Busting the Rice Myth

In a world where we are increasingly dependent on electronics, water has become the boogeyman. We live in constant fear of dropping our phones into our pools, sinks, and toilets. But while water damage is scary, everybody knows that the best way to fix it is to just drop your phone into a bag of rice, right? Unfortunately this is one of those times when what “everybody knows” isn’t really true. The reality is that putting a wet phone into rice won’t help at all, and might actually hurt.

You see, the common wisdom is that since rice is a dry food that absorbs water as it cooks, then it must be able to absorb the water out of a wet phone, but that isn’t actually the case. Yes, we cook rice by forcing it to absorb hot water, but that doesn’t mean that the rice will actually absorb the water out of your phone just because it happens to be nearby. In fact, rice doesn’t absorb water out of the air very efficiently at all (that’s why we boil it). To make matters worse, rice is also dusty, and the grains are small. That means that when you put a wet phone into a bag of rice, you run a real risk of getting rice dust into the same crevices and corners of your phone that have water in them. You could go from water in your phone’s speaker to having damp rice dust paste in your phone’s speaker. You could also end up with grains of rice stuck in your phone’s charge port or headphone jack, which could damage your phone even more.

The truth is that water damage is a very difficult problem without a simple solution. The question of whether a water-damaged phone can be saved depends on a huge number of variables, including how long the device was in the water, how deep into the device the water got, whether the device was turned on when it went in the water, whether you tried to turn it on after it got wet, how soon you plugged it into a power source after it got wet, and more. Even if you get your phone dried off and working again, there’s always the possibility that the water left behind minerals or other residue when it dried, especially here in Florida, where we have very hard water. Those deposits can cause damage and corrosion long after your phone has dried out, meaning that there’s always the chance a water damaged phone will simply stop working at some point.

The best way to deal with water damage to your phone is, of course, to prevent it. Caution around water and the use of a water resistant phone case can go a long way toward keeping your phone safe from water damage. You should also make sure to keep your phone’s data backed up, so that if your phone does get damaged beyond repair, you won’t lose your photos, contacts, and other personal data. For more information, check out our previous articles on how to backup your iPhone or Android phone.For more information on the best way to handle your water damaged phone, you can call, book an appointment online, or visit the Phone Medics Plus repair facility at 91 E. Merritt Island Causeway in Merritt Island. While we don't repair water damage ourselves, we're more than happy to point you in the right direction.