a PC that you once plugged your phone into, look for old backups there too.

Android: Go to photos.google.com and sign in with the Google account on your phone. Many Android phones back up there automatically. Samsung owners should also check their Samsung account or OneDrive if it was set up.

Don't forget the rest: Check your email, your messages to family, shared albums and Facebook. Those won't have everything, but they can be a nice surprise when you've got nothing else.

If your photos turned up, then the urgent part is over. You still might want to repair the phone, but you can take your time.

If there's no backup

Then the phone itself is what matters, and how you handle it changes your odds.

If it got wet: Turn it off, and don't try to turn it back on to check it. Don't plug it in. Skip the rice, since it doesn't dry the inside and it just costs you time. Water corrosion keeps going, and it goes fastest with power running through the board. Our water damage page has more.

If it just died: Try a different cable and charger, and give it thirty minutes or so on the charger, as a completely drained phone can take a while to respond. Try a forced restart too; the button combination for your model is easy to look up. If nothing happens, stop there. Trying over and over can make things worse if something on the board has shorted.

If the screen is broken but the phone seems alive: You may hear it buzz or ring. This is often the easiest case, as a new screen might give you everything back. Some phones can also connect to a computer or a TV.

Why you can't just pull the photos out

People often ask if we can take the memory out and read it on another machine. On older computers, that's possible. On modern phones, it generally isn't. Your iPhone or Android phone encrypts its storage, and the keys are tied to that specific phone's main board. If you moved the memory chip somewhere else, what you'd read would be scrambled.

So the way to get the photos back is usually to get the original phone running again, if only for long enough to copy everything off. That's why a board-level repair can matter so much, even on a phone you plan to retire. It's also why companies that promise a magic extraction on a modern phone deserve some careful questions.

What a repair shop can do

Bring the phone to us and tell us that the photos are what matter. We handle it differently that way. Instead of trying to make the phone perfect, we'll aim to get it running so we can move your things somewhere safe.

We start with the easy possibilities: the battery, the charging port and the screen. If those aren't the problem, we open the phone and clean any corrosion, then look for the part on the board that's failed. Our no-power repair page explains that work. You'll also need your passcode, because the phone won't release anything without it.

We can't promise that it'll work, and nobody honest will. Some phones are too far gone. But plenty of phones that look dead aren't, and it costs little to ask.

So this never happens again

Once you've got your pictures back, please turn on iCloud Photos or Google Photos. Make sure they've actually finished uploading, and that you've got enough storage. Then, once or twice a year, copy them to an external drive and keep it in a drawer. Two copies in two places is what lets you shrug when a phone goes for a swim. We're happy to help you set it up.