Evidence grade: C — Anecdote / folk / A2 — Institutional literature Effort: N/A — debunk, no procedure
Verdict: MYTH. No. A bag of rice is worse than simply leaving the phone out in open air — and the part of water damage that actually kills the phone, corrosion, starts the instant water touches the board. Rice addresses none of it.
Legend
The folk remedy is known on every continent: a wet phone goes into a bag or bowl of dry, uncooked rice overnight, and by morning it is supposed to be saved. According to iFixit's tracing, the idea reaches back to at least 1946, when rice, tea, or brown paper were suggested as a make-do way to keep camera equipment dry when silica desiccant wasn't handy. It crossed into phones in 2007, when a Washington Post reporter toilet-dunked a BlackBerry, put it in rice, and wrote up the (uncorrelated) survival for the paper; productivity blog Lifehacker then amplified the trick into one of the internet's most durable chain-email-era remedies [1].
Evidence
The professional repair case. Jessa Jones, the water-damage and microsoldering specialist iFixit cites as the highest authority on the subject, put it bluntly: "Corrosion is instant when a phone hits water." If the phone survives a rice bag, she explains, it is temporary luck — the oxidized, weakened solder joints remain, and corrosion keeps spreading inside. The rice did nothing; it only got the credit [1].
The drying tests. Used-device reseller Gazelle ran a phone-soak test in 2014, immersing a wet sponge in seven materials plus open air. Dry, uncooked conventional rice absorbed the least water in 24 hours — the worst of everything tested, losing to silica gel, cat litter, couscous, both oatmeals, and instant rice. The sponge left in open air dried the most [1]. A separate 48-hour simulated-drying study by electronics-rescue company TekDry likewise found rice less effective than natural air drying — though neither approach fully dried the device [2].
The manufacturer. Apple has now said it explicitly in its own support documentation: "Don't put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone." The company's actual guidance is a dry area with airflow — cool air from a fan directed into the connector can help — and no charging or accessories for up to 24 hours until the liquid-detection alert clears. No external heat, no compressed air, no foreign objects in the port [3].
The starch problem. Beyond being a poor desiccant, rice introduces starch and dust into charging ports, speakers, and SIM slots — particles that can lodge where water never reached and create new problems [2][3].
Verdict: MYTH
Rice is slower than air, adds debris to the ports, and cannot reach or reverse the corrosion that starts the moment water hits the circuitry. It is not a repair; it is a delay.
The honest answer is short and not a tutorial: power the phone off immediately, leave it open to dry in a ventilated area, and take it to a professional repair service — the real fix involves disassembly, alcohol displacement of water, and corrosion removal under magnification, which is professional work, not a kitchen trick [1].
Stop-rule note: corrosion is immediate. Every hour the phone sits in rice is an hour of spreading corrosion that a professional might otherwise have halted. Rice wastes the critical window.
Honest limits
- This article covers consumer smartphones. It does not teach water-damage repair; that procedure requires professional tools and training.
- Water-resistance ratings (IP67/IP68 and similar) degrade with age and wear; they are not a guarantee the phone survives a dunk.
- The historical origin of the rice myth is traced via iFixit's research; earlier 1946-era camera advice is reported, not independently re-verified here.
Sources
- iFixit — "Rice Is for Dinner, Not Repair" (originally published June 2019, updated August 2024) — https://www.ifixit.com/News/30047/rice-is-for-dinner-not-repair
- Digital Trends — "Stop putting your wet iPhone in rice — seriously" — https://www.digitaltrends.com/phones/stop-putting-your-wet-iphone-in-rice-apple-warning-news/
- MacRumors — "Don't Put a Wet iPhone in Rice, Says Apple - What to Do Instead" — https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/do-not-put-wet-iphone-in-rice/
Repair Lab · Release 1 · Evidence last checked September 29, 2026 · A project of AOJEL