Speaker cleaning, explained
How the tone clears a speaker, how long to run it, what to avoid with a wet phone, and what to do when the sound will not come back. Filter by keyword, or pick a section below.
23 questions
Getting started
What the tool does and how to run it.
Does a sound really push water out of a speaker?
It can, for water sitting in the speaker grille and against the speaker itself. A speaker makes sound by moving a thin diaphragm back and forth, and low notes make it move furthest. At full volume, a 165 Hz tone shakes droplets loose and pushes them out through the grille. Apple Watch uses the same idea: turning off Water Lock plays a series of tones to clear water from its speaker.
What it cannot do is dry the inside of a phone, fix a speaker that has been damaged, or get liquid out of the charging port. For those, drying time and, if needed, a repair are the answer.
How do I use the speaker cleaner?
- Turn your device volume all the way up, and disconnect headphones or Bluetooth audio.
- Take the phone out of its case and hold it with the speaker grille pointing at the floor.
- Choose Water eject and press Start. It plays for 1 minute by default.
- Wipe away any droplets that appear on the grille, then run it again. Two or three rounds is usually enough.
- Leave the phone to air-dry, speaker down, for a while afterwards.
Runs can be 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes. Your duration, volume and tone settings are remembered in this browser for next time.
How do I eject water from an iPhone speaker without an app?
Open this page in Safari, turn the volume all the way up, take off the case and press Start with the speaker grille facing down. The 165 Hz tone plays straight from the browser, so there is no app or Shortcut to install, and it works on every iPhone that runs a current version of Safari.
On recent iOS versions the tone is set to play like video sound, so it is heard even with Silent mode on. If you hear nothing, switch Silent mode off and press Start again. On iPhone 7 and later, media sound also plays from the earpiece above the screen, so if that one sounds muffled too, run a second round holding the phone screen-down.
Does the water eject tone work on Android, Samsung and Pixel phones?
Yes. It runs in Chrome, Samsung Internet, Firefox or any other current Android browser, on Galaxy, Pixel, OnePlus, Xiaomi and other phones. Nothing needs to be downloaded from the Play Store.
Press the volume-up button while the tone is playing, so you raise the media volume rather than the ringer. On phones that support it, a "Vibrate the phone too" option appears under the controls and runs the vibration motor alongside the tone for extra shake.
What is the difference between the three modes?
- Water eject plays a steady 165 Hz sine tone. Use it after a splash, rain, or a drop in water.
- Dust removal glides from 120 to 600 Hz and back every 4 seconds. The changing pitch shakes the grille at different speeds, which helps loosen dust and lint.
- Custom tone plays any frequency from 20 Hz to 20 kHz in a sine, square, triangle or sawtooth wave. It is useful if the standard tone has not worked, and as a general tone generator.
Any mode can be pulsed — short bursts with brief gaps instead of one continuous tone — with the Pulse option.
Why 165 Hz?
165 Hz is the low tone most water-eject tools have settled on. It is low enough to make a small speaker's diaphragm travel a long way, but still high enough that a phone speaker can actually reproduce it — tiny speakers barely play the deep bass below about 100 Hz.
There is nothing magic about the exact number. Any tone roughly between 150 and 300 Hz does similar work, which is why the custom mode exists: if 165 Hz has not cleared it, try 200 or 300 Hz.
Which devices does it work on?
Anything with a speaker and a current web browser: iPhone, Android phones, iPad and other tablets, laptops and desktops. It uses the Web Audio API, which Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge all support.
It also works for a Bluetooth speaker that has got wet — connect it, then play the tone through it. Do not play the cleaning tones into headphones or earbuds you are wearing.
Water in the speaker
Getting a wet speaker back to normal.
How long should I play the tone, and how many times?
Start with one 1 minute run. Check the sound, wipe the grille, and run it again if it is still muffled or crackly. Two or three rounds clears most splashes.
If it still sounds wrong after three rounds, more tone is unlikely to help. Water deeper inside needs time to evaporate: leave the phone somewhere dry with some airflow, speaker down, and try again in a few hours.
Should I put my phone in rice?
No. Apple specifically advises against it: small particles of rice can get into the phone and damage it, and rice does not dry a phone faster than open air.
Instead, tap the phone gently against your palm with the charging port facing down to shake out excess liquid, then leave it in a dry place with some airflow. Apple's guidance for liquid in the charging port is to wait at least 30 minutes before charging, and it can take up to 24 hours to dry completely.
What should I avoid doing to a wet phone?
- Do not use a hair dryer, oven, radiator or any other heat source.
- Do not blow compressed air into the speaker or charging port.
- Do not push cotton swabs, paper towel, pins or anything else into the openings.
- Do not charge it with a cable while the port is wet. Wireless charging is fine once the back of the phone is dry.
- Do not put it in rice.
My phone is water-resistant. Why is the speaker muffled?
Water resistance is about keeping water out of the electronics, not off the speaker. The speaker grille and the space in front of the speaker are open to the outside, so water can sit there and dampen the sound even on a phone rated for submersion.
That trapped water is exactly what the tone is for. It usually clears in a minute or two.
What about salt water, pool water or a sugary drink?
The tone can push out liquid of any kind, but it cannot remove what that liquid leaves behind. Salt, chlorine and sugar can dry into a residue on the grille, which muffles the sound in the same way dust does.
Wipe the outside with a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth, let it dry, then try the dust removal sweep. If the sound is still poor, or the buttons feel sticky, it is worth having a repair shop look at it.
Dust and muffled sound
Lint, pocket dust and blocked grilles.
Will the dust mode clean a dirty speaker?
It helps with loose dust and lint. The sweep from 120 to 600 Hz vibrates the grille at changing speeds, which can shake free what is sitting in it. Hold the speaker facing down while it plays.
Packed-in grime and pocket lint usually need a gentle brushing as well. The how-to-clean guide walks through doing that without damaging the mesh.
What is safe to clean a speaker grille with?
A small, soft-bristled brush that is clean and dry — Apple's own advice for iPhone speakers. A soft toothbrush or a makeup brush both work. Brush gently across the grille rather than pressing into it.
Avoid pins, paper clips, tweezers and anything sharp, which can tear the mesh. Avoid compressed air, which can push debris further in or damage parts inside. Avoid liquids, including rubbing alcohol, going into the openings.
Could the case or screen protector be the problem?
Often, yes. A case with a cut-out that sits slightly off the grille, or a screen protector that covers the earpiece, muffles sound in a way that looks like a dirty speaker. Apple suggests removing cases, films and screen protectors before checking the speaker.
Take them off and play a tone. If it sounds clear, the accessory is the cause.
When it does not work
No sound, still muffled, or a crackle that will not go.
I pressed Start but hear nothing.
- Turn the device volume up. On phones, press the volume-up button while the tone is playing so you change the media volume rather than the ringer.
- On iPhone, turn off Silent mode and try again.
- Disconnect Bluetooth headphones, speakers and car audio, which can take the sound without you noticing.
- Check that the browser tab is not muted.
- Press Start again. Browsers only allow sound after you interact with the page, and occasionally the first tap is not enough.
If none of that helps, open the speaker test and play a chime. If that is silent too, the speaker itself may need repair.
It still sounds muffled after several runs.
Then the remaining water is somewhere the tone cannot shift it, or the grille is blocked by something other than water. In order:
- Remove the case and any screen protector, and test again.
- Leave the phone to air-dry, speaker down, for a few hours — up to a day if it was submerged.
- Brush the grille gently with a soft, dry brush and run the dust removal sweep.
- Restart the phone. A software glitch can sound like a hardware fault.
- If it is still muffled after a day of drying, have it checked by the manufacturer or a repair shop.
The tone sounds buzzy or crackly. Is that bad?
While water is still on the speaker, a buzz or rattle is normal: the droplets vibrate along with it. As the water clears, the tone should get cleaner from one run to the next.
Crackling that stays the same at every volume and frequency, long after the phone has dried, points to a damaged speaker. Run the speaker test's sweep to hear it clearly, and take it to a repair service if it persists.
The tone stopped when my screen turned off.
Some browsers pause sound when the screen locks or you switch to another app. Where the browser allows it, the cleaner keeps the screen on while a run is playing so this does not happen. If yours does not, leave the page open and tap the screen occasionally until the run finishes.
Safety and privacy
What the tone does to your speaker, your ears and your data.
Can the tone damage my speaker?
Not when used as intended. Phone speakers are built to play at full volume, and phones limit their own output to protect the speaker. The tone is a single note at that same level, with a soft fade in and out, and it stops on its own after the time you chose.
Use short runs rather than leaving a tone playing for a long time, and stop if a dry speaker sounds badly distorted. A speaker that has already been damaged will not be fixed by the tone.
Is it safe for my ears?
Hold the phone at arm's length or rest it on a table, speaker down. A loud steady tone held against your ear is unpleasant and, like any loud sound, not good for hearing.
Never play the cleaning tones through earbuds or headphones you are wearing. If you use the custom tone generator or the speaker test with headphones, start with the volume low.
Does the site record or upload anything?
No. The tones are generated in your browser, on your device. The site never asks for microphone access, and nothing is uploaded.
The only things stored are your cleaner settings — duration, volume, frequency, waveform, and the pulse and vibrate options — and your light or dark theme choice. They are kept in your own browser so they are there next time, and never sent anywhere. The privacy policy has the details.
Is it free? Do I need to install anything?
It is free, with no sign-up and nothing to install. It runs in the browser you already have, on any device.
Nothing here mentions that
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Speaker still muffled?
Our wet-speaker guide goes from the first shake to the point where a repair shop makes more sense, with a list of drying mistakes to avoid.
Speaker still sounding muffled?
Turn the volume up, point the speaker at the floor, and run the water eject tone for a minute. Two or three rounds clears most splashes.