How A Bag Of Rice Can Save Your iPhone...And Your iPod?

• don't drop it in the toilet to begin with..... Darwinism for tech devices and their owners

• fuck u

• ive been doing this since 1999

• today I dropped my ipod touch in the toilett too... Using a bag of rice too... I Hope it will work... An die deutschen: scheiß wasser!

• Sorry, just re-read this. One bag obviously had no rice while the other did.

• Being a electronic tech, I've heard of putting wet phones into rice. The problem I have with this is that it's not a controlled experiment. PPL who do try it and have their phone work claim it was the rice. Nobody knows, everything else being equal, if it would have dried naturally. I performed an experiment where I took two containers (sealed as well as a phone) and injected equal amounts of water into each using a needle. I then put them into their own bag of rice. Each day I checked on the progress and took pictures. By the fourth day, both containers were empty. I then made the conclusion that the water evaporated at the same rate from each container. This made sense to me because A): the rice is not in direct contact with the water and when it is, the water has already evaporated and B): the PPM of water molecules in the air would not be high enough to slow down the evaporation rate in the non-rice bag. Another way to put it, the rice does not reduce the PPM of water molecules at a significant amount that would allow the water inside the container (or phone) to evaporate faster to reach equilibrium with the outside air. I did this for my own piece of mind and NOT to discourage others from doing what they think is appropriate. If this was my own electronics (I'm tech remember) I'd be disassembling and cleaning

• Same thing happened to me this weekend...... Dropped it in the toilet, it wouldn't turn on. Heard about the rice trick, so stuck it in a bag of dry rice under my overheated old laptop. Two days later it miraculously works again! God bless you Rice!

• I've actually done this as well.  It's the absolute best thing you can do.  As long as you don't try to turn it on too soon, chances are, it very well may come back to life. Jack editor - www.iCaseReview.com

• My friends pushed me in the pool and now my speaker for my ipod doesnt work and i stuck it in rice and now it works! but my phone also fell in and its an lg keybo and i flipped it open and the inside keys dont work! i hope that the rice works and does it help to take the battery out?

• SAD I dropped my ipod in the toilet:dont worry it was only the water. i put it in the bag of rice but it wont turn on :( what should i do?

• From personal experience, AT&T (with iPhones in particular) are not nearly as nice. I got literal scoffs from multiple employees (from both Apple and AT&T stores) immediately after I shamefully utter my phone fell in the toilet. Like they aren't vulnerable to gravity and bad luck! The rice has worked for me though.

• Thats with any phone.

• Didn't work for my iPod nano, I guess because I tried turning it on and that fried it up?

• Doesn't work as well for Blackberries...

• Must you leave 50 comments on the same blog, saying practically the same thing? There is a reply button that you can press if you feel the need to reply to ever single comment on here. I think he might have been kidding, so cool it, and stop acting all high and mighty like you know everything

• my sister accicentally washed her iPod and the apple store told her this exact thing. Calm ur conspiracy theory mind down.

• yea dont use cooked rice

• LOL....you have dried your ipod with a bag of rice,i think its a good techniques i will try it:)This is one of my favorite blog because whenever i visit this blog found something interested and different,you are doing very well job,keep it up

• My daughter dropped her cell phone in a puddle, and it only left a dead spot on the screen. She went back to Sprint, told them what happened, they checked to see if her phone was still under warranty. It was, and they replaced it for free. My old one went in my coffee once, and a "friend" (ha, snort) dumped her coffee all over it. It cleaned up both times and worked all right.

• that trick has been around forever, yo.

• thanx so much! i dropped my samsung intensity into the toilet...and i new to put it in rice but i didnt know how long:) thanx:)

• The rice got stuck in sim card slot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• thanks

• Ken, I was able to pry the bits of rice out with the end of a small paper clip.

• I did this, the Iphone now works but the sim card wont get into the slot. When looking under a bright light I can see a tiny piece of rice stuck in the sim card slot. Any ideas on how to get it out? I have been trying for about an hour and have made no progress

• @Alton Good Lord!!! I am baffled at how much time you wasted on here with your comments. You could have used those hours to work and earn enough money to buy and iPhone at this point. You do realize that all your comments on here make you sound like one of those entitled individuals who believes everything should be a right and not cost a dime. Sorry but news flash THINGS COST MONEY!!! And usually the better it is the more it costs. Healthcare costs money, education costs money, food costs money . . . if we keep handing out everything for free we're all gonna be bankrupt. Oh, wait, that's why our country in trouble. We've been giving things out for free all these years! Ha! Leave it to Apple to be smarter than that. Bottom line, they make good products. If they didn't, people wouldn't pay their crazy prices. I've had an apple laptop for 7 years now. I've dropped it numerous times and it still works like a champ. I will gladly pay the extra $500 for a computer any day that has outlasted 3x the life of any other laptop I have ever had. I've had an iPhone since it came out, LOVE it, and until something better proves itself I am sticking with it. All my info is stored online, if something goes wrong I have an actual person (IN AMERICA) who will fix it for me, and I never have to hastle with sending it in and getting a refurbished one days later and going without a phone. Apple knows what they're doing. Don't blame them because they're smart. If you don't like their stuff, don't buy it. But you honestly come off as some dude who is bitter because you know it's the best and you're pissed you don't get one. If you want one, do like the rest of us who have one but don't have money to toss around, work extra hours, stop spending your money on other things, and ask for apple gift cards at Christmas/birthdays. Not everyone out there owning one is rich. We just know it's well worth the investment :o)

• @Sleeplessone No

• haha wee always do that on wet cellphones here in the philippines XD

• blackberryplace.com

• ugh the rice trick didnt work for me :( had to mail my phone off to a repair shop (blackberryplace.com). great alternate solution if the rice trick doesnt work for you. check them out: www.blackberryplace.com

• Used this trick several times and people always look at me like im a moron when i tell them about it until it saves their asses...it works with all sorts of electronics, not just the stupid iphone or ipod...though you shouldnt turn it on multiple times..

• It still works even if you turned your phone on at least ten times while it was still wet!!! I love rice!

• Will it work if you tried turning your phone on multiple times before putting it in rice? I didn't realize you weren't supposed to until I went on the internet in a panic over my phone. ALSO, will Verizon or Best Buy or anywhere switch the info from one phone to another for free???

• will the rice work after you wait almost two days of dropoping it in the washing machine?

• i also heard that if you got toilet water in your phone, soak it in alcohol not drinking alcohol, but isopropyl alcohol with as high percentage of alcohol as you can get soak for around 10 minutes to have the alcohol replace the water and to clean the insides, then put it in rice since the alcohol evaporates quicker

• i have an i phone that was dropped in the lake water about 3 months ago, and i just now heard about the rice thing do you think it will work if i still put the i phone in the rice even after three months of it sitting out? also i dropped my blackberry 8520 into the water the other day put it in a rice bag, it still works except the bb button, answering button, and also the scroll button what should i do?

• i have an i phone that was dropped in the lake water about 3 months ago, and i just now heard about the rice thing do you think it will work if i still put the i phone in the rice even after three months of it sitting out? also i dropped my blackberry 8520 into the water the other day put it in a rice bag, it still works except the bb button, answering button, and also the scroll button what should i do?

• It's why you put rice in salt, so that the granules don't get stuck together...

• morons. this is not a new trick. this has been working on cell phones since the razr was released. even before that. useful piece of info, but nothing new or special. dont be idiots and go dropping you phones and mp3 players in water. simple. morons...

• My iTouch got really wet during a storm once, and I put it in rice for an entire week while I was on vacation. That was a summer ago. Sometimes it has glitches or can be finicky, but other than that, it's been working fine for the entire year. Now going on two.

• We did this to an iPod that went through the wash and it worked for a week or two and then went kaput. It would only turn on if plugged into a charger if i remember correctly. It was weird cause it worked for a little while.

• And agreed with Anon, Wayne trolling ftw. XD

• Turning the phone on while there's still any amount of water inside will lead to it shorting out. Checking your phone after impatiently waiting for an hour was a bad idea, in the long run. My friend dropped hers in a puddle and dried it out, but less than a month later the screen and keypad stopped working, and then the phone shut off and wouldn't turn back on, due to corrosion from other crap in the water. If there's EVER any water damage, take the battery out and leave the battery door off, without using the phone or plugging it in, until you're -sure- there's not a drop of water left inside-- an hour in some rice won't fix everything. Rice does work, don't get me wrong, but only so well, and not all the time. The rice absorbs the water (the above posts are right, it's a good desiccant; desiccant packs are even better), and the water has a chance to evaporate a little at the same time. You'll end up having to replace the phone anyway, but then at least you can get all your important stuff off of there before it's gone. Take advantage of it, trust me. Those Facebook groups, "I dropped my phone, give me your numbers" are really irritating. Also, Alton's a troll. Stop feeding him, you're only making it worse.

• +1000 internets to wayne, for being a better troll than Alton

• Implying Iphones and Ipods are the only electronics... Do you give the church of steve jobs %10 of your income before or after taxes?

• @wayne A bag of COOKED rice? Really? Well of course your iPhone seems worse. Dry rice is what absorbs the moisture. Not cooked rice, it's full of moisture.

• The problem with a waterproof sleeve is that the touchscreen does not work well because unlike most touchscreens that dont work well the Iphone runs off heat from your fingers for positioning. So thats why no waterproof sleeve is not out. plus, for what phone can you purchase a waterproof sleeve that garuantees water resistance.

• I am sorry for all you people out their who cannot or chose not to own an Iphone. I am a proud Iphone owner and will continue to be since Steve Jobs has a knack for innovation. Sure I dont own a fancy car or have the nicest clothes but I would much rather buy a $199 phone with multiple purposes and pay the measly 360 a year for the data plan. Its hell of a lot better spending 100 bucks on jeans. For those who believe that internet and phone should be free I am sorry I just dont see it that way. Hell the only reason I have such blazing internet speeds is because I pay a company to maintain an R&D department to give me the most innovative tools. And everyone try to remember everyone works for a profit. The fact that some people even have a job is because their service to their selected company is worth more to the company than the pay given out. Hell this is a capitalist world. If you dont like it I here Antarctica is still not colonized.

• i did that and nothing happened it didnt turn on or anytthing :( any other ideas?

• Apple may or may not tell you about this fix... but ultimately it comes down to: How long as the iPhone been out? And uh... why is there no waterproof sleeve for it like there are for other electronics? Because yes, they do hope you break/drown/ruin your device so you buy a new one. That's how a company works, bringing in profit.

• This works for pretty much all phones, even if you don't put it in a bag of rice. you just have to leave the phone off until it's dried out completely.

• this didnt work for me, not sure if it has to do with type of rice though ( i used brown cause thats what i had.) what did work for me though was a packet that came with my lamp. it was called h2o eater, and thats exactly what it did. dont know where i would get anouther one though, short of buying a new lamp... anyways, thats my rant.

• <center>wayne sharp: OF COURSE IT"S NOT GOING TO WORK IN COOKED RICE, silly! sorry to say wayne, but you aren't so sharp. Cooked rice has moisture in it- the purpose of putting it in the DRY rice is so that the grains of rice can suck the moisture OUT of the device and INTO the rice. .....are you serious?</center>

• Everyone, Alton is trolling you. Successfully. Minus 1000 internets for anyone who got angry at Alton.

• I don't have an iPhone but I did drop my phone in water twice, the first time I used a bag of dry rice and it worked after a few days but the first time I tried it it must not have been dry all the way because it crackled and the sound didn't work right away. The second time I dropped it in water, I left it on the dashboard of my car and it worked even better than the rice without all the rice dust on it. (although for an iPhone, I would either disguise it or make sure my car is locked and the alarm is on if I left it there)

• Part 3 of this article should be "Throw bag of defecation infested rice away." Unless of course you've got a taste for some of that Toilet Water Rice Pilaf...

• Alton, get off of me. You are just upset that you don't have an iPhone.

• Sarisin: I love how you agreed with Kevin, and then went off on the same rant that was totally off topic. Kudos to you for jumping on the bandwagon without making it seem like you wanted to. Anyway, I've never tried this, but I did drop my boyfriend's phone in a stream once. He let it sit for a few days, and it's still working fine. That was 6 months ago, so fingers crossed that it keeps it up! If I had known about this trick, I definitely would have tried it. Thanks for the help. :)

• Alton, you are a complete douche. Nobody is going to pass up the savior rice trick for your benefit. Think before you post or learn how to keep your unwanted comments to yourself. Check your iPhone, there's an app for that.

• Wow! People are all worked up on here.

• I dropped my samsung in the pool. It was in there for a good minute. I took it out, put it in a bowl of rice, and the next morning it was perfectly fine.

• I agree with Kevin, somewhere along the way this post lost it's original intent, which ironically is to save you money. I have lost much important data to water damage, even if the rice trick only works for a few days, I would love to have those few days to recover my data before it was lost forever. I don't own an iPhone, I don't have need of one. But there are people who decided they do and so they have one. The beauty of the whole system is that there are options, preventing companies from over-charging people. If the iPhone really wasn't worth $300 then people would stop buying it. Obviously that's not the case, sense many many people chose to buy an iPhone instead of a Droid, Blackberry, Treo, or other device. When a product fails to meet people standards they stop buying it, hence why i switched to Version from T-mobile. So if you really feel that your being 'Pirated' by Apple, don't buy there products, and leave the rest of us at peace. I do love the rice trick, sense rice is cheap and easy to find. And if it doesn't work, well then you lost something you never had to begin with, so why not? It's a no risk method.

• I once heard a sad story about a person that posted a helpful hint about putting your phone in a bag of rice if your phone gets wet. It's a sad story because of what happened after this person posted their advice. Shortly after the orignal post, a whole group of social deviants posted responses that had nothing to do with thanking the original poster for trying to help people, and instead decided to take the opportunity to treat each other like a bunch of flaming idiots and somehow blaming the cell phone manufacturer for the fact that they want to make a profit if someone is stupid enough to drop their phone in the toilet. It's not Apples fault that you are stupid. It's not Apples fault that their phone is capable of being dropped in the toilet. It's not Apples fault that the toilet had water in it. It's not Apples fault that the US is a capitalist society. It's not Apples fault that Alton is so wrapped up in hating everybody and everything that he cannot see the good that companies like Apple do for him. Erin Thompson (original poster), thank you for your selfless and helpful post. Keep in mind that you probably helped some people, and that's a good thing. Keep up the good work.

• I dropped my rice in the toilet. If I put it in a bag full of cell phones, will it dry my rice, or will all the cell phones stop working?

• Alton, Quit bitching and recognize that what you are railing against is call CAPITALISM. It is what this country was built on, and if it were'nt for capitalism you wouldn't have a phone to bitch about.

• Alton, shut the hell up and go away. it's a blog post about how rice can save your phone, not a debate about whether or not Apple is an evil corporation. go bother someone else.

• wow....comparing apple to pirates? now i'm all for difference of opinions, but that makes you sound like a moron. If they were pirates they would just take the money and not give you anything or kill you. I'll admit, when I bought my iPod, yeah it was so I'd fit in and so people would like me and think I was "cool". that was...2nd gen I believe? when they first introduced black iPods. that still works, and if it breaks I'd just get a cheaper one maybe. Apple does make expensive products and everyone knows that they could sell them cheaper and still do ok, but they wont. why? because people pay more for a name. Look at...expensive jeans (I dont know brand names) and Target brand jeans (usually Levis, but you get what I mean) is a $200 pair of jeans going to give you magical powers and make you run faster? no. you're not forced to buy from one company, by ranting off about them and making ludicrous statements and comparatives about them, you don't sound clever, you haven't convinced anyone not to buy apple, you've just made yourself look dumb. clearly "stepping away" (meaning he's not gonna post, but is still gonna read everything) was your best option because you were just looking sad :( tears for you

• Read the whole thing (including comments). Natasha, Conor, and The One True Moe are the smartest people commenting here.

• Penis please!

• I remember while shopping around for a laptop to start college with I was looking at getting a macbook but applecare was so ridiculously expensive and essentially didn't cover any accidental damage so it was basically pointless. Apple is trendy and chic now and that's what you're really paying for when you buy an Apple product. I've lost respect for them since their Mac vs. PC ad campaign where they act like arrogant, patronizing, snobs under the guise of "loving thy neighbor/competing company." Apple has their share of problems just like PCs and they know it so you can replace your broken products over and over again. I have literally lost count of how many iPod Touches I have gotten replaced simply because it wouldn't turn on. Oh, by the way, I love rice.

• Rice is fantastic for absorbing moisture. That's why some people make sure to always put a few grains of rice into a salt shaker. Due to its size, the rice will never come out, but it'll ensure the salt stays dry.

• this is absolutely 100% true I just happened to stubmble upon this but no 3days ago my phonw was Washed when my mother took my fav pair of jeans out of my room and decided that that need to get put with all the other dirty clothes. I put it in a bag of rice (something i had heard worked for phones if ever submerged in water) and viola!!!! 24hrs later my iphone was back in working order

• Here is what this boils down to. Alton does not like Apple and for that fact any large corporation. That is his opinion and that is totally cool. The response to Alton is that he should "just not buy an iPhone" however in order for a movement that Alton is calling forth to occur he must find supporters. This is the way that Alton chooses to find supporters. Alton is against the "status quo" he is the one that has to do the leg work. Those of you who keep saying "just don't buy an iPhone" are really wasting your time because you are the status quo the likely hood of the status quo changing is slim to none. So instead of building his argument just live in the land of status quo and let him speak.

• Alton=FAG

• I've had to do the exact same thing before. Works for any electronics. Also, the sooner you can put it in rice, the better.

• anonymous, evaporation is something different. do u remember science? but thanx for trying!

• If you eat the rice used for drying an iPhone, you're somehow able to communicate to all people around you. No one has yet figured out how this is possible.

• I wonder how many bags of rice you could buy with the money you spent on your Iphone. Maybe to feed some people who need it?

• I use a coffee grinder to grind spices and, to clean up afterwards, just run a tea spoon of uncooked rice through it. Versatile stuff.

• This works like a charm, no joke. I am a VERY heavy sleeper and was using my iPhone as an alarm clock. About 6 months ago, in my sleep, I hit snooze on the iPhone and placed it back on my bookshelf... apparently, in a glass of water. It sat there for at least 20 minutes before I woke up in a panic wondering why my alarm hadn't gone off. I went into even more of a panic when, to my surprise, my iPhone was sitting in a glass of water. I immediately took out the sim card and let the iPhone "soak" in a bag of rice for 4 days, leaning the bag of rice upright against the wall so the water would all drain out. It is very important to wait at least a few days; if you try to turn your phone on before it is ready, the chances of shorting circuits and leaving the iPhone useless is much higher if it is not completely dry. After 4 days of allowing it to dry, it has been working flawlessly ever since. *Knock on wood.*

• This works like a charm, no joke. I am a VERY heavy sleeper and was using my iPhone as an alarm clock. In my sleep, I hit snooze on the iPhone and placed it back on my bookshelf. In a glass of water. It sat there for at least 20 minutes before I woke up in a panic wondering why my alarm hadn't gone off. I went into even more of a panic when, to my surprise, my iPhone was sitting in a glass of water. I immediately took out the sim card and let the iPhone "soak" in a bag of rice for 4 days, leaning the bag of rice upright against the wall so the water would all drain out. It is very important to wait at least a few days; if you try to turn your phone on before it is ready, the chances of shorting circuits and leaving the iPhone useless is much higher if it is not completely dry.

• I agree with Anonymous Apple Worker. It's your choice whether you're willing (and able) to buy a luxury product like an iPhone or not. And if you can't, no sense in bitter bashing or comparing a decent business like Apple to a band of Somali pirates. Apple does have amazing products and amazing customer support. That is one of the reasons their prices are higher than most. You get what you pay for.

• it also works on ALL cell phones... i've done it twice, just take the battery out and the back off

• Rice also helps cure the world of hunger. Such great versatility from a grain.

• It's not magic, it's evaporation....remember physics?

• Wow.. You guys really know your rice. xD

• Alton, for someone who doesn't like the company so much it sure does seem to take up a lot of your time... who are you to be so judgmental of how anyone wants to spend their money? apple makes exceptional products and has wonderful customer support. maybe you would know that if you would try something instead of just complaining about it here. who cares why you're so mean, and no one cares either. seriously, calm down. you sound ridiculous.

• I dropped my 3rd gen iPod nano in a sink full of water probably two months after I got it. It still works. The thing is indestructible.

• Slightly misleading. Most phones will work after a good dunking just by letting them drain. Rice or no rice

• This is very true. A friend of mine told me this same trick when I dropped my iPod in a mud puddle. I left it in a bag of rice over night and it worked perfectly fine the next day. This is definitely nature's money saver :)

• Thank god I have a Droid with a power button and accessible battery.

• Also, rice has saved my phones over the years from destruction a few times haha, so it's all good. Do it. :)

• So long as people are willing to pay the price that Apple put their iPhone's at, they will be justified in doing so. That is regular busines practise, almost all businesses do this. Nothing even remotely like Somalian pirates. There are phones available which do only the most fundamental phone functions. You can get these ridiculously cheaply. Even if you're desperate for a new one, the cheapest phones available are very cheap indeed. Phone's may be becoming a necessity, but iPhones certainly arent. People have their own opinions about how to prioritise the way they spend their money. If they want the latest superamazing technological device and are willing to pay for it, then why should you care? What part of Apple putting a luxury iPhone at a price you'd expect of a luxury device is wrong? It is very possible to live with all your necessities extremely cheaply, there are companies which specialise in cheap things, and companies which specialise in expensive things. Apple is simply one of the expensive companies.

• apple is introducing a new product for cleaning up water damage: iRice

• Either someone is a pr0-troll... or they are really butthurt.

• Firstly - yes, this trick does work. Rice is your friend. Also, if you don't have access to rice, lay the wet cell phone/netbook/sex toy on its side (having made sure to remove as many parts as you can - battery, sim card, etc - we want it as open and permeable as possible) or face down on a dry towel. Turn a hairdryer on its highest fan setting but lowest heat setting and prop it up (one side of the hairdryer pulls air and the other expels it, so it cannot lay on its side) so that it's about 10" to 12" from the device. Now kill some time. Stick around, though. That hairdryer actually uses more juice than a Marshall stack so we don't wanna leave our little experiment unattended for too long. Go back and take it off for an hour or so, then back on. Sedrik is right, btw: do NOT turn it on...for as long as you can stand to wait. Also, while I mostly lean toward Alton's views on this topic - I personally don't care HOW much AT&T or Apple charges for the thing: I will never, ever buy one. They ARE a luxury item, which is why I think it's so absurd that most people have them. R says: "millions of others find it worth it. Blame them..." I DO blame the customer AND the store; I hate MacDonald's disgusting food AND am sickened by the fat slobs who flock to their drive-though. Most of you have no use for this thing yet break your backs and your banks making sure you're seen walking around with one...because let's face it: that's all most of you do with your iPhone, play with them in puplic. I love whenever I see some kid with trashed jeans and beat up car whipping one of these $500 ornaments out of his pocket every few moments...don't want to miss that important business meeting, eh? Or are you late for a payment on that unessential trinket? You look ridiculous. Go sell that thing and buy your girlfriend dinner or pay a utility bill or give it to the first homeless person you see because Steve J. has enough of your money. Anyway, yeah. Put it in rice.

• Make sure the rice isn't cooked and I have heard on tv that the phone should be in the bag for 24 hours to dry it out completely. Have passed this on to others and it has worked for them.

• Thank you for the insightful site. From time to time, the very best advice come from the articles you would not expect. So far, I decided not to give quite much thought to commenting on weblog entries and have left comments even less. Viewing your great blog post, might inspire me to do so again.

• I once met a girl who shared a story of how she heard the rice and phone thing. She didn't quite get the procedure down correctly, as for some reason she thought the rice was meant to be cooked, and dropped her phone into the pot along with the boiling water and rice. There went that phone!

• Airy,I fully agree with you Apple isn't worth my time or money. I thought I made that clear in my response to R earlier.I compared certain Apple business practices to pirates some of whom happen to live in Somalia.Why this comparison offends you I can only guess?The only loss here is your inability to read for content and then defend a practice you admit you can't afford.Makes no sense to me.By the way what the hell are blogs for but to express what we all think?If things get too tough out there I have another cup of pencils free of charge.

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