How to use the cleaner sound with AirPods
- Dry the AirPods with a lint-free cloth. Take off silicone tips and dry those separately.
- Connect the AirPods to your phone so the sound plays through them.
- Take them out of your ears. Never run a cleaning tone while wearing earbuds.
- Turn off Automatic Ear Detection in the AirPods settings so they keep playing out of your ears.
- Hold each AirPod with its speaker mesh facing down and press Start.
- Leave them out of the case to air dry for at least an hour.
Why the gentle mode is the default here
Earbud drivers are only a few millimetres wide. They cannot play deep bass in open air, and they do not need high power to vibrate. This page starts in the gentler Ear speaker mode, which suits them. If the AirPods went through real water, follow up with one run of Water mode.
The vibration option does nothing for earbuds, since it shakes the phone instead of the AirPods. Leave it off.
Sound is only half of AirPods cleaning
Most muffled AirPods are blocked by earwax, not water. Sound cannot remove wax. Apple recommends brushing the meshes with a soft, dry, child-size toothbrush, and for deeper cleaning, using a little micellar water on the brush, then rinsing with distilled water on the brush and blotting dry. Do not use sharp objects, and do not run AirPods under a tap.
Wet charging case?
Do not put wet AirPods back in the case. Moisture in the case can corrode the charging contacts. Leave the case open and upside down to dry, and wait until everything is fully dry before charging.