this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2025
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[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No. If I add any more requirements for what I need from a phone I'll go from 1 option to zero.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

What's your one option btw?

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They also don't work underwater.

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 3 points 12 hours ago

Carrier salmon.

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well, it already has IP68 anyways so you got that covered :D

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 9 points 1 day ago

Allegedly so. Looking at that rubber seal behind the flimsy back cover doesn't inspire much confidence however so I'll keep treating it as if that rating doesn't exist.

[–] prex@aussie.zone 3 points 1 day ago
[–] brap@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I don’t care for the number and just go by what they say it will endure, but absolutely. As the owner of a toddler it’s saved the day on as number of occasions.

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 22 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I don't really look for "this one's rated to 20 meters but this one only 10" I just want to see a water resistance rating of some kind. Which, it is my understanding the Galaxy Folds don't have.

My phone will be in my pocket during five years of sudden rain storms, sweat, washing cars, fixing sinks etc. It needs to be able to survive getting dunked in a bucket of water. I'm not taking it diving, but also my chauffeur isn't going to hold an umbrella while I climb into the limousine.

[–] Zangoose@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Folds have water ratings but no (or worse) dust ratings. So you can use them in the rain but be careful in a beach, wood shop, etc.

The first number in the rating is dust resistance, and the second is water resistance. So an IP 48 phone (new Samsung folds) has the same water resistance but worse dust resistance than an IP 68 phone (e.g. S25). IP X8 means there is no dust resistance but it is water resistant. IP 6X would be the other way around.

I am a woodworker, my phone also needs to survive being completely submerged in sanding dust.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Yes. It has saved my bacon at least once (went down a water slide into a swimming pool forgetting it was in my pocket.) I need all the help I can get keeping my phone alive.

Do you?

[–] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 15 points 1 day ago

Yes. I'm not too demanding about it but I want my phone to survive being soaked in rain or a washing with clean water.

Bonus points if I can take it into the sea, but I never had a phone for which I was confident it could survive salty water.

[–] bussubbus@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Absolutely, I don’t want to worry about water damage, I also often just wash the phone while washing my hands, especially during flu-season.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I also often just wash the phone while washing my hands

I did that often around covid, water got in the supposedly IP68 water resistance anyways after doing that for a few months.

I'd consider their claims to be exaggerated.

If theu say its "water submersible" treat it as just protection against light splashes, if its just "water repellant", don't trust that near water at all. Expect less than their claims.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you used soap, that could be why. Soap can deteriorate the rubber gaskets and adhesives that keep the ingress protection together.

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[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I did back in the day. Now everything is IP67 or whatever's the most common one. It's honestly a crapshoot, my Xperia Z3 died from just being in the shower room while I showered, nowhere near the water but vaguely steamy in there.

I accidentally flushed, yes - flushed my Pixel 1 XL down the toilet and it was fine (it swam up).

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[–] gigachad@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

No. But I would love a replaceable battery.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Samsung Galaxy XCover series does both.

Sadly, Samsung doesn't allow bootloader unlocks... so yea its a hard pass for me 🤷‍♂️ (also, spec to price ratio is horrible)

[–] gigachad@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Same for me, locked bootloader is basically useless. Fortunately, from 2027 batteries must be replaceable in the EU. I guess it may have an impact on other regions in the world as well.

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[–] brb@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yes. I use my phone in rain/snow and boats all the time plus it's nice to be able to use it in sauna also

[–] Lumisal@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I feel like that defeats the purpose of sauna a bit...

But anyway, I thought heat rating was a different metric entirely?

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 8 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Sauna is a place where you either chat with other people or sit with your thoughts. It's blasphemy to bring your phone in there.

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[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sauna? Bruh you're really pushing the limits of the water resistance, its water resistant, not water + heat resistant (rubber gaskets are gonna fall apart with the steamy hot air constantly)

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[–] tal@lemmy.today 8 points 23 hours ago

Yes. I've never had a bad liquid incident, but I don't want my phone to be one spilled drink or dropped-into-toilet-or-puddle away from being fried.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 8 points 23 hours ago

Yes. I have three young children, I need my phone to be waterproof.

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't bother with the exact ratings, but it has to be water resistant. If you're researching phone options, open a tab in desktop view and go to Versus.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
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[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

No, they tend to be good enough to have in a pocket while sweating in light rain which is the worst I'll put them through.

Yup. Its not a deal breaker, but I try to find at least some options that have a rating and consider if its worth the other tradeoffs.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 5 points 23 hours ago

Only that there is one. I don’t expect my phone to get wet but I do want it to survive everyday life.

Supposedly the Apple Watch is fine to go swimming with. I’m happy to see that feature, as confidence I can wash my hands without ruining my watch

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago

Yep. Non-negotiable. Not only do I live in a very rainy place, but I have uses for this stuff that require getting splashed A LOT very often for other reasons.

[–] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Yes. Have exclusively used rugged phones for past ~10 years. Mostly Cat (RIP), now Doogee S96. My phone is exposed to a lot of particulate matter, metal fragments, sawdust, etc. It needs to withstand fall damage on hard surfaces. The IP rating indicates it's resistance to anything entering the case, including water.

[–] jcr@jlai.lu 3 points 1 day ago

Yes and you should (good IP rating also means better hardware and assembly quality). I was using 2nd hand (refurbished) samsung, 3 months later it just failed because of summer, rain, sweat ...

[–] qupada@fedia.io 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, but I also get into a rage about manufacturers being dicks about it. People by and large don't seem to understand the IP rating scale is in fact two largely-unrelated scales, and companies slapping IP ratings on their products use that in what I feel are underhanded ways.

The values IPx1-IPx6 correspond to varying levels of resistance against directed streams of water. IPx7-IPx9 are degrees of resistance to submersion. The latter does not imply the former, not even a little bit.

It is in theory entirely possible to build a device that could withstanding being put in the bottom of a swimming pool that's being slowly filled with water, but failed from the higher pressure of a small amount of water falling on it from a certain direction.

But you still see phones listed just as "IP68", which tells you nothing. The better manufacturers will explicitly write the likes of "IP65/IP68"; showing that it reaches the 5 rating of "water jets 12.5litre/minute" but not the 6 rating of "powerful water jets 100litre/minute", but also IP67 "immersion <1 metre / <30 minutes" and IP68 "immersion >1 metre / >30 minutes".

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_code#Second_digit:_Liquid_ingress_protection)

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is a bit obtuse for the sake of pedantry.

I mean, is it possible that you could build a device resistant to submersion but not splashing? Maybe?

But this isn't "a device", this is a phone. The problems with water ingress are very specific. You have a couple of speakers, a few microphones, a sim card slot and a USB port, plus the seams for the screen and backplate. If you secured those well enough for the immersion tests they're going to be splash-resistant. If you have a way in which you can somehow have a phone screen adhesive survive being underwater for several minutes but not falling rain or being placed under a tap/hose please do share, because I can't think of one. The scenario where your speaker seals are good enough for being fully submerged but get water damaged by shooting high pressure water directly into them is so niche it's probably not worth it to further confuse people by having two different IP ratings listed.

Plus... you know, don't be shooting water hoses directly up your phone's holes regardless? I don't see why you would in the first place, but... just don't? It's not gonna happen by accident, so it doesn't need to happen at all.

[–] qupada@fedia.io 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes and no.

Taking advantage of the very real waterproofing of the phones I have owned (past and present), I will just wash the damn thing off under the kitchen tap if it gets dirty, which I have with one of my previous phones done with a high-pressure restaurant-sink-style spray nozzle (I was making beer, and boiling the wort kicks a lot of sticky crap into the air).

That phone was fine afterward, and continued to work for several years after.

Also at a more basic level, it is (at least in theory) an assurance that they actually tested the damn thing, and didn't just slap a largely meaningless (and as already noted, "bigger number better") rating on the thing, as is largely the style of our times because consumer protection is dead and regulations are meaningless.

This is exactly the kind of should be done properly, or just not at all. Test it and rate it for the people who do care, or STFU, put the unqualified but perfectly reasonable label of "water resistant" on it, and the bulk of people who indeed do not care (or will be confused) will be no worse off than they are now.

Anything else is just annoying.

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[–] Michal@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

Not me. I always used the phone in the rain if i needed to. It's a nice plusy, but I woundnt trust the ip rating enough to carry the phone in wet swimming trunks after swimming.

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, I grew up with phones (and electronics in general) not being water tight or resistant so I sort of still have the mindset of not taking my phone near lakes/bathtubs and putting it away when it's raining.

Haven't really had a problem with water damage in all the years of owning phones. Most of my phones were not water tight/resistant because they were older Nokias, had a replaced battery or are Fairphones.

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[–] art@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago

I take it with me too the beach. Between the sand in the air and bringing it into the water it's nice to know it'll be fine. Also, when it gets dirty I can just wash it.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 3 points 20 hours ago

I pay attention to the fact that it has one that will let it survive a drop into water.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I dunno about everyone else, but definitely not me.

I don't swim and I'm not prone to dropping my phone in the toilet.

Also, if you get even one drop of water on the screen, the touchscreen doesn't even work correctly.

Electronic devices aren't meant to get wet in the first place.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Electronic devices aren’t meant to get wet in the first place.

Rain exists... 👀

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