Apple: Don’t put your wet iPhone in rice to dry it; instead, do this

Apple, the maker of the iPhone, is telling customers to ignore the practice of putting a phone that has gotten wet into a bag of rice to dry it out.

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Why? Because it doesn’t work. At least not well and not without risks.

According to new advice from Apple, in addition to not really drying the phone out that well, small particles of the rice could get into the phone and cause damage. It also warns that using a hairdryer to speed up the drying process isn’t a good idea.

Macworld was the first to report on the advice from Apple.

Instead, the company suggests you should gently tap out any liquid within the phone, and leave it to dry out.

A 2024 support document from Apple says that you may see one of these notices on your screen if the phone gets wet:

• “Liquid detected in Lightning Connector”: This alert appears if you connect a Lightning accessory to your iPhone that doesn’t charge your iPhone and liquid is detected.”
• “Liquid Detected”: This alert appears if you connect a USB-C accessory to your iPhone and liquid is detected.

If your phone is wet, Apple says follow these steps:

1. Tap your iPhone gently against your hand with the connector facing down to remove excess liquid. Leave your iPhone in a dry area with some airflow.
2. After at least 30 minutes, try charging with a Lightning or USB-C cable or connecting an accessory.
3. If you see one of the alerts, there is still liquid in the connector or under the pins of your cable. Unplug the phone and leave it in a dry area with some airflow for up to a day. You can try again to charge or connect an accessory throughout this period. It might take up to 24 hours to fully dry.
4. If your phone has dried out but still isn’t charging, unplug the cable from the adapter and unplug the adapter from the wall and then connect them and try again.

According to Macworld, each new iPhone is being made to better withstand being dropped in water.

All Apple devices from the iPhone 12 onwards can withstand immersion up to a depth of six meters, for up to half an hour.

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