FAQs

Yikes! Rescue Phone & Tablet Rescue– Media Q&A

Q: How did you come up with the idea for this product?
A: What actually motivated me to develop Yikes! Rescue was meeting a waiter at an Italian restaurant while traveling to a trade show. He once held a senior management position with a Fortune 500 company. He took his wife out for dinner and his phone got wet during the evening. When he got home later that night, he sealed his phone in a bag of rice thinking that would do the trick. He had read that rice might dry the phone out in a several days time. Rice was not the best solution because it took too long to be effective.
By the following Monday when he returned to work, he realized that he had missed a series of voicemails, and the last voicemail he missed was from his boss asking for a simple password to solve a work issue that would have been prevented a customer outage. And he lost his job.
I realized that there had to be a more effective way to prolong the life of phones exposed to water. Yikes! Rescue can’t resolve that waiter’s unfortunate past experience, but it can help other people whose phones suffer water exposure.

Q: What is Yikes! Rescue made of?
A: Inside the Yikes! Rescue package are hundreds of Magic Blue Beads of a commercial strength desiccant called silica gel. The beads are inside a poly-foil bag with a barrier material that protects them from gas, odor and moisture. The Yikes! Rescue bags have an easy-to-open tear notch and are heat sealed to make them tamper evident. In addition, there are two sealable plastic bags inside the package – one is the size of cell phone and the other can accommodate larger items, such as tablets and electronic devices.
When you seal the Magic Blue Beads and your phone together in the bag -- and leave it for up to 48 hours - the beads will absorb excessive humidity that can degrade or destroy your phone or tablet. As the moisture is absorbed, the Magic Blue Beads turn white. The crystalline texture of the Yikes! Rescue blend of silica gel desiccant enables a faster absorption process than any other method commercially available today.

Q: What testing has been done to prove your claims?
A: Yikes! Rescue has a team of industry experts dedicated to developing, testing and perfecting Yikes! Rescue desiccant materials to maximize water absorption in consumer electronics. We’ve thoroughly tested the effectiveness and speed of Yikes! Rescue versus household white and brown rice to demonstrate that Yikes! Rescue Phone & Tablet Rescue absorbs moisture faster and more effectively when placed in Yikes! Rescue moisture sealed bags.
Testing has been verified by an independent firm in Dallas, Texas demonstrating with quantitative data that Yikes! Rescue Phone & Tablet Rescue is faster and more effective at removing moisture from the environment.
The graph represents a sample 48 hour test where water was placed in Yikes! Rescue bags versus Yikes! Rescue bags filled with white or brown household rice. The experiment started with all four samples at a warm room temperature (80 degrees Fahrenheit). Typical home humidity in Dallas, Texas in an air conditioned home averages 40-45% relative humidity in most cases. This is apparent on the graph before moisture was applied to the four samples.
Find the average relative humidity in your city by checking out the following link.

Yikes! Phone & Tablet Rescue vs. Rice

Lab Test Performed 10/22/2012

Methodology: A humidity sensor was placed in a poly foil bag testing Yikes! Rescue vs. brown & white rice. 2 grams of water were added to each bag to view the moisture absorbing power of each substance.
Yikes! Rescue

Legend:
Red = Yikes! Rescue with 2g water
Blue = Room Temperature
Green = Brown Rice with 2g water
Purple = White Rice with 2 g water

0%

100%                                          Time Period (in military hours)

Q: How long can a cell phone be underwater and still be recovered?
A: Permanent damage is typically prevented if the phone is under water for 60 seconds or less. The quality of the water is a factor as well. Clean water is easier to remove from your cell phone than dirty water, from a lake for example. Dirty water contains particles that may get inside your phone and are difficult to remove. The contaminants left behind after the water has dried are a key factor since the residue left behind inside the electronics causes malfunction.

Q: How does water damage a cell phone and make it quit working?
A: Modern microelectronics and the miniaturization used to create your phone leaves almost no space for air. However water, moisture and vapor will find what little space is available. When this happens, the microcomputer thinks that buttons are being pressed. After the phone is dry, the residue in the phone creates new problems. Residue in the phone can create shorts or cause the phone capitulation which renders the phone useless. If you happen to drop your phone in dirty water – such as a lake or pond – we recommend that you expose your phone to distilled water for 20 or 30 seconds before using Yikes! Rescue for a more effective drying process.

Q: I’ve heard you can put your wet cell phone in the oven (in a bag of rice/in alcohol/etc.) and that will solve any problems. Is that true?
A: Yikes! Rescue is the safest, most reliable method for solving the wet electronics problem. Electronics have melted using common home remedies, such as drying phones in ‘low heat’ in the kitchen oven, and people risk rusting their devices by using a hair dryer. The proven safest method of saving electronics from water damage is Yikes! Rescue.

Q: What are some other electronic devices that can be saved using Yikes! Rescue?
A: Phones, tablets, iPods, gaming devices, cameras, hearing aids, wrist watches and other electronic devices exposed to water. Yikes! Rescue comes in a package that provides two bags for a range of electronic device sizes measuring up to 9” x 12”.

Q: Are there other uses for this product?
A: Yikes! Rescue will absorb moisture out of nearly any household consumer electronics device.

Q: How many people lose their cell phones to water damage each year?
A: Plaxo, a leading online address book, did a survey of cell-phone users in 2011 and found that 19% had dropped a phone in a toilet. That’s almost one in 5 phone owners. And that survey didn’t ask about swimming pools, boating or fishing trips or mishaps involving washing machines and water hoses.

Q: How do you actually use the product?
A: There are five easy steps.

1. Tear open the Yikes! Rescue bag below the seal at the notches.
2. Remove any of the following from your device:
• Battery
• SIM Card (not all phones have SIM cards)
• External Memory Card
3. Insert your device top side down – along with the battery and cards - in the appropriate Yikes! Rescue bag. Seal the strip at the top.
4. Phones that suffer light water exposure to water should be left in the bag for 12 hours. If fully submerged, leave it for 24 hours. For ultimate drying, leave it for 48 hours.
5. After the appropriate drying time, remove your device from the bag. Replace the battery and cards and then charge and power cycle your device. (NOTE: the larger bag is for a tablet or other large electronic device.)

Q: Where can consumers buy this and what is the cost?
A: Buy it online at yikesrescue.com. The price is $9.99 and shipping is free if the order qualifies on Amazon. With the cost of a new phone running several hundred dollars, this is a very economical way to try to save an existing phone. And it is so economical that you can keep a package on hand in case of emergency.
It is interesting to note that the Plaxo survey found that 55% of the people who have lost a phone – no matter how - said the biggest inconvenience was replacing all their lost contacts in the phone.

Q: How can consumers be sure this product will work?
A: We offer a 7-day money back guarantee. The Yikes! Rescue Phone and Tablet Rescue packaging and remaining Magic Blue Beads can be returned for credit when submitted with an original purchase receipt.

Q: What about cell phones that have been in water for five or ten minutes ... or longer?
A: The problem with water exposure is the amount of debris in the water that remains in in the components of the phone after drying. Small particles of debris will not evaporate. There is a possibility that if the phone still doesn’t work after one exposure to Yikes! Rescue, dunking it in distilled water for 20-30 seconds, then drying it again might correct that. The dirtier the water, the more of these dunk-and-dry processes will be needed. Our research shows that dunking the phone in distilled water in between dryings can do what seems impossible. If you dropped your phone in clean water, you have the best chance of saving it.

Q: If a consumer had to “dunk-and-dry” several times, can they still use the same package of Yikes! Rescue or would they need a new package every time?
A: One standard bag of Yikes! Rescue is sufficient to dry out a phone that has been “dunked and dried”. A new package of Yikes! Rescue should be purchased for each phone incident as the product has a useful life of approximately one week after being exposed to the environment once opened. Yikes! Rescue pulls in moisture from the environment and rapidly loses it’s effectiveness if the Magic Blue Beads are exposed to air.

Q: Once my phone has been in water how fast do I need to have it in the bag with the pellets?
A: We recommend that you place the device in the Yikes! Rescue bag with the desiccants within two days.

Q: If I purchased Yikes! Rescue how long does it last if I made a preventive purchase versus an emergency purchase.
A: Yikes! Rescue is effective for up to two years if left unopened.

Q: Can you use the same bag of Magic Blue Beads more than once? (ex: save it and use it again in 6 months when you get another phone wet)
A: No, the Magic Blue Beads start absorbing moisture in the air from the time the bags are unsealed. After the package is opened, Yikes! Rescue can be used for up to a week with more than one device. The moisture from water damaged devices will start turning the blue indicating beads white once water has been absorbed by the Magic Blue Beads.

Q: Can you "dry out" the Magic Blue Beads so they are reusable, such as leave them out in the open in hopes that the humidity they are holding will be released?
A: No, drying out the Magic Blue Beads is not recommended. Numerous cases on the internet report people who tried to folks burning themselves by trying to heat drying agents in household ovens.

Q: If I buy a package and don't open it, how long will it be effective?
A: Approximately 24 months.

Q: Is this product guaranteed to save your phone if you follow the instructions on the package?
A: Yikes! Rescue is your best hope for saving electronics; however, there are conditions that may cause some devices to be unable to be saved such as a phone under water for a long period or a phone dropped in extremely dirty water.

Q: Does Yikes! Rescue work if your phone is exposed to other types of liquid, such as oil or paint?
A: No, Yikes! Rescue contains silica gel that can adsorb about 40 percent of its weight in moisture and can take the relative humidity in a closed container down to between 30 - 40 percent. This will not be effective on heavy liquids like oil or paint.

Q: What if your child or your dog eats the contents of the Yikes! Rescue package? Are the beads dangerous if consumed?
A: You regularly find little silica gel packets in anything that would be affected by excess moisture or condensation ducts – like food, shoe boxes and bottles of vitamins. Because silica gel is a desiccant -- it adsorbs and holds water vapor. In leather products and foods like pepperoni, the lack of moisture can limit the growth of mold and reduce spoilage. In electronics it prevents condensation, which can damage the electronics. If a bottle of vitamins contained any moisture vapor and was cooled rapidly, the condensing moisture would ruin the pills.
Silica gel is basically harmless, which is why you find it in food products. Silica, or silicon dioxide (SiO2), is the same material found in quartz. The gel form contains millions of tiny pores that can adsorb and hold moisture. However, we don’t recommend that anyone consume the beads.

Q: How do you dispose of the product safely and “greenly” after you’ve used it?
A: Yikes! Rescue comes in recyclable bags, and the silica gel is essentially porous sand that can be disposed of safely with your household waste.

Q: Is this product patented?
A: Yikes! Rescue Phone & Tablet Rescue is patent pending. Until the patent is fully issued, Yikes! Rescue is unable to comment on the unique characteristics that give Yikes! Rescue a proprietary method for absorbing moisture in household electronics.

Q: What is your sales margin for this product?
A: That information is proprietary.

Q: How many packages of Yikes! Rescue have you sold so far?
A: That information is proprietary.

Q: Do you have someone I can talk to who has actually used this product after a cell phone mishap?
A: Yes, please contact Pat Pape, Yikes! Rescue Director of Media Relations at pat@yikesrescue.com or (214) 437-9226 for customer contacts who have successfully used Yikes! Rescue to save their devices.