Waterproof? Dust-Resistant? Making Sense of Gadget Ratings

You've seen the codes earlier: iPhone 7/8/X is rated IP67. Samsung Galaxy S8 is IP68. The marketing speak unremarkably so tells you something about being "waterproof," only that'southward not always the case, and certainly non the entire story. Here'due south what you need to know when you meet those ratings on a product.

In this case, IP doesn't stand up for Internet Protocol; information technology's short for "Ingress Protection" or in some settings "International Protection Marker." The latter comes up because the whole matter is an international standard created by the International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC), under the standard 60529. This is all a very big bargain in Asia and Europe, and obviously their IP standard has gained a lot of traction in the United states as well. The whole goal is to go away from saying words like "water-resistant" or "dust-proof" by providing numbers with articulate definitions, even if they tend to be clear as mud to the uninitiated.

Not everyone with water- and dust-tight rugged products uses this standard, either. GoPro is a notable exception, just you can generally count on those cameras to accept a beating.

Ingress ways "to enter," so Ingress Protection is protection against things entering a product'southward enclosure—specifically in this case, solids (aka "grit;" that's the showtime number) and water (the second number). So a rating of IP67 ways information technology's a half dozen against dust, and a seven confronting water. At that place is also an option for a 3rd number to measure out bear on resistance.

Just information technology's not very cut and dried. Solids, for instance, are measured on a scale of 0 to 6, where 6 is the best shielding yous can get. H2o, however, is measured 0 to 9. That's why something that is listed as IP67 tin can say "dust-tight" but merely "water-resistant." (None of the ratings are addicted of using the word "proof" because nothing e'er is foolproofed in the long run.)

Here'due south a breakup of the ratings.

Solids (Grit/Dirt)

Rating Level	Protection Against Object Size	Examples	Exam Method
0		No protection
1	Greater than 50mm	Body parts can't exist inserted
2	Greater than 12.5mm	Fingers can't be inserted
3	Greater than 2.5mm	Thick wires, tools, can't be inserted
iv	Greater than 1mm	Well-nigh wires, screws, can't be inserted
5	Grit and sand	Not prevented entirely	Circulates dust.
6	Dust	Complete protection	Vacuum applied to force dust into device.

Water

Rating Level	Protection Against	Protection Against	Test Method
0	Nothing	No protection
1	Drips	Vertical falling drops	Drip water on unit mounted upright and rotating at 1 revolution per infinitesimal (RPM) for 10 minutes. Equals rainfall of 1mm/minute.
2	Drips when tilted	Vertical falling drops	Device is tilted 15 degrees from normal, tested in 4 positions for 2.v minutes each. Equals rainfall 3mm/minute.
3	Spraying h2o	Spray at bending up to 60 degrees	5 minute blast from spray nozzle with up to 10 liters per minute at pressure 50 to 150 kilopascals (kPa)-that'southward 7 to 21 pounds per foursquare inch (PSI).
4	Splashing water	Water splashed from whatsoever direction	10 minutes with a spray nozzle
5	Jets of h2o	Water jetting from 6.3mm nozzle	15 minutes with jet up to 12.5 liters per infinitesimal at pressure of 30 kPa, from distance of 3 meters
half-dozen	Powerful jets of water	Water jetting from 12.5mm nozzle	3 minute test with jet of 100 liters per infinitesimal at 100kPa, from distance of 3 meters
7	Immersion	Less than 1 meter of water deep	30 minutes in water that'southward at least 0.five meters (5.9 inches) deep, up to i meter (39.37 inches).
8	Immersion	one meter or more	Submerged betwixt 1 and three meters; duration depends on the manufacturer.
9K	Powerful high temperature jets	Steam cleaning	thirty second tests of 4 angles with sixteen liters per minute at temperature of fourscore degrees Celsius (176°F).

It's important to retrieve, these are all laboratory conditions. They are not existent-world tests. While they sound daunting for your honey device, they're not the same as what you lot'll encounter. They don't take things like being in a wet pocket, or taking pictures underwater during a long swim, or the presence of salt water, or a highly chlorinated puddle into account.

In other words, but because information technology has a good IP rating, doesn't hateful you should push it, especially with the water. (And notice no manufacturer rates smartphones on touch on resistance; they know they'd expect bad.)

So, to recap on the ratings you are most likely to run into on electronics these days:

IP6X: Dust-rubber only not tested for water protection.
IP65: Grit-protected, just for water it's only resistant. You could probably talk in the rain for a while, but information technology's toast if you have it in the pool, lake, or ocean. Devices include: Dell Breadth 7212 Rugged Tablet, Canary Flex camera, Netgear Arlo Become camera, and Getac V110-G3 laptop.
IP66: Don't worry near the dust, and you may also be okay if sprayed with a hose while you're on the telephone. Merely again, immersion in water is a no-no. Devices include: Nest Cam IQ Outdoor, G-engineering science Chiliad-Drive ev ATC with Thunderbolt, and Kicker Bullfrog speaker.
IP67: This device never has to worry virtually dust, and can get underwater up to 1 meter for one-half an hour (but better to continue it at simply a few minutes or seconds). Information technology cannot handle jets, not even in a hot tub. (Not to mention, it'due south not rated for high temperatures.) Devices include: iPhone 7 on up; Whistle 3 canis familiaris GPS/fettle tracker, Fitbit Flyer earphones, Altec Lansing Mini Life Jacket speaker, and Soundcast VG1 speaker.
IP68: Same as the IP67 except it tin probably stand up the pressure level of going just a few feet deeper in the water. Devices include: Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Active, Samsung Galaxy S7 Active, LG G6, Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Motorola Moto Z2, Kyocera DuraForce Pro, Caterpiller CAT S60, LifeProof FRE Instance, Huawei Picket two, Exogear Ecocarbon speaker, Adata SE730 Exernal Solid Land Bulldoze.

What About Immovability?

No ane in the US is using the IEC-IP standard for durability on consumer electronics. Simply some have institute a way to trumpet their ruggedness. (Ruggedized, by the way, is only a marketing term.)

The War machine Standard, aka MIL-STD, or better yet, MIL-SPEC, is how the United states Department of Defence force measures things and then information technology tin get a baseline standard for equipment. The one that most pertains to consumer electronics—because many manufacturers like to brag that their products are up to military machine standards—is MIL-SPEC-810G, which specifically tests for the longevity of a device under agin ecology atmospheric condition.

Products with MIL-SPEC-810G certification are tested against all sorts of things: temperature extremes, shocks, drops, taking a bullet, freezing/thawing, acrid, fungus, even if it the device could start a burn around flammable gas. However, the settings for each of these isn't necessarily standardized...which is a problem for a standard. For example, a device might be tested for freezing at 0 degrees Celsius by one company; others might go higher or lower in tests.

Devices with the MIL-SPEC-810G testing include: LG G6 (which is besides IP68), Kyocera DuraForce Pro (also IP68), Acer Predator 21 X Curved Gaming Laptop, LG V20, ASUS Chromebook Flip C213SA, Panasonic Toughbook 33, Xplore XSlate R12 tablet, Samsung Gear S3 watch, Huawei Watch 2, Exogear Ecocarbon speaker, all Lenovo ThinkPads like the X260 and X270, HP EliteBook 1040 G3 and HP EliteBook x360, and the Kyocera Torque X01 characteristic phone—the beginning phone to pass 18 testing categories.

Don't Drop It

Even if y'all practise have a device with a expert IP rating or a MIL-SPEC certification, the manufacturer almost always states something in the fine print indemnifying it from any fault harm, especially from water. The warranty but won't cover it. After all, seals can fail—especially if exposed to things like salt water or chlorine. The visitor line volition typically exist something like "h2o resistance isn't a permanent condition" (that's Apple's line on the Apple tree Sentry).

And never, ever charge your device if information technology's notwithstanding wet. That's going to kill information technology fast.

In all cases, just because a product is rated well doesn't really mean you should go using it underwater, in sandstorms, or start dropping it off buildings, David Letterman-style. The electronics merely aren't in that location. Yet.

Nigh Eric Griffith

Eric Griffith

Eric Griffith has been writing about computers, the internet, and engineering science professionally for 30 years, more than half of that fourth dimension with PCMag. He was previously on the founding staff of publications like Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Mag, all of which are at present defunct, and it's not his error. He spent six years writing exclusively about Wi-Fi, merely don't ask him to prepare your router. At PCMag he runs several special projects including the Readers' Option and Concern Choice surveys, and yearly coverage of the Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, plus regularly writes features on all tech topics. He's the author of two novels: BETA Test ("an …