What you should not do:
Experts have for years pointed out that’s a bad idea – and now Apple is officially warning users not to do it.
“Don’t put your iPhone in a bag of rice. Doing so could allow small particles of rice to damage your iPhone,” the company says in a recent support note spotted by Macworld. Along with the risk of damage, testing has suggested uncooked rice is not particularly effective at drying the device.
What you should do:
If your phone isn’t functioning at all, turn it off right away and don’t press any buttons. The next steps depend on your specific circumstances, but broadly speaking: dry it with a towel and put it in an airtight container packed with silica packets if you have them. Don’t charge it until you’re sure it’s dry.
But silica packets stop doing anything once they’ve absorbed moisture, and so aren’t reusable once they’ve been exposed to normal air moisture. (Unless you’ve baked them to reactivate them). Is that not right? Because basically no one has a box full of re-baked silica packets hanging around ready for emergency usage.
Hey it’s me. I’m the guy with a bunch of bags of re-baked silica packets. I’m sure I’m in a minority, though.
What do you use them for?
Keeping things dry. Mostly electronics and machine parts.
But, dry from what? How often are your electronics encountering a meaningful amount of moisture?