Clean phone speakers with sound
Keep the volume below full for long runs. Results vary, and it cannot fix a damaged speaker. Play a 165 Hz tone or a low sweep to help push water and dust out of a phone speaker.
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Before you start: do not run it at full volume for long. Two or three minutes at most, then let the phone rest.
Results vary. A tone can shake out loose water drops, but it may not clear every speaker, and it cannot fix a damaged one.
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Nothing plays until you tap Start.
Turn your volume up to about three quarters, speaker facing down, and keep the phone still.
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How to clean a phone speaker with sound
- Take the case off and dry the outside of the phone with a soft cloth.
- Hold the phone with the speaker grille facing down, so drops can fall out.
- Turn the volume up to about three quarters and press Start cleaning. The 165 Hz tone plays for the time you picked.
- Watch the grille. Small drops often appear while the tone plays. Wipe them away.
- Try Low sweep if the tone alone does not help. It glides between 120 and 360 Hz and back, so the speaker moves at several speeds.
- Pick Left or Right to work on one speaker. On most phones the earpiece is one side and the bottom speaker the other.
- Run it two or three times with short breaks. If the sound is still muffled after that, let the phone dry for a few hours and test it with the speaker test.
Why a low tone can help
A speaker is a thin cone that moves back and forth to push air. A loud, low tone makes it move further than speech or music does, and that movement can push water and loose dust out through the grille. The 165 Hz figure is the tone most water-eject apps and shortcuts use. There is no published test that proves one exact pitch works best, so treat it as a common starting point.
Phone makers have their own versions of this. Some Apple Watch models have a Water Lock mode that plays a tone to clear the speaker, and some Android phones show a moisture warning on the charging port. Those are separate from this page.
What this page will not do
- It cannot dry the inside of the phone, the charging port or the microphone holes. Leave the phone to air-dry, and do not charge it while the port is wet.
- It cannot repair a speaker that is torn, blown or full of grit. A rattle or buzz that stays after the phone is dry needs a repair shop.
- It cannot make a speaker louder than its hardware allows.
- Do not put the phone in rice, use a hair dryer, or push pins or cotton buds into the grille. Those can do more harm than the water.
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The tones are generated in your browser with Web Audio and played on your own speaker. The page does not use the microphone, and nothing is recorded or uploaded.
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Questions
Does playing a tone really get water out of a speaker?
It can help. The low tone makes the speaker move a lot, which can push loose drops out of the grille. It does not work every time, and it cannot dry the inside of the phone.
Why 165 Hz?
It is the tone most water-eject apps and shortcuts use. It is low enough to move the speaker cone a long way and high enough for a small phone speaker to play.
How long should I run it?
Thirty seconds to a minute, two or three times, with a break in between. Do not leave it running at full volume for a long time.
Will it damage my speaker?
A short run at a normal volume is like playing loud music. Long runs at full volume heat the speaker, which is why the page warns you and stops on a timer.
Why can I not hear anything on my iPhone?
Turn the volume up and check silent mode. If a speaker is full of water the tone can sound very quiet at first and get louder as the water clears.
From the same developer
- Mic to Speaker: use an iPhone as a live microphone through any speaker.
- Speaker test: check left, right and the full range once the speaker is dry.
