That water damage trick from YouTube killed my iPhone 13 last weekend

So last Saturday I found my phone in a puddle on my shop floor after a transmission drip landed right on it. I remembered this old tip I saw 3 years ago about putting a wet phone in a bag of rice, so I did that for about 12 hours. Well when I pulled it out Sunday morning, there was rice dust stuck in the charging port and the screen started flickering like crazy. Took it to a repair shop in Tulsa and the guy told me the rice actually made things worse because the fine dust gets inside and shorts more stuff out. He showed me the corrosion on the logic board and said the silica gel packets wouldve been way better since they actually absorb moisture without leaving grit behind. Has anyone else wrecked their phone trying that rice trick or did I just get unlucky with the amount of water?

3 comments

3 Comments

quinnm901d ago

Kinda gotta call out that silica gel packet thing though. Those little packs are designed for low humidity environments like shoeboxes, theyre not gonna pull enough moisture out of a phone that's been sitting in a puddle. I read a teardown report from an iFixit guy once who tested both methods and the silica packs barely made a dent compared to just leaving the phone in a dry room with a fan blowing on it. The real trick is actually taking the phone apart and cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol right away, but nobody wants to hear that because it's not as easy as throwing it in a bag.

williamschmidt1d ago

My buddy Mark did the exact same thing with his Galaxy last winter. He left his phone in a bag of rice for two days and when he took it out the rice dust had gummed up the speaker grille and the charging port was toast. The repair guy in Tulsa said the same thing your guy did, that rice dust acts like sandpaper on the contacts. He ended up having to replace the whole charging board and the phone never worked right again. Now he just uses those little silica gel packs from shoeboxes if something gets wet.

jana_miller311d ago

Dried my boots with silica packets after a creek hike and they came out perfect.