Why You Ought to Stop Putting Your Phone in Rice When It Gets Wet

There’s a famous method for drying your phone after it gets wet known as “the rice treatment” for phones. However, not only is this method quite useless, but it also causes further damage to your phone.

We at Bright Side have done research that disproves this “rice treatment” for phones and instead, we’ll show you better ways to dry your phone without causing further damage.

The rice treatment for drying your phone is a myth.

Rice can’t absorb the water out of your phone fast enough for it to be a worthy method to use.

It also introduces new damaging elements that further corrode the internal parts of your phone, such as dust and starch.

Let it air-dry instead.

Letting your phone dry on the kitchen counter is just as effective, if not better, than stuffing it in rice.

Your phone will dry just as quickly and you won’t cause the extra damage that you would have if you had used rice.

What you should do instead of the rice treatment

Turn off your phone immediately.

Turning off your phone as soon as you can will help you to avoid damaging its electrical circuits. This helps a ton!

Wetting any electrical circuit is bad. However, wetting a circuit that’s currently off doesn’t do nearly as much damage as wetting an active one does. The quicker you turn it off, the less chance there is of imposing major damage on the circuits, so make sure you remember this very important step.

Dry it with a paper towel first.

After you’ve turned your phone off, use a paper towel or a regular towel if you prefer, and dry your phone.

For this step, you need to make sure you’re very careful and gentle, as you want to avoid pushing the water to the phone’s extremities. It’s also important to make sure that if you do decide to use a regular towel, it’s lint-free.

Take off any removable parts.

It’s important that you take off any phone parts that can be removed, such as the SIM-card tray or the battery if you’re using an older phone model.

Do not insert a towel or any objects into the charging port.

This step is more of an obvious one, however, it needs to be said. Do not insert any cotton swabs, small pieces of paper, or towels to help dry your charging port.

Be careful not to press any buttons or shake your phone as it can shift the liquid inside of it.

Let your phone dry on top of a dry towel.

After you’ve successfully followed all these steps, place your phone on top of a dry towel and let it air-dry there.

Don’t turn your phone on before it’s dry. The recommended wait period is 24 to 36 hours or more.

What to do once your phone is working again

Even if the phone functions properly at the start, it still took water damage and that can cause performance glitches over time. Not only that, but internal components might have started a corrosion process that can lead to problems down the line.

Keep an eye out, and if you notice any glitches or performance issues, take it to a professional and get it repaired.

Have you ever used the rice treatment on your phone before? Did it work? Let us know in the comments!