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Rossen Reports: Put down the rice when your phone gets wet

Feb 09, 2024

Deals, scams, your money, unemployment— Jeff’s newsletter cuts through the noise.

Right now is the most dangerous time for your phone. Water-related phone accidents go up 70% in the summer months.

Your phone falls into the pool, a puddle, or the toilet – what's the one thing we've been told for decades? Put it in rice. Guess what? That advice is wrong. Get ready, because your mind is about to be blown.

Rossen Reports went to uBreakiFix to talk with tech expert, Jackson Holbrook.

You are probably thinking: my phone is water resistant. It's fine. But that doesn't mean your phone is waterproof. No phone is. Your phone might look fine from the outside, but underneath, other things could be happening. Your phone has liquid sensors that look like stickers. They start as white and if liquid touches the sticker, it turns pink and then red with severe water exposure. Another indicator is rust, which appears on the metal pieces inside the phone. You should know; water resistance wears over time. Especially if you drop your phone often and if you have cracks in your screen.

We get it, you're not going to feel comfortable opening up your phone. You've probably dropped your phone in shallow water or splashed it a couple of times and it'll probably be fine. But it’s when your phone gets submerged, that's when you should worry. Here are some other tell-tale signs your phone has been damaged:

Don’t pull out the rice. We've been told the uncooked rice draws out moisture from the phone, but guess what? You're actually doing more harm than good. Rice doesn't dry out your phone faster or more effectively. It's not going to pull all that water out. Instead, the dust and starch will get into your phone and cause more damage down the line. You can also get rice, dust and starch stuck in the different ports of your phone.