# Cell phone left in freezer for 1/2 year. Will it still work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-left-in-freezer-for-1-2-year-will-it-still-work/833473 "2019-05-04T17:36:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mako88sb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@mako88sb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mako88sb)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-left-in-freezer-for-1-2-year-will-it-still-work/833473/21 "2019-05-05T17:10:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I can’t be the only person who opened the thread just because they were curious how a cell phone gets left in a freezer for half a year. Not really sure but I think she was putting something in the freezer and it fell out of a pajama pocket and she simply didn’t notice. Thanks for the info folks. Probably try recharging it later today. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-left-in-freezer-for-1-2-year-will-it-still-work/833473/22 "2019-05-05T21:29:05Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I have no reason to doubt you but now I’m curious… is this your opinion or has there been testing/studies to prove/disprove this? I wrote that based solely on my opinion, which is based on 3+ decades of getting paid to design electronic stuff (airborne radar/flir stuff, helicopter gun controls, medical testing devices, PCI cards, industrial computers, etc). I honestly didn’t know if any studies have been done, so I went googling, and it turns out that there have been a couple of studies done. And those studies found that the rice is, as I expected, pretty much useless. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Opened it took the battery out. Let it dry on the picnic table. It was working by later that afternoon. If you ever end up trying to teach your phone how to swim again, next time wait a lot longer before plugging the battery back in. I very much doubt that all of the water was out of it. I recommend waiting at least 48 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-left-in-freezer-for-1-2-year-will-it-still-work/833473/23 "2019-05-05T21:43:24Z")
[At least AirPods are pretty hardy](https://9to5mac.com/2019/05/03/accidentally-swallowed-airpod/). ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-left-in-freezer-for-1-2-year-will-it-still-work/833473/24 "2019-05-07T17:21:55Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I wrote that based solely on my opinion, which is based on 3+ decades of getting paid to design electronic stuff (airborne radar/flir stuff, helicopter gun controls, medical testing devices, PCI cards, industrial computers, etc). > > I honestly didn’t know if any studies have been done, so I went googling, and it turns out that there have been a couple of studies done. And those studies found that the rice is, as I expected, pretty much useless. It made no sense anyway. I’m sure recently dried rice (i.e, fresh from the oven) can act as a decent desiccant, but the open bag sitting on the pantry shelf for a year? Pretty sure that has reached equilibrium with the humidity in the regular kitchen air several months ago, maybe even before it was ever opened. So at best, it’ll be able to absorb excess humidity in the air around the phone, and bring local humidity back down to regular kitchen air. So why not just skip the middle man, and just leave it out to dry on the kitchen counter? Preferably with a fan. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-left-in-freezer-for-1-2-year-will-it-still-work/833473/25 "2019-05-07T19:05:34Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > … those studies found that the rice is, as I expected, pretty much useless. The technique I was given is as follows: - Put about a cup of dry rice in a bowl - Microwave for a minute or so - rice will get hot - Allow rice to cool for a minute - Place rice and phone in a ziplock plastic bag - Seal bag and wait several hours I’ve tested this to the extent of successfully reviving one phone (belonging to the wife of a friend) that fell into a sink, and a car key that went through a wash cycle. I can’t prove the rice made any difference - these devices might eventually have recovered on their own, without help. YMMV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-left-in-freezer-for-1-2-year-will-it-still-work/833473.md?page=1)