A very old rumor is circulating on social networks. Immersing your smartphone soaked in rice will dry it out. However, there is a much more effective method.
The rumor is almost as old as the internet itself: the best way to dry your soaked smartphone would be to bury it in a bowl full of rice. It must be said that rice often has the reputation of being quite effective in absorbing humidity, particularly for clothes or rags.
However, this famous reputation is not based on any solid study. Rice does not, in fact, claim to be used to absorb moisture from your clothes, and even less from your smartphone!
It’s a legend that comes up frequently on the web. Just type “dry phone” to find several tutorials that can advise users to fill a bowl with rice and immerse their phone in it. The grains of rice would then have the virtue of being able to absorb the humidity from the device and dry it completely, even if the latter had fallen into water beforehand.
Unfortunately, this legend is as false as it is dangerous for your phone. Grains of rice can easily infiltrate and stick to the inside of your phone (especially through the latter’s USB port) and their starch can also further degrade the device.
Recently, the official Apple website returned to the methods to adopt if your smartphone has fallen into water. The firm indicates that you should not use the rice method, nor introduce small elements such as a cotton swab or a paper towel which are likely to deposit residue inside the device.
Conversely, Apple recommends simply placing your phone in a dry place with some ambient air. You can always try using a small hair dryer as well, but stay away from the device and with very moderate power. The goal is to dry your device, and not to send all the ambient dust inside. Note that drying can take a whole day.
If, despite a full day of drying, your smartphone still does not respond, you will unfortunately have to go to a repair workshop or purchase a new model! Although a majority of smartphones are now IP68 certified for moderate resistance to water and dust, this unfortunately does not allow them to remain submerged for very long.