One of the most commonly known life hacks is the old trick where you put your wet electronics into a bag or bowl of uncooked rice. The rice is supposed to help dry it out by absorbing the extra water. I think just about everyone I know has tried this method at least once. It seems to be tried-and-true. Hell, my mom once put her old Macbook into a giant tub of rice (I kid you not) and it turned on after a few days.
Well, I don’t know if saving wet iPhones is cutting into Apple’s billion dollar bottom line or not but the company just put out a warning against this method. According to Apple, doing so could “allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.” In fact, they recommend merely leaving the wet device on the counter to dry. That’s so old school of them. They actually advised several different things to try in the event of a wet iPhone. All are common sense techniques.
Instead of resorting to rice, Apple provides users with an alternative solution. If your iPhone or charging connector is wet—in the latter case, an alert will appear and disable charging—Apple recommends the following:
Unplug the cable from your iPhone and unplug the other end of the cable from the power adapter or accessory. Don’t plug the cable in again until your iPhone and the cable are completely dry. Tap your iPhone gently against your hand with the connector facing down to remove excess liquid. Leave your iPhone in a dry area with some airflow. After at least 30 minutes, try charging with a Lightning or USB-C cable or connecting an accessory. If you see the alert again, there is still liquid in the connector or under the pins of your cable. Leave your iPhone in a dry area with some airflow for up to a day. You can try again to charge or connect an accessory throughout this period. It might take up to 24 hours to fully dry. If your phone has dried out but still isn’t charging, unplug the cable from the adapter and unplug the adapter from the wall (if possible), and then connect them again. In case Apple’s advice doesn’t work, it’s safe to say that you probably need help from professional repair experts and may even need to prepare yourself to buy a new iPhone. Whatever you do, resist the temptation of reaching for the rice.
Okay, so the cynical part of me that has anecdotal evidence that the rice trick works without causing damage thinks “In case Apple’s advice doesn’t work, … [you] may even need to prepare yourself to buy a new iPhone” kinda sounds like the statement that gives the game away, no? Apple also mentioned some fairly obvious no-gos such as using external heat to dry the phone (no blow dryers, people!) or sticking Q-tips into the connector (that’s a thing?). All that said, I’ve never really thought about it before, but I’m willing to concede that there could be better or equally effective ways at trying to salvage a wet iPhone.
Last summer, my son went into a pool at my SIL’s house and forgot to take his watch off. She gave us one of those silica gel packets to put it in. We put them both in a ziploc bag for 24 hours and it worked like a charm. Honestly, if you live in a dry environment, you can probably just leave it on the counter to air dry out. Idk, there’s just something (the cost and our reliance) about wet electronics that triggers our anxiety and having something extra to help the process along feels calming.
Photos credit: Andrea Piacquadio and PhotoMix on Pexels and via Instagram
