Water Damaged iPhone? Grab Some Rice!

[Michael Essany]

The good people at iFixYouri have published an interesting how-to guide for helping curb water damage to your iPhone after being accidentally submerged in water. According to the makers of the above video, water damaged iDevices are incredibly commonplace. But even if your iPhone takes the plunge, there's still a chance you can fix the soggy mess yourself.

Common sense, of course, dictates that if your iPhone falls into the toilet, a lake, or any other pool of liquid, the first step is to retrieve the device as quickly as possible. The next steps, however, may not be so familiar. Once you've retrieved your handset and powered it off, pop out the SIM card. Last but not least, stick your iPhone into a bag of uncooked rice. If you have a bag with ziplock functionality, you're in good shape, as any air in the bag of rice will reduce the effectiveness of this technique.

According to the team at iFixYouri, "if you follow the above steps and mail the water damaged iPhone we can fix it as good as new." Then again, you may not even need to send the device in. Simply wait 48 to 72 hours after your rice-drying experiment. There's a good chance that your iPhone will be back to normal and showing few signs of internal water damage. If, however, your iPhone isn't working properly, simply put the device back in the bag of rice and send it to the people at iFixYouri, a business that specializes in repairing damaged iDevices.

iFixYouri

[jjsammy]

wow thats wierd...he did not even close the sim...what if the rice grain gets stuck inside the phone??? then we definilty need to call them up for that....

[hapishyguy]

lolz. Its just to fool people as if putting in bag of rice will fix the phone. Ofcourse it will not and ifixyouri gave us the next action "send the phone to them". In actual, the whole plan is Action 2.

[Melech518]

RICE IS AN URBAN LEGEND! IT DOES NOT DO ANYTHING

WOW!

I see people everyday who put their phones in rice. All the rice does is make a mess. It will never absorb the liquid and corrosion from the logic board of an iPhone.

[Mes]

Don't be too quick to dismiss their claims. It does work -- sometimes. Not all water damage is fatal. And usually the users tries to revive it before the moisture is completely gone causing even more damage.

Give it a shot! Nothing to loose

Also: Placing the zip-lock bag under a 60-80 watt lamp during this 2-4 day process helps.

[tsatryan]

Also, after keeping the iPhone in the rice bag for a few days, you can then put the whole thing in a stir-fry, add a cup of water, and make a tasty iPhone flavored Moo Goo iPan!

[bcastro]

I did this with my 2g after going swimming with it (forgot it was in my pocket) for about 1 minute...went straight home and stuck it in a bag of rice for 1 week. Pulled it out and it worked just fine!

[tremerone]

I'm more surprised on how careless people are with their idevices!
I guard my iphone with my life!

[TheSpread]

FYI, this DOES work and it works great. What works even better is that little stuff you get in electronics and shoe boxes, Silica Gel pellets.

I have recovered 2 iPhones using this rice method. One dropped in a cup of beer and the other was in the bathtub.

I blew as much air as I could out of the phone on both ends with a hair dryer on ZERO HEAT, then when I was confident no more was coming out I stuck it in a zip lock baggie, pressed all the air out and that was it. I can back 2 days later, opened it up, shook the rice out, turned it on and both worked like they were never wet.

[wolk72]

Best way to fix water damage put it in freezer, really does work and helped to number of people on forum including me

[pokefan]

A buddy of mine found an old Samsung flip phone in a puddle one day during a rain storm. He tried to use it and it was dead as a doornail. We tried the rice trick, pulled it from the bag 3 days later and it powered up right away.

Don't know if the rice actually did anything or if it just had a chance to dry out but the phone worked just fine from then on.

[aaauustiinnn]

I did this exact thing and it saved my iPhone. I dropped my iPhone in the Ohio river and still got it. Hah

[Luppin]

lolz. Its just to fool people as if putting in bag of rice will fix the phone. Ofcourse it will not and ifixyouri gave us the next action "send the phone to them". In actual, the whole plan is Action 2.

RICE IS AN URBAN LEGEND! IT DOES NOT DO ANYTHING

WOW!

I see people everyday who put their phones in rice. All the rice does is make a mess. It will never absorb the liquid and corrosion from the logic board of an iPhone.

Tell that to my (very careless) friend who has killed a handful of phones by dropping them into water and each time resurrected them (to a certain extent) by keeping it in a bowl of rice for 24 hours. One of them survived with a red line down the middle of the screen but the others came out more or less fine.

[k.nitsua]

I've done this to three iPhones. Works perfectly. I just put the iPhone in a rice dispenser and wait a day or two.

Not an urban myth. It's real. But us Filipinos have always known that rice fixes everything. Lol =P

[wrxtcy379]

[rolialex831]

lolz. Its just to fool people as if putting in bag of rice will fix the phone. Ofcourse it will not and ifixyouri gave us the next action "send the phone to them". In actual, the whole plan is Action 2.

Actually it does work... the same thing happened to my Iphone 2g. My kid dropped it in The toilet and i put my Iphone in a bag of rice and about a week later it was back to normal... I was actually amazed. I have told my friend about it and they confirmed that it works..

[Mes]

Best way to fix water damage put it in freezer, really does work and helped to number of people on forum including me

This method is not recommended as the water/moisture only freezes ... and comes back later when it warms up. Be careful.

[doubledave22]

dropped my iphone 4 in water a few days ago fully emerged for about a second. immediately pulled it out and wiped it off. Tried making a call only to find that i couldnt hear anything, no music would output either. I simply blew into each of the speaker holes and it works fine now lol.

[romayojr]

I've done this to three iPhones. Works perfectly. I just put the iPhone in a rice dispenser and wait a day or two.

Not an urban myth. It's real. But us Filipinos have always known that rice fixes everything. Lol =P

So true

[goodluck4287]

As a person who loves rice, may I suggest brown rice if you have it.

When cooking rice, you need to use more water with brown than white, meaning that it is more absorbent.

Not sure if it is the best since there are many kinds of rice, but definitely favor brown over white if you have it.