An app named Water Resistance Tester, developed by Ray W, claims to tells you whether your smartphone’s water-resistant sealing is intact or not.
The description page of the app claims to test the smartphone’s IP67/IP68 water-resistance seals using the barometric pressure sensor which most smartphones come built-in today.
The same has been described by the developer Ray W on its official Reddit account. The developer has also mentioned that two of his community members have confirmed that this app’s methodology is the same as the official methodology used by Samsung service technicians.
For those who don’t know, the barometer sensor in a smartphone helps GPS chips lock faster by determining the vertical location. However, Wikipedia describes it as an instrument to measure atmospheric pressure. The app seems to be using the latter for this test.
To test the app, we took our Galaxy S21 smartphone which is indeed IP68 rated water and dust resistant smartphone.
We implied two test cases here — one with a SIM card slot on and one after removing the SIM card slot.
When you remove the SIM card, the Galaxy S21 warns users that the water resistance capability of the smartphone will be compromised and to protect against water damage, ensure that the SIM card tray is firmly sealed.
The description page of the app claims to test the smartphone’s IP67/IP68 water-resistance seals using the barometric pressure sensor which most smartphones come built-in today.
The same has been described by the developer Ray W on its official Reddit account. The developer has also mentioned that two of his community members have confirmed that this app’s methodology is the same as the official methodology used by Samsung service technicians.
For those who don’t know, the barometer sensor in a smartphone helps GPS chips lock faster by determining the vertical location. However, Wikipedia describes it as an instrument to measure atmospheric pressure. The app seems to be using the latter for this test.
To test the app, we took our Galaxy S21 smartphone which is indeed IP68 rated water and dust resistant smartphone.
We implied two test cases here — one with a SIM card slot on and one after removing the SIM card slot.
When you remove the SIM card, the Galaxy S21 warns users that the water resistance capability of the smartphone will be compromised and to protect against water damage, ensure that the SIM card tray is firmly sealed.
In the first case, the app marked the smartphone as water-resistant, while after removing the SIM card tray it said ‘Your phone does not appear to be water-resistant.”
We also ran this app on ROG Phone 5, which apparently does not have a barometer sensor and the app was quick to identify that it’s a phone without the necessary sensor required for the test.
So far the app seems to be accurate. However, it is still just a claim and it’s a good idea to keep the smartphones, even if they are IP67 or IP68 rated, away from water to avoid damage.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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