Can we talk about drying your wet phone in a bag of rice vs a silica gel pack

I dropped my phone in a puddle last weekend at the park here in Austin. Panicked, threw it in a Ziploc with rice like everybody says. Left it for 24 hours. Still had moisture under the camera lens. My roommate's a computer tech and he laughed at me. Said rice is actually pretty bad because the dust gets in the ports. He gave me a couple of those silica gel packets you find in shoeboxes. Stuck the phone in a container with those for another 12 hours. Worked way better. Phone's fine now. Has anyone else tried the silica trick over rice? Or is there something even better someone's found?

3 comments

3 Comments

jessica_robinson2325d ago

I left it for 24 hours" - wait, you only left it in rice for 24 hours? I've always heard people say you need to leave it for at least 48 or even 72 hours or the rice won't do anything. That's part of why it fails half the time, people get impatient. Silica gel is definitely smarter though, less dust and it actually absorbs moisture without turning into a sticky mess. I had a friend who tried the rice trick and ended up with a phone that smelled like a pantry for a month.

lucasw8224d ago

Yeah I read somewhere that the whole rice thing is basically a myth anyway. It's not that the rice pulls moisture out of the phone, it's more like the phone just air dries slowly on its own. The rice just makes people think they're doing something. @jessica_robinson23 you're right about the silica gel being way better, I've seen those little packets suck water out of stuff like crazy. The pantry smell thing is real though, I had a coworker who dropped his phone in a puddle and did the rice trick, then had to walk around with a phone that smelled like Uncle Ben's for weeks. Honestly I think a lot of people just get lucky and the phone wasn't that wet to begin with, then they credit the rice for saving it.

rodriguez.felix24d ago

Back in 2018 I dropped my iPhone in a bucket of water at work, put it in a bag of rice for two whole days, and the rice dust got all inside the charging port. Had to blow it out with compressed air. @jessica_robinson23 you're completely right that silica gel packets would have been way cleaner and more effective, I just didn't have any on hand. The phone survived but I swear it smelled like minute rice for like a month after.