Airpods are one of my favorite accessories that apple has ever brought out. I use it every day even at home or while on the go. One of the problems with heavy usage of these headphones is the amount of dusk and gunk that gets deposited on the AirPods grills and the AirPods case itself. This is a step-by-step guide on how to clean AirPods and AirPods cases safely without damaging them.
If you’ve done a bit of research on how to clean your airpods properly, everyone has their own way of cleaning them. Not to mention some questionable ways that actually might harm your AirPods in the long run. This guide demonstrates how I have been cleaning my AirPods and the AirPods case for years without any issue.
How To Clean Airpods Safely
Airpods Pro is water-resistant (Not waterproof), while older generations don’t have aren’t water-resistant or waterproof. Never apply too much force while carrying out any of the following mentioned cleaning processes.
Coming from a wired headphone, I never understood the importance and necessity of regularly cleaning the AirPods. It was only when one of my AirPods volumes was lower than the other, I was curious what was the reason behind it.
That reminded me of issues I faced with my Samsung Galaxy Buds when I first got it, the volume on one of the buds was very low. Even though the issue was not very related, after a bit of research I have prepared one of the best ways to clean my AirPods. This is subjective to me but you will see why this is safer than other methods mentioned online.
Things You Need To Clean Your Airpods
- Tissues
- Cotton buds
- Alcohol wipes, sanitizer if you don’t have alcohol wipes
- Any phone that you can connect to
Once you have everything ready, let’s start the AirPods cleaning process.
Preparation
Do not put the AirPods on your ears, just get them out of the AirPods case and connect to any phone or device.
Find a song or music that has a very high base or just a high base (a random YouTube search should find you one).
Now, play that base on full volume for few minutes. What this does is, it will shake the deposits that might be stuck to the grills or even the internal components.
Apple being Apple, it’s close to impossible to open the headsets to clean them properly.
Suck On The Airpods, Yuck!
Now, Take the tissue and place it over the speakers on the AirPods and suck as hard as you can on them.
Yuck, right? Other guides might ask you to use a blowdryer and heat all the earwax and the deposit on the AirPods. But imagine all the deposits staying inside the AirPods and more deposits after each use.
The tissue paper is there to protect you though. When you suck on it, this should help you take out any loose dirt and dust that were shaken off by playing the loud base.
Blu-tack Works Like Magic
If you’ve got a Blu-tack lying around, take a small piece and apply it on the speaker grills and all over the AirPods. This should further remove any other stubborn residue from the AirPods.
To do it safely, place the Blu tack on the residue area and pull it off quickly and again never apply too much pressure.
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Q-Tip, Soft-Bristle Brush
If you have a wiping alcohol solution, please use a tiny amount. As alcohol will evaporate it will not damage your Airpods internal components as compared to using other cleaning or wiping solutions.
In case you don’t have any of that, use a tiny bit of sanitizer on the Q-tip and go over the areas that have much more stubborn residue deposits.
You can also use a soft bristle brush to gently brush over the speaker grills and Airpods exterior.
Finally wipe it with a microfiber cloth, alcohol wipes, or any clean cloth that does not have any Lindt.
How To Clean Your Airpods Case Inside and Outside
Cleaning the Airpods Case is much simpler than the AirPods. We will use the same tools we’ve used previously.
- Q-Tip
- Wiping Alcohol or Sanitizer
- Tissue
- Toothpick (If necessary)
- Blu Tack
- Tweezers
Use a toothpick to gently scratch over and remove any stubborn gunk build-up inside the Airpods Case. If you would like to be more cautious and precise, take a little bit of cotton from the Q-Tip and wrap that around the toothpick, and scratch over that deposit.
Finally, use a little bit of isopropyl alcohol or any alcohol cleaning solution(A tiny amount of sanitizer) on the Q-Tip or the toothpick with the cotton and wipe the inside of the case. This will clean your AirPods case inside components properly.
Next, use the toothpick or the tweezers to clean the charging port. Overtime being inside your pocket, or the bag, lint, and other unwanted stuff gets collected inside the port. This might affect your charging as well, use a tweezer to pull any big pieces out and a toothpick to loosen them.
Please make sure you do not apply too much pressure while cleaning any sensitive components when it comes to your Airpods or the Airpods case.
Cleaning AirPods Regularly Is The Key
The longer you have been using the Airpods, the difficult it comes to properly or completely clean them. If you cannot get everything out and cleaned the first time, don’t overdo it. Leave it for next time and plan to clean them once a week at least. This will eventually clear even the most stubborn deposits on the case or the Airpods and keep them clean and sounding fantastic.
This is my personal go-to step-by-step guide on how to clean AirPods and AirPods cases regularly. Please let me know how often do you clean your AirPods or if I’ve missed any important or useful steps in the AirPods cleanup process in the comments section below.
