Apple Tells Users To Stop Putting Your Wet iPhone In Rice
When you accidentally get your iPhone wet, have you ever been advised to submerge it in rice to help it dry? It’s been a tried and true quick-fix method for years now, but now Apple is urging its customers to stop it.
Apple warns against putting your wet iPhone in a bag of rice as it can damage your iPhone
— Apple Hub (@theapplehub) February 19, 2024
Instead, Apple recommends tapping your iPhone gently against your hand to remove excess liquid (with connector facing down) and leaving it in a dry area with some airflow pic.twitter.com/1i8KjfDKvR
The rice technique has long been heralded as the best, easiest “life hack” to fix wet iPhones, with the logic being that the rice soaks up excess water and quickly dries your phone. The logic is certainly there, and I’ve even tried it before with various levels of success.
But after years of this home remedy making rounds across all ends of the internet, Apple seems to have finally weighed in on the issue. A recent support release on their official website specifically discourages iPhone users from using rice to dry them. Their reasoning is that this “…could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.”
Apple also discourages users from other drying methods. These methods include external heat sources and compressed air, as well as inserting cotton swabs and paper towels into the connector.
But if you can’t use the rice method, how are you supposed to dry your iPhone? Luckily Apple has listed the proper protocol to use in order to effectively dry your mobile device.
First and foremost you should unplug your wet phone from anything it may be connected to. Once it’s unplugged you should lightly tap your iPhone to drain it of any excess liquid, then leave it in a dry area with moderate airflow for at least half an hour.
After enough time has passed Apple encourages you to try and plug your iPhone to a charger. If you see an alert pop up on your phone notifying you that liquid has been detected (examples here and here), then your phone still isn’t dry enough and you should repeat the process until those alerts disappear.
But if the rice method still works for you, then by all means keep on using it. But now you must do so knowing that Apple is very disappointed in your choices. Can you live with that?