Ever since cell telephones have been a factor, we’ve been dropping them in water. And whereas as we speak’s iPhones are proof against splashes, dips, and dunks in water, there are nonetheless instances once they get too moist and the dreaded liquid-detection alert seems in your display screen.
For years, we’ve turned to a easy family staple when we have to save our iPhones from a liquid demise: a bag of rice. The tactic is decidedly low-tech. Simply pop your telephone in a bag of rice, seal it up, and await a day or so. The thought is that the rice will draw the water out from contained in the telephone earlier than it will probably fry any inner elements. Individuals who have skilled waterlogged telephones swear by it, and there’s tons of anecdotal proof to point out that it does certainly work.
Nevertheless, researchers have been claiming for years that rice doesn’t really dry your telephone quicker and will decelerate the method, leaving your logic board vulnerable to additional injury. And a brand new 2024 assist doc from Apple really advises in opposition to utilizing rice to dry out your iPhone as “doing so might enable small particles of rice to wreck your iPhone.” As a substitute, Apple suggests the next steps:
- Faucet your iPhone gently in opposition to your hand with the connector going through all the way down to take away extra liquid. Go away your iPhone in a dry space with some airflow.
- After at the least half-hour, attempt charging with a Lightning or USB-C cable or connecting an adjunct.
- When you see the alert once more, there’s nonetheless liquid within the connector or below the pins of your cable. Go away your iPhone in a dry space with some airflow for as much as a day. You may attempt once more to cost or join an adjunct all through this era. It would take as much as 24 hours to totally dry.
- In case your telephone has dried out however nonetheless isn’t charging, unplug the cable from the adapter and unplug the adapter from the wall (if potential) after which join them once more.
Among the many don’ts, Apple additionally urges in opposition to drying your iPhone with an exterior warmth supply or compressed air, or inserting a international object, reminiscent of a cotton swab or a paper towel, into the Lightning or USB-C port.
Granted, iPhones have been in a position to stand up to submersion in water at a most depth of 6 meters (about 20 toes) as much as half-hour because the iPhone 12, so chances are high you haven’t needed to fear about liquid injury for some time. However if you happen to ever do, simply go away the rice within the cupboard.