Case summary
Water damage recovery where the phone had to work again.
The Samsung phone was recovered from approximately 30 feet of lake water after three days. Modern Android file-based encryption meant a raw memory dump alone would not provide usable data; the original device needed to boot and unlock.
Device
Samsung S25 Ultra recovered from a lake.
Failure
Three days underwater caused contamination and board-level damage.
Main challenge
File-based encryption required the original phone to become functional again.
Recovery path
Liquid-damage cleaning, microsoldering, stabilization, and device restoration.
What made it difficult
Corrosion continues after the phone leaves the water.
Lake water leaves minerals and contamination that attack connectors, traces, and small components. The device required careful cleaning, inspection, and board-level repair rather than charging attempts or basic drying.
Outcome
The phone was restored and the critical data recovered.
Board-level repair returned the original encrypted device to a working, unlockable state so the needed data could be safely accessed and verified.
Case photos
Phone recovery and board-level repair work.
