Smartphones are crucial to everyday business, but what happens when something goes wrong? There are a lot of myths about how to care for your business lifeline as well as what to do when the worst happens, but what’s true?

Often you’ll hear things like, “putting your phone in a pot of rice can reverse water damage,” or, “using off-brand, gas station chargers can damage your battery,” but who’s to say that’s necessarily true? In fact, how do we even know if doing these things could make the damage worse? Surely your 9-5 friend who gifted you this advice isn’t a mobile tech professional. From the freeze-your-phone fix to never charge overnight hacks, we will analyze several of the popular smartphone urban legends being passed around.

A common bazarity is your smartphone’s ability to cook an egg in sweltering summer heat. Turns out it’s a mere ruse. Phones do emit small amounts of radiation, but would need an army of 7,000 phones to create radiation to warm an egg. So, who’s responsible for this fallacious allegory? Well – In 2000, Wymsey Village Web published a satirical article describing how to cook an egg using 2 phones – since then, the hoax has been repeated across the net.

Some neat-freak has probably told you that your phone is dirtier than a toilet seat. This is absolutely true – go wash your hands, and your phone… and tell that friend thank you. Mobile phones carry 10x more bacteria than toilet seats, including Streptococcus MRSA and E Coli. Americans – that would be you, reader – check their phones 52x daily, spreading their every germ upon touch. Clean your phone. Wipe off your phone with alcohol wipes to kill germs without compromising your delicate, valuable tech. CNET reported the average price of a Smart Phone in 2018 at $1,099.

Let’s move on. If you’re in a fitting situation feeling the need to remove your SIM card for tracking, don’t rely on watch you saw spies – or mobsters – do in the movies. During these circumstances, reminisce on the distance advice to additionally turn on airplane mode, disable your GPA, patiently and properly boot down your phone, and remove the battery.

The megaphone orders to turn off your phones in hospitals, place, and gas stations is bogus. Those signs at gas stations saying “No Phones At Pump” is too. Pay it no mind. Scroll Twitter while pumping your gas. News outlets will often blame phone use when fires occur, but later investigations have always found a difference cause. Play your game while waiting for liftoff. The FAA doesn’t want to take risks. The truth is: active cell signals are still banned, although this is a major block to security and safety in major level security threats. Contradictory to posting the “No Phone Sign” signs One study found that medical errors and injury are 6x more likely to result from delayed communication than from interference.

The list of “superhero tech genie” recommendations are countless: from letdowns on magic hacks that word-of-mouth swore would improve your battery life, to mostly true concurrences on using knock-off, gas station and side-aisle phone cables and charging your phone overnight. Learn more about how to care for your most valuable piece of office equipment below!

Infographic Source: UBreakIFix