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Why Apple says you should no longer use the 'phone in the rice hack' to dry it out

Apple updated its page on liquid in the phone issues. Rice is on the don't list!

GREENSBORO, N.C. — When you see the image of a phone in a bag of rice, you immediately know what happened. Somehow, the phone got wet and the rice is the well-known hack to dry it out. 

But now Apple says the rice hack is a big don't. The Apple website has a support page devoted to liquid detection and phone issues. 

On the list of Don'ts:

Don't put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your phone. 

Don't use a cotton swab in the connection site.

Don't use an external heat source (like a blow dryer)

Apple updated its support page in early January 2024 about what to do when you get a Liquid Detection Alert on your phone. There are two different alerts, one if there is liquid detected with a connector cord, or if there is liquid detected in the connector part of your actual phone. 

There is a whole list of things you can do to dry your phone including tapping your  phone with the connector facing down and then leaving it to dry for 30 minutes. or up to 24 hours if you can see liquid in the connector itself. 

There's another key part to this if you want to charge your phone but you think there's a liquid issue which makes plugging it in an issue, but having a wireless charger is the answer. 

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