No. 129Technology3 minviews 54
Published by GK Library Annex
Will a wet phone come back to life in a bag of rice?
People say to bury a wet phone in rice, but in a test rice came in last. So how should you dry it?
There's a widespread belief that if you bury a phone that fell in water in a container of rice, the rice will soak up the moisture. But in an experiment, rice dried things out less than simply leaving them in the open air, and Apple flatly advises against putting a wet phone in rice.
The test where rice came last
In 2014, Gazelle, a US used-phone company, put sponges holding 5 mL of water into containers, each filled with 100 g of a different material, and weighed them 24 hours later. Since the water inside a phone doesn't touch the rice directly either, they placed a thin sheet of paper under each sponge so it wouldn't touch the material.
The sponge in the uncooked rice lost 4.0 mL of water, the worst of all the materials tested. The silica gel container came in at 6.1 mL, and the sponge left outside, not in any container, dried the most at 7.6 mL. A sponge sealed in an empty container lost only 0.7 mL.
A closed container gets in the way
Most of the water inside a phone leaves by turning into vapor. For that to happen, the surrounding air needs to be dry and keep changing. When you close a container, the vapor that escapes gets trapped, the air inside quickly turns damp, and drying slows down. That's also why water droplets formed on the inside of the empty container's lid in the test.
Rice does soak up a little of that moisture, but it did worse than simply leaving things somewhere with airflow. If a phone in a rice container turns back on, it's more likely thanks to the time that passed than to the rice.
Rice bits can get inside
In a support document, Apple advises against putting a wet iPhone in a bag of rice. The reason is that small particles of rice could damage the phone. If dust or bits that fall off the rice get stuck in the charging port, they are harder to get out than water.
In the same document, Apple says not to dry the phone with heat such as a hair dryer or with compressed air, and not to push a cotton swab or paper towel into the port. Things you do out of eagerness to dry it quickly can actually cause damage.
If it gets wet, try this
First, unplug the charging cable and don't plug it back in until everything is dry. Apple explains that charging while wet can corrode the pins in the connector and break it for good. Next, hold the phone with the port facing down and tap it gently against your palm to shake out the water.
Now just leave it in a dry place with good airflow. After about 30 minutes, try charging, and if a warning that liquid is present appears again, wait longer. It can take up to a day to dry completely.
Related reads
A wet phone dries better in a dry place with good airflow than in a rice container. Charge it only after it is completely dry.
Notes and references · Gazelle 2014 drying test · Apple Support document. A one-time comparison by a used-phone company using wet sponges instead of phones, not peer-reviewed. The company itself said the results might have differed if far more material had been used.
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