For years, the standard advice for a phone that landed in the sink was to bury it in a bowl of uncooked rice and wait.
Apple’s own support page now tells you not to. “Don’t put your iPhone in a bag of rice,” the company writes, warning that doing so “could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.”
The line sits in Apple’s guide to liquid-detection alerts on iPhone. The same page rules out the other quick fixes people reach for. “Don’t dry your iPhone using an external heat source or compressed air,” it also says. A hair dryer is an external heat source, so that’s out too.
Rice was never much of a drying agent
The rice habit was being questioned well before Apple weighed in. In 2014, the phone resale company Gazelle measured how much water different household materials could pull out of a wet sponge over 24 hours. Uncooked white rice came last of the seven it tried, behind silica gel, cat litter, couscous, two kinds of oatmeal and instant rice. A sponge simply left in open air “performed far better than any of the drying agents.”
That test used a sponge rather than a phone but its conclusion points the same way as Apple’s advice: open air.
What Apple says to do instead
1. Unplug everything
If the phone is connected to a cable or accessory, disconnect it at both ends. Apple says not to plug it back in until the iPhone and the cable are completely dry. Charging with a wet port can make the pins on the connector or cable “corrode and cause permanent damage.”
2. Tap out the water
Hold the phone with the charging port facing down and tap it gently against your hand to shake out excess liquid. Apple’s water-resistance guide also suggests wiping the outside with a soft, lint-free cloth, such as a lens cloth.
3. Leave it somewhere dry, with airflow
Set the phone down in a dry spot where air can circulate. According to the same guide, a fan blowing cool air directly into the connector “might help the drying process.”
4. Keep things out of the port
Apple specifically says not to insert “a foreign object, such as a cotton swab or a paper towel, into the connector.”
5. Wait before charging by cable
Apple’s two pages give different waiting times. The liquid-detection page says to try a cable again after at least 30 minutes, and warns that the phone “might take up to 24 hours to fully dry.” The water-resistance guide is more cautious, advising you to “allow at least 5 hours before charging” with a cable.
If you need the phone right now
Two options stay open while the port dries. Apple notes that “if you have a wireless charger, you can still use that to charge your iPhone,” as long as the back of the phone is dry before it goes on a Qi-certified pad. The liquid-detection alert also offers an emergency override that lets you charge by cable anyway, though Apple advises against using it outside an emergency.
Water resistance wears down over time
Recent iPhones are built to survive a dunk. Apple rates the iPhone 12 and later models, apart from the iPhone SE (3rd generation), at IP68, tested to a maximum depth of 6 meters for up to 30 minutes. Those ratings come from controlled lab conditions, and Apple says splash, water and dust resistance “are not permanent conditions and resistance might decrease as a result of normal wear.” A phone that came through a swim two years ago has no guarantee of doing it again.
That matters for the bill, too. Apple states that liquid damage “is not covered under warranty,” although consumer law where you live may give you other rights. If the phone has dried out and still won’t charge, Apple’s last suggestion is to unplug the cable from the adapter and the adapter from the wall, then reconnect them. Past that point, it’s a job for a repair technician rather than anything in the kitchen cupboard.