Craig Beinecke, co-founder of TekDry, a company that provides "emergency electronic device rescue services" says so too. TekDry has developed a fancy machine that resembles a suitcase bomb and uses negative pressure and low heat to actively expel fluids out of a properly doused phone in roughly 20 minutes. Of course that study should be taken with a grain of… salt. The research was entirely funded by a company whose business depends on the rice trick being ineffective.
And every time a phone falls into a toilet or sink, the trick is transmitted anew, from parent to child, from friend to friend. Countless testimonials speak to the efficacy of rice. It worked every time. The rice trick does have one unique and very powerful property. The worst thing you can do to a wet phone is to power it up before it dries completely — doing that is cell phone homicide in the first degree.
Unlike leaving the phone on a sunny windowsill, the rice trick places the phone out of sight, and maybe out of mind. The grain may not guard the device from the destructive powers of water, but the trick does temporarily remove a much more dangerous element: us, and our impatient, tech-driven neuroses. Spending 12 hours, 24 hours, or even a few days — depending on the instructions you follow — without your phone can be hard. Having it sit in plain view makes it harder.
But if we believe in the rice trick, we give it time to work its magic — time that maybe would have saved the phone with or without the rice. In effect, the rice trick only works because we believe it does. Twenty-four hours after I placed my phone into the box of rice, I pulled it out, charged it up, and hit the power button. I was stunned: the screen lit up, and asked me to re-enter my Apple ID. I did, and the entire system booted up flawlessly: the camera worked, as did the microphone and the speaker.
Under the screen, I could see pockets of moisture; eventually, most of them evaporated. Within three days, there was hardly a trace that my phone had spent a full day playing submarine.
My phone should have been swimming with the fishes. But there it was, the electronic living dead. That Monday I strutted into the Verge office with my resuscitated phone like a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein, parading my very own freak of science. A whole day! At the bottom of a lake! My colleagues asked the inevitable question: Did you put it in rice? The idea is to use air to push or pull moisture out through the same channels it entered. Now, here's the most important part: submerge your phone in a desiccant, or a substance that will induce dryness by absorbing water.
That's just a fancy way of saying grab the rice. Leave the phone and its disconnected battery submerged in a bowl of rice overnight. According to Gazelle , a company that buys and sells pre-owned consumer electronics, instant rice like Uncle Ben's is a better option than regular uncooked rice the stuff that takes 15 to 20 minutes to cook.
In a May test , Gazelle drowned nine smartphones before attempting to save each one with a different desiccant agent:. After extracting as much water as possible from the device, using large quantities of a drying agent may help accelerate the drying process. If a drying agent is used, silica gel is the best of the options tested, followed by couscous and instant rice.
Conventional cat litter, oats, and chia seeds are not recommended because of the dust and debris that they deposit inside of the phone. Uncooked white rice is not recommended due to its poor performance as a drying agent.
Silica gel, as the review notes, is the best option if you have some lying around. You're probably used to seeing silica gel in the form of those little packets stuffed into the pockets of new clothes or shoes. But acting fast is far more important than avoiding a little rice or quinoa dust, so don't waste time shopping for silica gel packets if you don't already have a drawer full of them. One last note: If your phone gets soaked in salt water, you should probably flush the whole thing in fresh water before it dries.
When salt water evaporates, it leaves crystals that can damage a phone's fragile components. Just be sure to remove the battery before flooding the device. Repair experts say that we've been duped into the rice theory—and the cat litter theory, and the silica packet theory, for what it's worth.
None of these desiccants work, they believe, because corrosion is instant when water gets inside certain components of your smartphone. Here's the thing: if you keep your phone powered off, toss the thing into a bowl of rice, and happen to strike gold when you turn it back on, it really looks like the rice was a hero. Kelly advises following Apple's instructions of letting your phone air-dry or dry with a cool fan. But he says you can also try putting your phone in a room next to a dehumidifier, as this could speed up the drying time.
All Rights Reserved. Open side menu button. Smarter Living. Our team of editors strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest. Experts say that the rice method isn't actually safe or effective for your wet phone. By Kali Coleman December 11, Read This Next. How to Clean Your Headphone Jack Dust and dirt in that tiny port could be causing issues with your phone's sound. Latest News. Including some new holiday fare. Here's the latest on staying safe.
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