Seeing warning messages about moisture being detected in your USB port pop up on your Samsung device, or seeing the water drop icon frequently, can be annoying.

In most cases, your phone is simply informing you that there is moisture in your charging port. But at times, this message could be a false alarm. Either way, how can you get rid of the water drop icon or error alarm on your Samsung phone?

What to Do if You've Got Water in the Charging Port

If the water drop icon pops up because you have got moisture in your charging port, you must deal with that to disable the message. You won't be able to charge using a cable until it has gone.

  1. Disconnect the charger: Once you see the water drop icon, disconnect your charger. It's best not to try to charge your phone with moisture in it because that can complicate issues. You might be electrocuted or damage your device further.
  2. Dry the charging port: After disconnecting your charger, remove the moisture from your charging port. Power off your phone and clean your charging port with a dry cloth, tissue, cotton swab, or a moisture absorber like silica gel.
Packs of silica gel placed on a table.

You can gently stroke the cotton swab inwards to absorb all the moisture in the charging port. Do not be harsh or push too deep because you risk damaging your charging port. Also, do not shake your phone so vigorously to remove the moisture, as this may only damage your device.

There is a popular myth that putting water-drenched devices in a bowl of rice absorbs moisture. That's not correct; dipping your phone's charging port in rice will cause more harm than good. You can either cover the phone's port with silica gel sachets or submerge it in rubbing alcohol instead. Better still, you can just wait for it to dry naturally with time, as some hours in a well-ventilated area should do the trick.

While your charging port dries, you can use a wireless charger to get enough charge. Once your port dries, plug in your charger, and you'll find that the moisture warning has cleared.

What to Do if a Bug Causes the "Moisture Detected" Message

Some moisture warnings are triggered prematurely due to a bug or software malfunction. Here's how you can fix this problem.

1. Restart the Device With the Charger Plugged In

If your charging port is dry, and you plug in your charger only to receive the "Moisture detected" message on your phone, consider force-restarting your device.

Typically, you can hard restart your phone by pressing the Power/Lock button for up to 30 seconds until the screen turns off, and restarts. Keep the charger plugged in while you do this. A simple restart can clear temporary bugs and possible glitches triggering the moisture warning.

2. Disable Fast Charging

Some users report that the moisture warnings first appear on Samsung phones while fast charging. If this is an issue you're seeing, you can disable fast charging to see if that helps.

  1. Launch your Galaxy phone's Settings, scroll down, and tap on Device care.
  2. Tap Battery and select Charging.
  3. Switch off the Fast charging toggle.

Disabling fast charging will cause your phone to charge slower, so it isn't a long-term solution. If the fix works, try enabling fast charging again to see whether the problem comes back. As a general rule, there are no downsides to fast charging.

3. Clear the USB Cache in Settings

If you still get the "Moisture detected" error message after your phone is dry, consider clearing the USB cache data in your phone's settings. Over time, your USB cache can become corrupted or outdated, causing issues with USB connections and triggering the water drop icon.

Here's how to clear your USB cache on your Samsung phone.

  1. Go to your phone's Settings app and search for Apps.
  2. Tap on the vertical three dots in the upper right corner, and tap on Show System Apps.
  3. Find and tap USBSettings.
  4. Tap on Storage and tap the Clear cache option in the bottom right corner of your screen.

4. Force Stop Android System

Another way to eliminate an unwarranted "Moisture detected" error message is to force-stop your Android system. Here's how:

  1. Open the Settings app on your phone, then scroll down and tap on Apps.
  2. Tap on the vertical three dots in the upper right corner, and tap on Show System Apps.
  3. Find and tap on Android System.
  4. Tap the Force stop option and restart your Android device.

Force-stopping your Android system is a last-ditch effort option, as it is not entirely recommended. It could leave your device unstable. This option will shut down all active processes on your Samsung device, including apps running in the background. This is why it's best to restart after doing it.

Fix Samsung's Moisture Detected Warning

Seeing Samsung's moisture warning on your phone can be an aggravating and nerve-wracking experience. It can cause your phone to stop functioning correctly.

However, you can fix this problem by cleaning and drying your charging port. If bugs cause a false error, you can clear your USB cache and thoroughly reboot your phone to resolve the issue. If nothing works, installing the next software update your phone gets might fix it, or contact Samsung support for more help.