How to Dry Your Phone Without Using Rice

Choose hygroscopic materials

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Try glass bead cat litter. This type of litter is made from silica gel. This is an extremely good dehumidifier and will be effective in drying a wet phone. You can buy glass bead cat litter at any supermarket or pet store.

Do not use other types of litter. Clay or powdered cleaning sand will stick to your phone and leave wet clay streaks.

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Try instant oatmeal. Instant oats absorb water better than regular rolled oats and many times better than steel cut oats. If you have instant oatmeal at home, this is probably the most effective ingredient you can use to dry your phone. However, if you use oatmeal to dry the phone's components, you will see that the phone has small sticky spots left by oatmeal dust.

You can buy unflavored instant oats at the supermarket.

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Find desiccant packs that you can use. Desiccant packets are about 2cm long packets placed in many products such as shoe boxes, dry foods (such as beef jerky or spices) and electronic devices. Desiccant packs often contain highly absorbent silica particles, so they can absorb moisture in the phone. You do not need to tear the desiccant package. Just stack the desiccant packs on top of your phone and wait for them to absorb the moisture.

This option is only viable when you have been saving many desiccant packs for many months. However, this is not a bad idea: a lot of people own smartphones and the possibility of dropping them in water at some point is quite high.

Or, if you don't have desiccant packs available, you can order them in bulk at online stores.

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Use couscous to dry your phone. Couscous is a type of wheat grain that has been crushed and dried. These small, dry granules have the same effect as silica granules or instant oats and will absorb all the moisture in the phone's components. You can buy couscous seeds at grocery stores or supermarkets. Couscous won't leave dust on your phone, so this option is cleaner than instant oatmeal.

Remember to buy unflavored couscous.

Take the phone out of the water

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Take the phone out of the water immediately. Regardless of whether you drop your phone in the toilet, bathtub or lake, the first thing to do is get the phone out of the water immediately. The longer you leave your phone in water, the more damage it will cause.

Leaving your phone in water for too long can cause water to flow into the electronic components.

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Remove the phone battery and external components. Before you dry the outside of your phone, remove the electronic components. Open the back cover of the phone and remove the battery and SIM card. If your phone has an SD memory card, don't forget to remove it.

The internal components determine the phone's performance. If they get wet, the phone will not work.

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Blow the water out of the phone's parts and dry it with a towel. Blowing the phone's electronic components will remove most of the water in them. Next, use a clean towel to wipe each part to absorb all the water remaining on the surface. You should only use hygroscopic materials to absorb the remaining water in the components.

Instead of blowing, you can also shake the components vigorously. However, be careful not to violently throw the battery anywhere in the room.

Use hygroscopic materials

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Place phone components in a box with a capacity of 1-2 liters. If you want to place your phone in a layer of desiccant material, you will need a large amount of this material. So, look in the kitchen cabinet and take out a large empty vase, large bowl or large pot, then place all the disassembled phone components in it.

You don't need to handle the phone case. This accessory is not important to the phone's performance and will dry on its own when left in the air.

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Pour at least 4 cups (340 grams) of desiccant ingredients onto the phone. Don't skimp on the desiccant material you choose. You will need a large amount of desiccant material to absorb all the remaining water in the phone's electronic components.

Cover the item holding your phone if you use an inedible desiccant material such as silica gel.

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Place the phone in desiccant material for about 2-3 days. It will take a long time for the phone to completely dry and function normally. Therefore, place your phone in a desiccant material for at least 48 hours. If you take your phone out too soon, there may still be water inside the phone.

If you need to use your phone during this time, you can ask a friend to borrow it. Or, communicate via email and social media instead of texting and calling.

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Insert the phone and try turning it on. After 48-72 hours, you will remove the phone from the desiccant material. Brush off any remaining desiccant material on the phone and insert the battery, SIM card and SD memory card into the phone. The last thing is to press the power button to start the phone.

If your phone doesn't work after the drying process - or, if your phone starts up but stutters or the screen is damaged, you'll need to take it to a repair center.

Samuel Daniel

Update 30 October 2023