Apple says don’t put your wet iPhone in a bag of rice. Do this instead
By Tim Biggs
Putting your wet electronics in a bag of rice to dry has never been a good idea, despite the remedy circulating stubbornly on the internet for decades. And now Apple has come out with a definitive stance, stating in a new support article that the treatment will do more harm than good.
Apple’s advice is specifically related to the feature on current iPhones that prevents charging via cable if the connector is wet. When water is detected, charging is disabled and you get a message telling you to let it dry.
Dry rice will not save a wet phone.Credit: Getty Images
In the support article, Apple states:
- Don’t dry your iPhone using an external heat source or compressed air.
- Don’t insert a foreign object, such as a cotton swab or a paper towel, into the connector.
- Don’t put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.
Instead, the best way to dry the charging connector is to give the phone a bit of a tap so the water falls out, and then simply leave it for a few hours.
It’s unclear where the idea of using rice came from, other than the fact that it has traditionally been used as a desiccant to keep moisture away from other pantry items such as salt.
iPhones have been water-resistant since 2016, so the odd dunk in the pool isn’t as scary as it once was.Credit: AP
In the mid-2000s it was common to be told putting your phone in a bag of rice could save it from otherwise damaging water ingress, but in truth dry rice is not very absorbent, and if water had reached the internals of your phone there’s no way it would help.
With old phones — which were typically not water-resistant and could even be taken apart by hand — it would have been better to turn them off, remove the battery, and leave them alone until completely dry.
So why did the rice trick myth persist? It’s likely some people did have success with the method, but not because of the rice. Turning the phone off and leaving it overnight was the thing that did the trick; sticking it in rice merely put the device out of their reach so they weren’t tempted to turn it on early.
These days of course most phones are water-resistant, and iPhones have been since 2016, so the odd dunk in the pool isn’t as scary as it once was. But as Apple’s advice indicates, the old myth is still prominent enough that some people may be tempted if they get a warning about a wet connector.
If your phone gets submerged in water, you’ll probably be fine just wiping it or drying it with a towel, and waiting until the connector is completely dry before putting a charging cable in.
If you’re worried your phone isn’t water-resistant, either because it’s old or broken, turn it off immediately and wait until it’s fully dry before you turn it back on. Put it somewhere dry, ventilated and rice free.
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