back to article Rice isn't nice for drying your iPhone, according to Apple

With smartphones these days moonlighting as in-flight entertainment when atop the porcelain throne, watery mishaps are bound to happen. The question is, then, how do you dry your device when it takes that inevitable tumble into those dirty depths? Because it sure ain't charging while the port is waterlogged. Philosophers have …

  1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

    I've always thought that small particles of rice were vandals!

    More seriously, remember that most electronics spend time being washed with water at some - or many - stages of their construction. The exception is things with holes like microphones and some other sensors, which tend not to appreciate it.

    The issue isn't the water, but what might be dissolved in it and therefore remain behind when the liquid evaporates (or in extreme cases - like coke or tea - actively affect tracks on the pcb). Back in the day, spilling your drink in broadcast equipment wasn't a great crime, but not telling the engineers was!

    1. Grogan Silver badge

      Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

      I remember in a test kit of sample questions for A+ certification, one of the multiple choice questions was which of the following is not a valid method of cleaning a keyboard? One of them was "put it in the dishwasher" which I thought was the obvious negative answer. In fact they all looked ridiculous. I was wrong, "put it in the dishwasher" was a valid method. I think that's bollocks, the harsh detergents might not rinse out completely, like the streaks on my glasses.

      (note that this was back in the day when keyboards were hundreds of dollars... I still have one that you can pry from my stiff, dead, fingers, one of the first IBM clickity clack PS/2 keyboards from the 80's)

      1. Marty McFly Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

        That's no joke. Had a side gig back in the 1990's revamping old 386-era kit from pizza restaurants. Grease, flour, all manner of crap would get sucked in to those old AT cases. I would toss components in the break room dishwasher on a regular basis. Usually they worked fine after they were thoroughly dried. And if they didn't...well they were up for replacement anyway.

        1. Coen Dijkgraaf

          Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

          If you think a pizza restaurant was greasy, try a bus engineering workshop. When I opened up a malfunctioning 386-era kit from there, it had a very thick greasy layer that also had metal particles through it. I was surprised that it was still at least partially functional.

          1. celery

            Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

            The PC we had at the end of a solder flow oven might as well have been deep fried for how it looked inside. All the hot, flux laden air was channeled directly at it. At least it meant the dead mouse that was found in it at one time never got stinkily oozy. We assumed it got pretty rapidly dessicated/mummified. They found it easier to replace the PC every so often rather than move it somewhere more sensible.

      2. 9Rune5
        Pint

        Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

        I always assumed that using the dishwasher for cleaning electronics implied not using any detergents?

        Or at the very least: If you are worried the detergents may not wash out completely, then reduce the quantity of such.

        That said, my dishwasher has a separate compartment for salt. The idea is that the salt will soften the water. I'm thinking that might cause problems with PCBs, so I usually resort to alcohol instead.

        And as a non-smoker, my kit doesn't get all that gunky to begin with. A good blowjob is usually enough.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

          Ah yes, the cure to many a problem!

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

        Those old clicky keyboards cleaned up great in a Dishwasher. I cleaned up a few like that. I tried it with a mac chiclet keyboard once and it failed spectacularly, although it turned out to be a USB cable failure in the end. It was worth a shot.

      4. Bitbeisser

        Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

        A former boss, back in the late 80s, spilled toner inside of a good old HP LaserJet II printer. He took the printer outside onto the lawn of the house (office was in the basement of a residence at that time), then used a garden hose to spray that whole thing down, before and after dismantling most movable parts, then let it sit the rest of the day in the nice warm summer sun (not the developer though).

        Reassembled it two days later and it was working for at least another couple of years before it got replaced by a newer one (LaserJet 3 IIRC).

        He had to replace parts of the lawn though at the spot where the toner&water mix spread...

    2. Bitbeisser

      Re: COULD ALLOW SMALL PARTICLES OF RICE TO DAMAGE YOUR IPHONE

      In most cases, it isn't likely to be just water that got into the (i)phone, but coffee, soda, juice, etc, that do not evaporate completely without leaving a residue. And THAT is likely to cause some shorting between components.

      And yes, while there is a slim chance that some rice dust could get into the device, this is in most cases at that point the lesser evil.

      And if that device has crevices large enough that there is an increased risk of dust or tiny particles getting into it, simply don't put it straight into the rice but put it itself into a smaller bag, left open! but folded over once before immersing it into the rice. Or wrap the parts in some paper towel before putting it in the rice. In those cases, it just might take a bit longer but the hydrophilic properties of the rice should just work.

      I have done this in the last 3 decades or so, at least since laptops became more widespread, and thus accidents with them, even before the advent of cell phones, on hundreds of devices, without any additional ill effects.

  2. JimmyPage

    Maybe isopropyl alcohol ?

    Immersion then evaporation ?

    Or just shut the thing in a box with a small peltier dehumidifier ?

    1. Spazturtle Silver badge

      Re: Maybe isopropyl alcohol ?

      "Or just shut the thing in a box with a small peltier dehumidifier ?"

      Or just use Silica Gel Desiccant?

      1. hedgie Bronze badge

        Re: Maybe isopropyl alcohol ?

        And you can get decent sized indicator boxes[1] of that from any decent photography supplier. Having had expensive camera equipment and living in a humid environment, preventing fungus was always a high priority, so I always had a couple of those in kit bags.

        [1] About the size of a pack of cards. When the colour changes, stick it into the oven to dry it out again.

      2. EricB123 Silver badge

        Re: Maybe isopropyl alcohol ?

        My aunt's mouth desiccant pot roast could be used instead of the rice, for sure.

      3. david 12 Silver badge

        Re: Maybe isopropyl alcohol ?

        Or just use Silica Gel Desiccant

        I've got large bags of Silica Gel Dissiccant (kitty litter). The problem is the same as rice: you need to tightly bag the desiccant to prevent the dust getting into your mechanical connectors.

        Of course, after you've tightly enclosed everything it takes a while to dry out. It does become very dry, but for drying something that's wet, you're better off just putting the device somewhere with good air flow.

    2. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

      Re: Maybe isopropyl alcohol ?

      Shouldn't that be iSopropyl,?

    3. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Maybe isopropyl alcohol ?

      "Or just shut the thing in a box with a small peltier dehumidifier ?"

      A fridge works very well.

  3. The Dogs Meevonks Silver badge

    Translation:

    How dare you try to fix your device instead of giving us our rightfully owned money that's in your possession.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Translation:

      You just need to use "iRice" with our patented rounded corners

  4. Bitsminer Silver badge

    Refrigeration

    The driest place in your home is your fridge. So give your damp gadget an overnight chill. Seriously.

    Just don't let it get near anyplace that it might freeze.

    1. DJO Silver badge

      Re: Refrigeration

      Brilliant, as soon as you take your chilled toy out, condensation will form inside it and you are back to square one.

      More good advice: Concentrated sulphuric acid is an excellent desiccant but to be picky there are slight contraindications when immersing a phone in it.

      1. Bitsminer Silver badge

        Re: Refrigeration

        as soon as you take your chilled toy out, condensation will form inside it and you are back to square one.

        True this. But you can put the phone in an airtight Ziplock bag when you take it out of the fridge, and no condensation will happen while it warms up.

        1. biddibiddibiddibiddi Bronze badge

          Re: Refrigeration

          There will be moisture in the air inside the bag, unless you use a vacuum sealer on it.

        2. LybsterRoy Silver badge

          Re: Refrigeration

          Clever, seal the moisture in with it?

    2. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Refrigeration

      "The driest place in your home is your fridge. So give your damp gadget an overnight chill. Seriously."

      That does work fine after a good rinse in distilled water if the device was drenched in something else. The other comment about condensation being a problem really isn't a problem. Just let the device warm back up slowly by wrapping it up in something like a tea towel or removing it from the fridge on a cold evening.

      One of my earliest electronics jobs was repairing audio electronics. All manner of drinks wind up going down the back of guitar amps and being splashed all over the place. No matter how many times they are told, people will continue to set their beverages on electronics. The biggest problem was not cleaning up as soon as possible and letting whatever the drink was dry. Once it got to sticky, that was it for the controls and many fizzy drinks can contain phosphoric acid, fruit juices can contain citric acid, etc. Acid and Copper don't like each other but a PCB and distilled water get on just fine (disconnected from the mains, of course).

  5. KittenHuffer Silver badge

    Personally ....

    .... I keep all those little desiccant pouches that everyone seems to deliver electronics or drugs (sorry, food supplements) with. They go into a self seal plastic bag, and anything that needs drying just gets sealed into the bag with that little lot.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Personally ....

      Don't you eat them ?

      1. 43300 Silver badge

        Re: Personally ....

        Come on, it always says in large letters on them that you mustn't eat them. Otherwise nobody would know and would start munching away, clearly.

        1. EricB123 Silver badge

          Re: Personally ....

          " Otherwise nobody would know and would start munching away, clearly."

          Only once, though. They taste crappy.

          1. 43300 Silver badge

            Re: Personally ....

            I'll take your word for it!

    2. Mishak Silver badge

      And when they stop working as well

      Just put them in a warm oven for a bit to regenerate the gel.

      1. Terry 6 Silver badge

        Re: And when they stop working as well

        When I was a kid we had biscuit barrels with a round cartridge in the lid. Silica Gel or some equivalent. Every so often this went in a warm oven to dry out. I wonder what happened to that idea. It seemed to work then.

    3. Terry 6 Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Personally ....

      That's a brilliant idea. We have a vacuum bag thingy (usually for food items), I could even use one of those to store them in.

  6. HammerOn1024

    Yeah

    Dumbest idea ever. I've had to tell my kids not to do this several times.

    Just put your oven on 100 degrees Fahrenheit and leave it sit overnight. If it was dropped in salt water, soak it overnight in a bucket of distilled water to draw the salt out, then into the oven to dry.

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
      Alert

      Re: Yeah

      As 100F is within the range for a (live) human being, albeit somewhat feverish, it should be well within design specification for an iPhone.

      Just don't mix up units/dial up 100C

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Yeah

        So water evaporates at 100F, does it?

        Or is the oven more about dry air. And if it is about dry air, why worry about what temperature it is? Shouldn't the humidity be the objective, not the temperature?

        1. desht

          Re: Yeah

          > So water evaporates at 100F, does it?

          Of course it does, and at temperatures well below that. You may be confusing evaporation with boiling.

          > Shouldn't the humidity be the objective, not the temperature?

          A combination of both of those factors determines how effectively water can be evaporated away from an object.

  7. elsergiovolador Silver badge
    Trollface

    Dry

    If you want to make your phone dry, tell Siri how much you earn.

    I'll get my coat.

  8. John Robson Silver badge

    "An old lightning charger"

    For an iPod I'd have thought that an old 30 pin was a tougher thing to find...

    Lightning is still readily available.

    There are an annoying number of things that aren't on ${streaming_service}... and it's even worse in video land where the landscape is so fragmented to be useless.

    Keep local copies, even if they're screen captures...

    1. Excellentsword (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: "An old lightning charger"

      Sorry, yeah, 30-pin is what I meant.

      1. John Robson Silver badge

        Re: "An old lightning charger"

        I can probably dig one out for you (more easily than I care to admit)

        1. MiguelC Silver badge
          Happy

          Re: "An old lightning charger"

          I've never owned an iThingy and can also probably dig one out of the useless cables box.

          The thing I can never find, though, is the one I need at that precise moment I star the dig

          1. PhilipN Silver badge

            Re: "An old lightning charger"

            You mean that gender changer you desperately needed to find but turned out to be male-male instead of male-female or female-female

    2. 43300 Silver badge

      Re: "An old lightning charger"

      The online tat bazaar of your choice will no doubt be able to help with most of your obsure-connector requirements!

  9. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

    Moral dilemma

    In the unlikely event that I spot someone putting their iPhone in a tumble dryer, what should I do?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Moral dilemma

      Ask if they remembered to use dryer sheets.

      1. MrDamage

        Re: Moral dilemma

        Leave out the dryer sheets for wireless charging.

    2. Zarno
      Joke

      Re: Moral dilemma

      Ask them how their cat or dog is doing.

  10. Howard Sway Silver badge

    DON'T PUT YOUR IPHONE IN A BAG OF RICE

    Any advice for those of us who prefer a naan bread? They're quite absorbent, and they're not going to get stuck in a port......

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: DON'T PUT YOUR IPHONE IN A BAG OF RICE

      I can't tell you what Apple think of this - I signed a Naan Disclosure Agreement

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Personally I use crackers. Try eating a full packet. Literally all moisture gone.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Trollface

      Scottish shortbread?

      [hides]

  12. JLV Silver badge
    Boffin

    Miaow

    Cat litter is where it's at. I have a gallon pack of it to dry electronics. And no cat.

    Small items fit in its original box. For bigger ones, like laptops, empty it out in a plastic thrash bag, put in the item, then knot the top tightly to keep it airtight. For extra points, to avoid its nasty micro-grit you could carefully put your phone in a liner or small tray.

    p.s. No, don't be stingy. Unused cat litter only ;-)

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      Re: Miaow

      Does Tim Cook have a White Cat?

    2. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Miaow

      All cat litter is not created equal.

      We're assuming you mean the silica gel variety. A mix up between inorganic and organic cat litter led to a fire in an US nuclear waste facility, costing millions of dollars.

    3. biddibiddibiddibiddi Bronze badge

      Re: Miaow

      Clay cat litter is dusty as hell.

  13. CorwinX

    There's also freeze drying

    Phone took a dunk. Dead.

    Tried the rice solution. Dead.

    Cogitated on the problem and the term freeze-drying came to me.

    As it happened, I was working at a place with industrial walk-in freezers - set at -15 degrees.

    As a aside, don't ever get locked in one of those lest you become a corpsicle.

    Put the phone in for 5 or 6 hours... Sprang back to life.

    Of course there's a fine line depending on how much water is in the thing because too much will ice up.

    But if it's only damp then the water evaporates.

  14. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

    Here we go again

    You: Oops

    Apple: YOU'VE BEEN TRYING IT WRONG

    1. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

      Re: Here we go again

      Damnit, I meant DRYING

  15. Proton_badger

    rice

    The rice method originated as a joke, but because everybody were getting their smartphones wet it propagated as gospel, and then Lifehacker recommended it. It's worse than nothing because practically the rice absorbs nothing (unless you're planning on boiling it) but also there's no moving air...

    I put wet stuff above a radiator, dry heat rising up is very effective. The phone is water resistant now though and I charge it on a Qi pad so those days are over.

  16. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

    Don't Dry my iPhone

    Sung to the tune of Don't Cry for me Argentina

    by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber

    Tim Cook says Rice should be for cooking, and not for drying iPhones

  17. Dave 126 Silver badge

    RTFM

    The phone is waterproof... though sea water and chorinated swimming pool water (and soup, and beer) are not good for it.

    So, just do as Apple's documentation says: Rinse and leave to dry. Use wireless charging in the meantime. Don't clog up its ports and speakers by placing it in a dusty, starchy material (rice).

    Same goes for Samsung, Sony and any other civilised phone vender with waterproof handsets.

  18. Grogan Silver badge

    Common sense is what's lacking. Of course dry rice is dusty... nobody told you to put the phone in the bag with the rice and make shake and bake chicken :-)

    You obviously dry the exterior of the phone as best you can before putting it in with the rice, too.

  19. Dave 126 Silver badge

    From the article:

    > Because it sure ain't turning on again while waterlogged.

    Bullshit. That's actually incorrect. Modern iPhones - and Samsung and Sonys - are waterproof.

    Presuming of course you didn't buy the cheap landfill model.

    1. elbisivni

      No phone, or pretty much any machine or device, is waterproof. They're water resistant. A not very small, and very critical difference...

      <toddles off to look for my well thumbed copy of the Skill Kids book of pedantry>

  20. DS999 Silver badge

    Save those desiccant packs found in items you buy

    Toss them in the oven and heat to 275F/120C for a couple hours, that will "recharge" them to insure they will work properly. Then place them in an airtight container like a sealable sandwich bag with your phone overnight.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Save those desiccant packs found in items you buy

      Or just microwave at about 6mins per kg of dessicant

  21. biddibiddibiddibiddi Bronze badge

    I'd like to see an actual comparison test using multiple devices (all the same model so there's no variation) all dunked in water, then like 3 of them placed in each type of drying method - air drying with a fan, a bag of rice, and a bag with a silicon desiccant - and see how long each one takes to be dry enough to use, so there's an average per method. I'm fairly sure that rice won't actually dry things any faster than leaving them out with a fan or just normal airflow in a room. Even desiccants aren't meant to absorb water that you've already got in the container. They're meant to absorb moisture from air that moves in and out of a container or was sealed in originally, so it doesn't condense on the product. Which means in both the rice and desiccant cases, the water has to evaporate into the air in the bag first then be absorbed, which is probably slower than just letting it expand away as it evaporates in the open, and active airflow will make that happen faster. Unless perhaps the humidity level is extremely high, that is.

  22. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Put it in nothing

    A vacuum chamber is perfect for drying out electronics.

    I'm not sure what the vapor pressure of a LiPo pouch cell is. Maybe set a couple of bricks on top of the phone to hold it together...

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just put it in the microwave

    Everything should be cool.

  24. AIBailey

    I've often pondered the best way to use rice to dry out tech. I think it's fine as long as you put the device in something like the end of a pair of tights. That should still let the moisture escape, but forms an effective barrier against particles getting in.

  25. The Organ Grinder's Monkey

    Quite surprised that no-one has linked to this yet, & as I'm three or more days late, again, (most of my Reg reading is by going through the newsletter over several days across the weekend) I dare say that no-one will see this one either...

    https://www.ifixit.com/News/30047/rice-is-for-dinner-not-repair

    (links to an ifixit article that itself links to a test that someone did comparing various drying media. Spoiler alert, rice was less effective even than drying in free air.)

  26. The Organ Grinder's Monkey

    Also, just noticed that an article promoting rice is authored by a Mr Currie. I know it's not spelt correctly but still a little disappointed by the lack of puns.

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