Apple Officially Warns Users to Stop Putting Wet iPhones in Rice | The company said the popular remedy could cause “small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.”::The company said the popular remedy could cause “small particles of rice to damage your iPhone.”

  • aelwero@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    118
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    9 months ago

    In case Apple’s advice doesn’t work, it’s safe to say that you probably need help from professional repair experts and may even need to prepare yourself to buy a new iPhone.

    “Don’t do anything yourself, just come give us more money”

  • otp@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    91
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    9 months ago

    Don’t put your phone in rice! You’ll break it and have to buy a new phone!

    Ok, what should I do instead?

    Buy a new phone.

    …so what’s the harm in using rice?

    …waste of food?

    • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      49
      ·
      9 months ago

      Silica gel desiccant bags. That’s the same thing used in a lot of packaging material, like the little thing that says “do not eat” in a pill bottle or electronics bag.

    • Rumbelows@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      This is actually a thing. Worked in Apple Stores for years and saw laptops and phones full of rice. Whole grains and bits n bobs.

      So before the rice you could actually do a modular repair sometimes. Swap out the battery or SSD.

      Whole thing full of rice bits attached to every component? Forget it.

      Also, once a device is liquid damaged, often rice will resurrect it but only until the logic board rusts through / goes dry. Copper oxidises over time.

      On the other hand, if you can’t afford a repair or swap out, (contrary to popular opinion, Apple sell replacement devices through their service channel way cheaper than new units) rice might give your device a new lease of life. So sometimes worth the gamble.

      Edit: missed the D off SSD which kind of changed the context!

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    45
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    I assume most folks here didn’t actually read the support article. It’s pretty reasonable.

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/102643

    iOS can throw a warning message if there is water in the USB port during charging. Electricity and water are famously spicy friends.

    Their recommendation is just to tap the bottom of the phone to get the water out, let it sit and dry for a few minutes, or use a Qi charger if you absolutely have to charge with a wet USB C port.

    Most phones, including Apple’s, are pretty water proof these days. Rice is only going to get rice dust in your speaker, mic, and charge holes. Just tap the water out of let it sit for a few minutes.

  • NewPerspective@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    47
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Coming this Fall: Apple Dryness Pellets! A bag of Styrofoam rice that’ll run you $499.99 and an extra $70 for it to come in colors. Not compatible with CE models.

  • wahming@monyet.cc
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    41
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    Given that the iPhone is rated IP68, or impervious to dust and small particles, this seems like grounds for a return claim (or lawsuit in the states, idk).

    • 32b99410_da5b@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      The charging port is very pervious to dust and small particles.

      …they shouldn’t get into the phone innards, but shove a USBC in there with them and they can definitely ruin the charging port.

    • mastod0n@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      9 months ago

      There are humidity indicators even outside the IP rated parts. If the technician finds a colored one you’re out of warranty by default. Source: started out at a store with repair shop.

      • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Technically you could just remove those humidity indicators yourself before taking the phone to service, but they’d still find any water damage inside the phone if present - just more time consuming for the tech

  • demesisx@infosec.pub
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    ·
    9 months ago

    Can’t believe no one has recommended putting your phone in a ziplock with a big bag of desiccant. That’s basically exactly what the rice is doing (minus the grains getting everywhere).

    • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      Also rice isn’t a super effective way of desiccating the phone to begin with. Like you mentioned, desiccant packs are a way better option. Just save the ones you get from packages in a dry ziplock and store for a rainy day…

  • hazardous_area@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    9 months ago

    lol you know what else may damage your phone? Being full of water /s, get a grip apple. Make something useful if you must make more money, don’t sell obsolesce and failure.

    • sebinspace@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      9 months ago

      Okay but this advice applies to all phones ever… Rice is absolutely useless for fixing anything but Raja’s economy and being an excuse to eat soy sauce

      • hazardous_area@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        9 months ago

        I am not proposing rice as a solution to anything aside from wetted phones.

        My post is pointing out that instead of doing something productive or new, apple is telling people not to do something that may actively prevent further damage to their phone. At best that reads like a poor use of time to me.

        • sebinspace@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          9 months ago

          may actively prevent further damage

          No, it won’t. Used to work in shops that fixed phones. In no instance, fucking ever, did rice have any effect, at all, ever. “I put my phone in rice” is followed by “that’s why you’re here, in my shop, right now” 100% of the time.

          • GunValkyrie@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            9 months ago

            The next time someone puts their phone in rice and it does work, do they still need to go to your store to tell you?

            • sebinspace@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              Oh god yes, please come tell me. Show me what you did, shit, show me what kind of rice you used, show me everything about the process so that I may learn from it, but until I see hard evidence, especially that which cannot be easily attributed to something that isn’t stupid, that something is actually fucking happening, chortle my balls!

              • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                9 months ago

                The point is the bias is obviously going to be that you’d see the instances where it didn’t work, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone into the shop.

                • sebinspace@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  9 months ago

                  Yeah yeah, I know, survivorship bias and all that, but the rice still does fuck all

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    9 months ago

    What a stupid recommendation. It’s not going to hurt anything. I wonder if the idiot pushing for this documentation realizes what bad press it’s generated.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      9 months ago

      One presumes that there is at least one case where it was determined that rice particles did something to the phone. Then Apple analogized and extrapolated from there.

  • SomeGuy69@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    9 months ago

    Don’t trust apple, I remember when they recommended people to put their iPhone into the microwave for fast charging. /s

  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    arrow-down
    24
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Meanwhile my Samsung has been dropped in the bath more times than I can count and gives zero fucks.

    Maybe Apple just make bad phones?

    • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      39
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      9 months ago

      There’s so many reasons to hate on Apple and iPhones, but build quality simply isn’t one of them.

      iPhones are IP68, which means they can be immersed in serveral meters of water for up to 30 minutes.

      • The Pantser@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        19
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        9 months ago

        If they are waterproof how does rice damage them? Pretty sure rice chunks are larger than water.

        • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          21
          arrow-down
          9
          ·
          9 months ago

          So the IP68 ratings are on a scale of 1-9 for dust and water respectively.

          So the 6 is for dust and particulates and the 8 is for water.

          With a rating of IP68, which is an industry standard, it is actually better at keeping out water then dust and particulates. I have no idea what the deal is with rice particulate, but it’s obviously not great to get into charging ports and the like.

          It’s worth noting that Samsung shares the exact same rating and would also struggle with a bowl of rice.

          • dustyData@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            26
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            There’s no deal. 6 is the highest level for dust protection. It means “No ingress of dust; complete protection against contact (dust-tight). A vacuum must be applied. Test duration of up to 8 hours based on airflow.” It means an airtight device. There’s no dust protection above that. If water, the molecule, can’t get in or harm a phone, no particle will get in.

            EDIT: Just realized I didn’t clear up this point well enough. You got it the other way around. Keeping dust out is easy, water is hard. Because with water you have the factor of pressure defeating seals and leaking in. Something that is less likely to happen with a gas forcing particulates in. There’s no natural atmospheric pressure on earth that could defeat an airtight seal enough to force dust in. But on the contrary, water pressure that can easily crush phones is actually a quite common occurrence. And enough pressure to break seals and leak water in can happen in only a few meters of water submersion.

            Atmospheric dust is anything between 0.001 and 40 microns. Typical rice starch (what rice dust is made of) is around 0.5 microns, the smallest it can get is 0.1 micron.

            Rice particulates do nothing to phones. Apple just wants people to pay for a new phone or Apple’s overpriced tech service.

            ADD: As stated by the article the rice hack doesn’t work anyway, it’s just a meme. But the rice won’t hurt an IP68 phone.

            • Garbanzo@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              9 months ago

              To be fair to Apple, I don’t think they’re referring to rice dust getting past seals. They’re likely referring to bits of rice getting stuck in lightning or USB ports, starch on camera lenses, or a small particle working its way into a button. All of that could be solved by putting the phone in a paper wrapping or envelope and putting that in a real desiccant instead of chucking the phone in a bag of rice.

              • dustyData@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                edit-2
                9 months ago

                Starch dirtying up a lens or glass is easily solved with a warm damp cloth, starch is water soluble this way. Rice in a port can easily be dislodged without damage with a pin needle. And no particle is going to get into a button in any way that impedes function or causes harm, that’s kind of the whole point of an IP6x device.

                But again, we are talking about the company that made trendy the bendy phone, and the “cracked screen and glass back” aesthetic.

      • Gork@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        I like the nicer, more protective, IP69k rating.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      9 months ago

      LOL build quality is very high on all Apple products. To get the same level in mobile, you have to go higher-end Samsung or Lenovo in the computer market.

  • profdc9@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    9 months ago

    Place your phone in a sealed bag with a container of anhydrous calcium chloride, like Damp Rid. DO NOT allow the powder to get in the phone, just have in the same bag as the phone. It is a strong desiccator.

  • Pissnpink@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    Well of course particles will get in, that’s why you gotta wash the rice first!