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What IP Ratings Actually Certify (and What They Do Not)

IPX7 means a brand-new device survived 30 minutes under one metre of clean, still,
room-temperature fresh water. That is the entire claim. It does not cover sweat, salt water,
chlorine, soap, shampoo, hot water, water under pressure, or the same device after two years in a
pocket. None of those are part of any IP test, and several of them actively attack the seals the
rating depends on.

The rating is a design specification measured once under laboratory conditions. It is genuinely
useful — it is just describing something narrower than almost everyone reads it as describing.

How to read the code

IP is followed by two characters. The first is solids, the second is liquids, and an X in
either position means “not tested for this” — not “no protection”.

Position Covers Scale What X means there
First digit Solid objects, dust 0–6 Dust ingress was never assessed
Second digit Water 0–9K Water ingress was never assessed

So IPX7 tells you nothing whatsoever about dust, and IP6X tells you nothing about water. A device
marketed as “IPX7 waterproof” may be entirely unprotected against the fine grit that actually kills
earbuds, because nobody checked.

What each common rating was actually tested with

Rating The actual test Fair to expect
IPX4 Splashing from any direction Rain, sweat, a splash at the sink
IPX5 A low-pressure water jet Rinsing under a tap
IPX6 A powerful water jet Heavy rain, forceful rinsing
IPX7 1m immersion, 30 minutes, fresh still water Dropped in a sink or basin, retrieved
IPX8 Immersion beyond IPX7, depth and duration set by the manufacturer Only what that manufacturer states
IP67 / IP68 The above, plus full dust protection Same water caveats, dust now covered

IPX8 is the one to read carefully, because there is no single IPX8 test. The standard requires only
that the conditions be more severe than IPX7 and that the manufacturer declare them. One product’s
IPX8 might be 1.5m for 30 minutes; another’s might be 5m for 72 hours. An IPX8 badge without a
stated depth and duration is not a specification, it is a suggestion.

Three words do all the damage: fresh, still, new

Every IP water test uses clean fresh water, held still, on a device that has never been
used. Change any one of those three and the rating stops describing your situation.

Fresh. No IP test uses sweat, salt water, chlorinated pool water, soapy water or shampoo.
This matters because those are not merely wetter — they are chemically hostile. Salt and chlorine
degrade the adhesives and rubber gaskets that form the seal, and soap reduces water’s surface tension,
which lets it find gaps that plain water would bridge over. A device that shrugs off rain for years can
fail after a season of pool use.

Still. Immersion tests use static water. Swimming, rinsing under a running tap, or simply
dropping something into water generates brief pressure spikes well above the static pressure at that
depth. A seal validated against one metre of standing water has not been validated against the moment
of impact.

New. The unit on the test bench is factory-fresh. Nothing is ever re-certified.

The counterintuitive part: ratings are not cumulative

A higher second digit does not imply the lower ones. IPX5 and IPX6 test water jets; IPX7
and IPX8 test immersion. Those are different failure modes, and a device certified for one has not
necessarily been certified for the other.

It is entirely possible for a product to survive being submerged and then fail under a directed
jet from a tap, because pressure applied to one point behaves nothing like even pressure applied all
over. Where a manufacturer has tested for both, you will see a dual rating such as IPX5/IPX8 written
out explicitly — and the fact that they bothered to print both is itself the signal.

This is the single most common misreading of the standard. “IPX8 is higher than IPX5, so it must
also be fine with a jet” is a reasonable assumption and it is not how the specification works.

Seals age, and nobody re-tests yours

The gaskets and adhesives that create water resistance dry out, harden and shrink over
time. Heat cycles accelerate it, and a single drop can create micro-cracks in a seal without leaving a
mark you can see.

There is no consumer way to verify that a two-year-old device still meets the rating printed on its
box, and no manufacturer claims it does. The honest mental model is that an IP rating decays from the
day of manufacture, quickly if the device is dropped, heated or exposed to the chemistry above, and
slowly otherwise.

Practically: treat water resistance as protection against accidents, not as a feature to use
deliberately and repeatedly. The device that is “fine in the shower” is usually fine in the shower
right up until it is not.

The asymmetry nobody mentions: the warranty

Liquid damage is excluded from most standard manufacturer warranties regardless of the IP
rating on the box, and the exclusion is enforced with hardware.

Devices commonly carry liquid damage indicators — small internal stickers that turn pink or
red on contact with water and never turn back. A technician checks the indicator, and a triggered one
generally ends the conversation whatever the packaging said.

This is the part that should change how you weigh the rating when comparing products. An IP
rating is a statement about how a device was designed and verified once, not a guarantee you can
claim against. Paying a premium for a higher rating buys a better-engineered seal; it does
not buy insurance.

What this means for the things you actually use wet

The personal care category is where the gap between the test and reality is widest, because
almost everything in it meets water mixed with something else.

  • Electric shavers. “Wet and dry” means the shaver tolerates foam and rinsing. Foam
    and shaving gel are exactly the surfactant-loaded fluids no IP test uses, so rinse with plain water
    and dry the head rather than leaving it wet in a humid bathroom.
  • Electric toothbrushes. Constant, lifelong exposure with toothpaste in the mix.
    Most are IPX7 and genuinely robust, but the failure point is usually the charging contacts, not the
    body — standing water in the base is a corrosion problem the rating does not address.
  • Running earbuds. Sweat is salty, and salt is the specific thing that attacks the
    adhesive. Rinsing lightly with fresh water and drying after a run does more for longevity than any
    rating on the box. The
    running earbuds
    guide     covers how this plays out per model.
  • Hair dryers. Water resistance is largely irrelevant here; the safety feature that
    matters is the ALCI or GFCI plug on the cord, which cuts power on a ground fault. That is a
    different certification entirely and it is the one worth checking.

If it does get wet, the first ten minutes matter most

Two of the most common responses — putting it in rice, and drying it with warm air
— range from useless to actively harmful. Rice is a poor desiccant, it does nothing for
moisture already inside a sealed housing, and its starch and dust get into ports. A hair dryer or
radiator softens exactly the adhesives holding the seals together.

What actually helps is unglamorous and mostly about restraint:

  • Power it off and leave it off. Most water damage is electrical, not mechanical
    — a wet circuit that stays energised corrodes and short-circuits. A wet circuit with no
    current usually survives.
  • Do not charge it. Pushing current through a wet USB-C port is the single most
    reliable way to turn a recoverable soaking into a dead device.
  • Salt or chlorine? Rinse it in clean fresh water first. This feels wrong and it
    is correct. Salt and pool chemicals keep corroding as they dry and concentrate; plain water
    dilutes and removes them. More water genuinely is better than dried salt.
  • Shake the ports out gently, then air dry. Point openings downward, leave it
    somewhere dry and room-temperature for a day or two. Silica gel packets in a sealed container beat
    rice comfortably if you have them.

The general principle: the damage is done by current and by dissolved salts, not by the water
itself, so remove both and give it time. And if the device carries an IP rating and still failed, note
that the liquid damage indicator has already recorded it — which is the point of the section
above.

How this page was compiled

Definitions and test conditions come from the IEC 60529 ingress protection standard and from
manufacturers’ published declarations, which is the only place IPX8 depth and duration are ever
specified. Descriptions of seal ageing and warranty handling reflect published manufacturer policy and
widely documented repair practice. We do not claim hands-on testing of any product, and nothing here
is a measurement we took — this page describes what the standard’s own procedures do and do not
cover. Last reviewed: 8 August 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What does the X in IPX7 mean?

It means dust protection was not assessed, not that there is none. The first character covers solids
and the second covers water, so IPX7 is a water rating with no accompanying dust claim, and IP6X is the
reverse.

Is IPX8 always better than IPX7?

It is deeper, but it is not a fixed specification. The standard only requires IPX8 conditions to be
more severe than IPX7, with the depth and duration declared by the manufacturer. An IPX8 claim without
a stated depth and time tells you very little.

Does an IP rating cover sweat or salt water?

No. Every IP water test uses clean fresh water. Sweat, salt water, chlorine and soapy water are
chemically harsher and degrade the adhesives and gaskets that form the seal, which is why devices can
pass the test and still fail in those conditions.

Can I take an IPX7 device swimming?

It is not what the rating certifies. IPX7 uses still fresh water, while swimming adds motion,
pressure spikes and either salt or chlorine. Look for a manufacturer statement that specifically names
swimming rather than inferring it from the rating.

Does water resistance wear off?

Yes. Gaskets and waterproof adhesives dry out and become brittle, and drops can create micro-cracks
with no visible damage. Nothing is re-certified after manufacture, so an older device should be assumed
to be less resistant than its printed rating.

Will the warranty cover water damage on an IP68 device?

Usually not. Liquid damage is excluded from most standard warranties regardless of rating, and
devices carry internal liquid damage indicators that change colour permanently on contact. An IP rating
describes how the device was designed and verified, not a claim you can make later.

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