Liquipel to Waterproof smartphones, iPhone 5 good start
Well now it appears there is a new technology in the mobile space that does away with the need for a smartphone case for offering waterproof protection and uses a “nano” coating that bonds to the outside and inside of your mobile device and thus repels liquid and the new tech is called Liquipel.
According to an article over on TUAW, by way of Liquipel, this new waterproofing tech is available right now, and although not meant for taking your smartphone deep sea diving, does offer protection without a case for those that are often around water.
Unfortunately though if you want your particular smartphone coated in Liquipel you have to send off your handset so they can coat the device, although the guys do say a rep told them they are trying to work with manufactures to offer the waterproof coating before the customer purchase a device.
Price wise there are three options for the Liquipel coating, the first is Standard Liquipel at a cost of $59 and taking 1 to 2 days turnaround, then there’s Priority Liquipel for $69 taking a couple of hours and lastly Liquipel & Gadget Film at $79 taking 1 to 3 days.
The image above shows an iPhone in a Liquipel canister, but one would presume Liquipel works with any smartphone or tablet.
We have a couple of videos on Liquipel for your viewing consideration below, one of an iPhone 4S coated in Liquipel and underwater, the next explains how it all works, and the last explains the technology, so don’t forget to check them out.
Do you think that perhaps a good place to start using the Liquipel tech would be with the iPhone 5, what device would you like to see using the nano waterproofing tech, is Liquipel a really good idea or should people stick to those waterproof cases, and if you had your handset protected by Liquipel would you use the device in the shower, bath or when swimming?
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8 thoughts on “Liquipel to Waterproof smartphones, iPhone 5 good start”
Notice in the Thunderbold and iPhone videos they pour a liquid (that they claim is water) from TWO DIFFERENT CONTAINERS…first a clear jar and then from another bottle with a top on it. Something is fishy.
This is a great product!
ExpandSent in my old 3g to test this “to good to be true” theory and its just that! Didn’t last longer than 2 min in water before died, these videos show it to be water PROOF but its barely water RESISTANT. After 2 min under water I took it out and it worked fine, but minutes later died, I took it apart and let it sit over night and got the phone to work once more doing typical procedures when a device falls in water. After it was out and working again I dunked it in water once again and it did the same thing but unfortunatly it never came back 🙁 This company is a hoax, but only for one reason They state it is WATERPROOF, that is a pretty bold statement, even some high -end watches know not to put that on their product, as it is nothing more than WATER RESISTANT
actually the company states that you can put the phone in the water for more than 30 seconds.
oranabeard
totally a scam. Conformal coat works almost just as well. I’m an electrical engineer and I sent them 10 bare boards to coat, and after receiving them, I tried three of them and after about a minute of being submerged in water they stopped working. Not even going to waste my time with the other 7.
I know this doesn’t work from an engineering standpoint, but for my particular application there are no moving parts or connectors so I thought it would work. I was wrong. Here is why it can’t work (over time):
The coating needs to be non-conductive since it covers everything. Problem is, how are you going to charge your phone? You can, but you have just broken the seal (if not the first time, you definitely will..), in which case water can now make contact. Water is conductive. Therefore, you have a short. This simply is not possible.
Couple that with the other comments with the speaker and what not and you basically have a service that should be advertised as “a coating to possibly protect your phone if you drop it in beer for a couple seconds…once”. That’s about it.
My iphone 4s has Liquipel and I dropped it in lake Jennings AND in the tide pools at Dana Point Harbor a few weeks after that and its working right now (yeah im a clutz). They say it saves your phone from accidental exposure to liquids, not putting an exposed circuit board underwater for “about a minute”. Liquipel also has a list of approved devices on their site, and I didn’t see bare circuit boards on it.
I had to dive down to get my iphone at like 6 feet, so yeah it works.
P.S. My phone charges just fine,(its nano-tech not plastic), and this happened about 3 months ago. My phone has had Liquipel since April.
My dad does electrical and conformal coating is tried, tested, cheap and easy. So stick to that for your little science projects and do some relevant testing instead of giving us your theories. As for Liquipel, it saved me from getting a new iphone so talk your talk all you want.
Maybe your just a bad engineer.
This is in the category of ‘nano-coating’ and has been used in digital hearing aids for years now. It is not a ‘waterproofing’! There are actually manufacturing guidelines and even criteria for how this can be marketed (it CANNOT be sold a ‘waterproof hearng aids’). That’s why the terms ‘water resistant’ and ‘watersafe’ (even this is an misnomer) are used. The technology does have its place of use-its just not a ‘be all end all.’
This type of technology is good for electronics  in humid and/or coastal enviroments, where water in the air unknowingly gets into the device.
My guess is that the reason Apple and others have not yet signed on is with Liquipel is because their issue will be how to CLEARLY market it in relation to their warranties, and to modify their warranties to NOT cover water damage.