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Stop putting your wet iPhone in rice, says Apple. Here’s what to do instead (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

72 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What you should not do:

Experts have for years pointed out that’s a bad idea – and now Apple is officially warning users not to do it.

“Don’t put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone,” the company says in a recent support note spotted by Macworld. Along with the risk of damage, testing has suggested uncooked rice is not particularly effective at drying the device.

What you should do:

If your phone isn’t functioning at all, turn it off right away and don’t press any buttons. The next steps depend on your specific circumstances, but broadly speaking: dry it with a towel and put it in an airtight container packed with silica packets if you have them. Don’t charge it until you’re sure it’s dry.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I found if the car is nearby, place the wet phone over the windscreen de-mister vent and then run the aircon through that vent. Doesn't have to be hot air to dry it as long as the compressor for the aircon is running... Aircon dries out the air before blowing it through the cabin so you will have bone dry air circulating around the phone pulling the moisture out by evaporation. About 10 mins is plenty. Best done idling in the shade. Don't want to sun damage the phone while trying dry it out...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

? This would be no different than using a hair dryer?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

No, hair dryer works by taking ambient air and heating it before blowing it out. Besides, definitely don't want to heat up the phone. The aircon dries the air itself as part of the cooling. When using your windscreen vents you don't have to set the temperature to hot to clear the windscreen as long as that aircon compressor is running. People just do because when you need to defog your windscreen it's usually cold as fuck outside...

To dry the phone, set vent to windscreen, temperature to cold, and make sure the aircon indicator on. Cold, dry air.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

The heat does help defrost/defog quicker. Hot air can hold more moisture than cold air plus it needs thermal energy to transition from solid/liquid to gas.

For a phone, the heat is mostly bad because the phone itself is generating heat that it needs to dissipate, so blasting it with hot air will reduce its cooling efficiency and it will find a new equilibrium at a higher temperature. But if the phone is off, I wouldn't be surprised if it's fine in the heat (but I also wouldn't be surprised if it causes issues with some adhesives, so maybe don't blast it on max unless you can comfortably keep your hand close to the vent).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

When using your windscreen vents you don't have to set the temperature to hot to clear the windscreen as long as that aircon compressor is running. People just do because when you need to defog your windscreen it's usually cold as fuck outside...

I don't think most people know this. I didn't and wow okay that makes sense. I didn't realize AC was so dehumidifying. TIL.