It is a medium-soft, brittle mineral occurring in pseudo-orthorhombic monoclinic bladed crystals and orange-brown to dark brown in color.

Waterhouseite is on the softer side with a Mohs hardness of 4, has a specific gravity of 3.5 and a yellowish-brown streak.

[4] Waterhouseite occurs in divergent sprays of bladed crystals up to 1mm in length and 20 micrometers in thickness.

Waterhouseite is generally found in a carbonate rich cavities with other minerals such as gatehouseite, seamanite, rhodochrosite, shigaite, baryte, hausmannite and hematite.

Waterhouseite has a unique asymmetrical structure consisting of a dense, complex framework of Mn(O, OH)6 octahedra and PO4 tetrahedra which are linked by both edges and corners.