How To Clean Wax Off My Air Pods

airpods-how-to-clean-copy — With some Fun-Tak and a toothpick, you can safely clean your Apple AirPods.
Matt Elliott/CNET

It's been a while since I've seen the bright, white luster of my Apple tree AirPods. When I'm not using them during large swaths of the workday in my of a sudden crowded business firm with a work-from-home married woman and two remote-schooled kids, I wearable them when working in the grand and walking the domestic dog.

With all of this use, particularly when working up a sweat mowing the lawn, mulching, raking leaves, chopping forest or shoveling snow from the driveway -- I have achieved full Dad condition -- my AirPods take gotten gunked up with clay, droppings, grime and, yeah, ear wax. (I regret wearing them during my week of mulching terminal spring.)

With a sullied pair of AirPods ($120 at Amazon), I went hunting for the all-time way to make clean them. Hither's what I found.

Apple's AirPod-cleaning instructions

Apple instructs you to use slightly dampened cloth and a soft, dry, lint-gratuitous fabric and cautions yous against employing soaps, shampoos and solvents or running your AirPods nether h2o. For earthworks out the nasty bits in the microphone and speaker meshes, Apple recommends using a dry cotton swab and a soft-bristled castor.

For AirPods Pro, you can remove the ear tips and rinse them with h2o, according to Apple tree, but without soap or other cleaning agents. Apple then wants you to follow its general rules of using a soft, dry, lint-free cloth to wipe the ear tips make clean and letting them dry completely prior to reassembly.

To impale any germs that might take hitched a ride to your AirPods, Apple tree says it's OK to gently wipe the outside surfaces (but not the speaker mesh) with a 70-per centum isopropyl alcohol wipe or a Clorox disinfecting wipe. And it would exist adept to avoid using a wipe that is overly saturated because you don't desire to get wet in whatsoever of your AirPods' openings. Lastly, no affair how grimy and disgusting your AirPods may be, do not submerge them in any cleaning products.

I put Apple's methods to the test. I tried using a Q-tip only ended upwardly only smooshing the wax and clay in further. I then used an old toothbrush to attempt to remove the grossness only didn't accept any amend results.

Fun-Tak and a wooden toothpick

I was fine with wiping the exterior of my AirPods (and their case) with a dry out cloth to rub off the grime, just I needed a meliorate way to go the wax and dirt out of the mesh and hollow of the speakers.

I looked to the internet for help (like you are doing at present). This Cult of Mac article pointed me to the solution. More accurately stated, the article's reader comments provided the fix. And it involved two items I already had in my house: Fun-Tak (because I have kids, and my kids accept posters hanging in their rooms) and wooden toothpicks (because my wife bakes and tests the doneness of cakes and brownies with a toothpick).

To remove the wax and clay that's stuck inside the hollow of your AirPod speakers, only grab a pocket-sized piece of Fun-Tak and stretch and knead it a bit to warm information technology up. Then printing it against the speaker a few times and it'll pick up the wax and dirt.

The wooden toothpick tin then be used to gently remove the stubborn bits that are struck to the sides of the speaker hollow. A wooden toothpick is pointy enough to pick out individual specs of gross, waxy dirt, and it's much safer than a sharp metal object like an unfolded staple that can scratch the plastic or tear the wire speaker mesh.

At present playing: Watch this: Apple AirPods compared: AirPods Max or AirPods Pro

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A third way: Podswap gives you clean AirPods in exchange for yours

If you'd rather supersede your AirPods than go through the cleaning routine (especially if your AirPods are on their last legs anyhow), Podswap is a startup that says it volition send you refurbished AirPods in exchange for your old, dying pair.

If you're into sustainability and recycling -- in add-on to potential savings -- Podswap could be one way to become. That's as long equally you lot can get by the fact that yous're ownership a ready of used AirPods. Even so, the cleaned, refurbished pair PodSwap sends your way will be cheaper than buying a new set from Apple, and the company says it replaces the battery, too. Learn more than near PodSwap and Apple's Battery Service program in this video (too above).

Looking for more AirPod tips and tricks? Check out the best AirPods tips, 11 awesome AirPods Pro tricks and acquirehow to pair AirPods with your Windows 10 PC in 1 minute.