Phone repair with rice

Submerging a mobile device into rice is a common repair advice for devices that suffered from water damage. This technique has not been shown to be effective in repairing them.^[1][2][3] Submerging these devices into a desiccant may or may not be more effective than leaving them to dry in open air. Uncooked rice is inferior to other common desiccants such as silica gel or cat litter,^[4] and Apple Support warns that small particles of rice could damage a phone.^[5]

A water-damaged Nokia 5310 phone submerged in dry rice

History

Rice has traditionally been used to keep camera equipment and films dry in tropical environments.^[1]

In July 2007, less than a month after the original iPhone was released, a member of MacRumors named jorsuss started a thread titled "I dropped my iPhone in water" in which they said they had used "the rice trick" to recover it.^[6] This may have been the first documented attempt to use the procedure on an iPhone.^[1]

See also

• IP Code
• List of common misconceptions § Computing and the Internet

Further reading

• Ashworth, Boone. "Here's the Right Way to Rescue a Soaking Wet Smartphone". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
• "Don't Put Your Device in Rice. Here's Why". iFixit. 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2023-05-19.