Everyone knows this home remedy if your smartphone (or other electronic device) gets wet: quickly turn off and put in the rice. What’s more, once you’ve combed out a few gray hairs, you’ve probably had to do this surgery at some point, or at least know someone who has. And if you ask, you will see that the general opinion confirms that this system really facilitates and speeds up the process of drying the inside of the device.

This is due to hygroscopic properties rice, something we’ve already seen in action in other environments before the advent of smartphones, such as salt cellars, where it’s able to trap moisture that might otherwise cause salt to weigh down. Therefore, it is not possible to discuss much whether rice is able to absorb some of the moisture present in its environment, as this property has been proven long ago.

So the recommendation to submerge a wet device in rice is common and we’ve even seen manufacturers like Nokia recommend it at some point. And operators like Orange also include it in their list of recommendations if we find ourselves in these conditions. Is there a consensus? The truth is, no, and that’s how it is Apple recently published a support website that specifically discourages using rice to dry the iPhone.. And the truth is that his argument is more than reasonable.

So Apple doesn’t deny the “drying” properties of rice, but states that by immersing the device in a bowl of rice, It is possible that small pieces of it could end up inside the mobile and of course they damage it, either because of the moisture they can harbor or because of their movement inside the device. On the list of what not to do, they also advise against using sources of hot or cold air, such as a hair dryer or can of compressed air, and putting paper towels or cotton swabs inside the device, as they can also cause the remains inside to leave.

Every day there are more and more smartphones that submerge, even if only to a certain depth and not for too long, but even then there may be circumstances that exceed these thresholds, and in such cases we will have to follow the specific recommendations of the manufacturer for that particular device. .. However, based on previous good experiences, I recognize that if I find myself in such a situation, I guess I’ll resort to rice again. and you?