Ask Lemmy

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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).

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.

No. But I would love a replaceable battery.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Totally, I use my phone to play music while in the shower. I also do a lot of work outside, work that doesn’t stop if it starts raining.

People don't, but companies do.

Company A might get a contract to do whatever thing for Company B and the contract says "all equipment brought on site by your team must be this or that or whatever IP Rating".

It's an insurance / liability thing.

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.

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)

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 ...

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.

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