Liquipel, A southern California startup, has developed a way to at a water-repellent coating to smartphones and other electronic devices to prevent accidental exposure to water. A nano coating is applied as a vapor that even protects the sensitive parts of the phone but also allows you to use the headphone jack, charging port and microphone and speakers without any disruption.  The nice thing about this system is it’s nearly invisible and is not noticeable like other bulky waterproof casings. Even on the sound side, they say you won’t even notice a drop in voice clarity on either end. Although the company does not suggest you submerge your device or take it swimming, the coating will work wonders for accidental splashes, dunking or exposure to moisture.

This seems like a must-do process for anyone working in a fish store, aquaculture facility, wholesaler or service industry where you need your phone but just so happen to be around a lot of water. The downside of the process is you will need to be without your device for a day or so since you have to ship your phone to their facility to have the Liquipel coating applied to the device. According to a story on Geek.com, a representative from Liquipel described how it works:

“The process we use is a specialized coating in the form of a vapor. We put the device in a chamber, fill it with the vapor where it bonds at the molecular level to protect the phone. Since vapor is so small, when the process is finished you can’t see or detect the coating, which makes it perfect for phones.”

The cost is around $59 to have the Liquipel coating applied and they even have a five-point tracking system so you can monitor the progress of your device. It would be wonderful for electronics providers in the hobby to team up with Liquipel to have the coating applied to controllers and other sensitive devices we have around the aquarium. As we said before, they don’t recommend immersion in water at all but its good to see the product tested to extremes in the video at the top of the page. For an explanation about how the process works, check out the video below.