If you’ve ever dropped your phone in water, a common piece of advice you get is to leave it in a bag of rice. This supposedly absorbs all the water from your phone and fixes it from water damage.
While this is technically true, it isn’t really practical to do so. Leaving your phone in a bag of rice can cause issues like rice grains getting stuck in your charging port.
If you did follow this advice or somehow have rice stuck in your charging port, let’s see how you can get it out.
Step 1: Preparations
As the charging port is really small in size, you will need to have a few specific tools to be able to pry out the stuck rice. So, let’s see what you will need to get the rice out from your charging port.
- Precision Tool: To scrape off the stuck rice from your charging port, you will need a small precision tool or pick. You can usually get these with charging port cleaning kits. If you do not have a precision tool, you can also substitute it with a straightened-out paper clip or the opposite end of a dental floss pick.
- Flashlight: As the visibility inside the charging port is not that great, you will need a flashlight to be able to see and get the rice out of the port. You can also use any light source that is bright enough to illuminate the insides of your charging port.
- Compressed Air or Aerosol Spray: While not necessary all the time, compressed air can come in handy if small bits and pieces of the rice grain are stuck inside your charging port. It is also great for clearing out any dust that might have accumulated in your charging port.
Don’ts of Getting Rice Out of Charging Port
- Do not substitute the precision tool for anything that could leave residue in your charging port like wooden toothpicks or Q-tips. Wooden toothpicks can break off and get stuck inside your charging port, while Q-tips will leave behind cotton fibers.
- Do not use hard-bristle brushes or anything alike to get the rice out from your charging port. This can damage the pins on your port.
- Avoid blowing air into the charging port from your mouth. As our breath is quite humid, it can damage the electrical components in your charging port.
- Do not try to break the rice grain into pieces by yourself. This can cause your charging port to get unnecessarily damaged.
Step 2: Shutdown Your Device
Before working on getting the stuck rice out of your charging port, you should shut down your device first.
If your phone has suffered water damage prior, and you can’t turn it on or off, you should visit a repair center instead.
Step 3: Getting the Rice Out
Now, let’s see how you can get the stuck rice grain out from your charging port.
- Make sure the inside of your charging port is illuminated, and you can clearly see the stuck rice grain. (Use a flashlight or any other light source.)
- Hold your phone in an incline in front of you so the charging port is facing down. Then, use the precision tool to gently coax the stuck rice grain out.
- The rice grain usually gets stuck in the horizontal alignment, so you should try to scrape it from the edge of the charging port to make the rice grain sit in a vertical position. (This will make it easier to get the rice out.)
- Then, gently scrape the rice grain out from the charging port. Make sure not to touch the pins in your charging port, as it can damage them.
- If the rice grain breaks in the middle of the process, it will be much easier to individually get the pieces out. However, do not try to break the rice yourself, as it might damage your charging port.
- After the bigger chunk of the rice grain is out, use the compressed air in short bursts from different angles. This will clear out any rice grain residue and dust from your charging port.
- If there are lint or cloth fibers stuck in your charging port, you can use the precision tool to get them out and clean your charging port.
- After getting the stuck rice out, try charging your device to make sure the charging port works.
If you can’t get the stuck rice grain out yourself, or the charging port doesn’t work after getting the rice out, you can visit a repair center for professional help.