A sealed pouch keeps your phone — your lifeline for calls, maps and alerts — dry and working through rain, spray and accidental dunks.
In almost any emergency your phone is the single most useful tool you carry: it calls for help, navigates, and receives warnings. Water is its most common killer, and once it's dead you lose all of that at the worst possible moment. A waterproof pouch is cheap insurance for an expensive, irreplaceable device.
The good ones let you use the touchscreen and camera through the clear window while sealed, so you don't have to choose between protection and function. It weighs almost nothing and lives permanently in a bag or pocket.
Use it any time water is a risk — kayaking, coastal walks, heavy rain, river crossings, or a flooded street. It's equally at home protecting a phone, keys and cash on a beach day. In a flood scenario, keeping your phone dry and charged can be genuinely life-saving.
Look for an IPX8 rating and a double or triple lock closure — that's what keeps water out under real submersion, not just a splash.
You should be able to use the touchscreen and take photos through it while sealed; cheaper pouches can be too thick or cloudy.
A pouch that floats, or comes with a neck lanyard, means a dropped phone doesn't sink or disappear into the water.
Seal the empty pouch with a tissue inside and submerge it first. If the tissue stays dry, trust it with your phone — not before.
Press out excess air and close the lock fully and evenly. A rushed, half-closed seal is the usual reason water gets in.
A floating IPX8 waterproof phone pouch that keeps your phone dry and fully usable through rain, spray and submersion, with a clear touch-through window and neck lanyard.
A loud pealess safety whistle whose sound carries far further than the human voice. A tiny, effortless way to signal for help and attract rescue.
A wind-up AM/FM emergency radio that also charges from solar, USB or its 2000mAh internal battery, so you can keep hearing local broadcasts during a prolonged power cut. It doubles as a small torch and a top-up charger for a phone in a pinch. Crank output is modest, so treat the hand-crank as a backup to the built-in battery rather than the main power source.
A do-everything emergency radio that keeps working when the grid doesn't: hand crank, solar panel and a rechargeable 4000mAh pack all feed the same battery. Reach for it in a storm or blackout to pick up AM/FM broadcasts, top up a phone, or trigger the SOS alarm and torch. It's the kind of single, self-contained tool that earns its place in a grab bag.
A wind-up and solar radio that pulls in AM/FM/SW so you can follow official updates when the mains and mobile networks are down. It doubles as an LED torch, SOS alarm and small power bank, with the 2000mAh battery topped up by crank, sun or USB. A tidy all-in-one for a grab bag or the power-cut drawer.
A hand-crank and solar emergency radio with a 4,500mAh battery, so you can keep FM reception and a little phone charge going when the grid and mains are down. Handy as a backup information source and torch during storms or power cuts. Wind-up output is modest, so treat the USB charging as a top-up rather than a substitute for a proper power bank.
A pair of long-range two-way radios for keeping a group in contact when the mobile network is down or absent. Handy for a family in a power cut, coordinating on a hill walk, or staying in touch across a site with no signal. Range claims are optimistic, but for line-of-sight and short distances they do the job licence-free.
When phone networks are down or you're out of signal, two-way radios keep your group in contact. Essential for coordinating a family, a hiking party, or neighbours during an outage.
A portable battery pack keeps your phone, GPS, and headlamp charged when mains power is unavailable. Essential for maintaining communication, navigation, and emergency calling capability in the field.
When a power cut or congestion knocks out the mobile network, a little planning keeps your UK household in touch. Learn to text 999, use radios and reach help.
Flooding is one of the most common emergencies facing UK homes. Learn how to check your flood risk, sign up for warnings and stay safe before, during and after a flood.
How to choose a dry bag for a UK emergency kit: roll-top dry bags vs ultralight dry sacks vs waterproof phone pouches, what "waterproof" really means, what litre size to buy, and how to pack and close one so it genuinely stays dry.
