It is worth saying plainly at the top, because the internet is full of the opposite: cleaning tones do not clean earbuds. They can clean a Bluetooth speaker, because a Bluetooth speaker is a speaker in a cavity with an opening and water in it can be pushed out. Earbuds are a different problem with a different blocker.
What blocks an earbud is earwax — a sticky solid, pressed into a fine mesh, by the act of putting the bud in your ear. It does not flow, so nothing pushes it. It does not shake free, so vibration does nothing. It has to be lifted off, dry, by hand.
The symptoms
- One bud much quieter than the other. The classic. Ears differ, so buds block at different rates, and the imbalance is the giveaway.
- Muffled or bass-heavy sound, as if a blanket is over the treble.
- Poor noise cancellation, or a hiss that was not there before — the ANC microphones sit behind their own meshes and block too.
- Buds not charging, or charging intermittently: that is lint in the case wells, not the mesh.
- Touch controls misfiring, usually grime on the stem sensor.
Clean AirPods and earbuds
Safely clear earwax and lint from earbud meshes, tips and the charging case.
Work dry, and work in good light
Everything here is dry unless stated otherwise. Liquid on an earbud mesh does not dissolve wax — it dilutes it and carries it through the mesh into the driver, which is exactly the outcome you are trying to avoid. Get a bright light at an angle so you can see the mesh clearly.
Take the silicone tips off and wash those separately
If your buds have removable tips, pull them off. They are the only part that can safely be washed: warm water, a drop of soap, rinse, and then leave them to dry completely — genuinely completely, several hours, before they go anywhere near a bud. AirPods Pro tips come off with a firm pull straight out.
Brush the mesh dry, from the edge inward
A clean, dry, soft-bristled brush. Hold the bud with the mesh facing down so what you free falls away, and use short light strokes. Never press into the mesh: it is fine woven material and pressing packs wax through it rather than lifting it off.
Lift the loosened wax with sticky tack or tape
Press gently over the mesh and pull straight off. This is the step that actually removes the wax the brush has broken up, and it is much safer than trying to scrape it. Repeat with a fresh piece until nothing more comes away.
Clean the case wells with a dry brush
The wells are lint traps and the contacts at the bottom are what charge the buds. Brush them out, and if there is a compacted plug of lint down there, lift it with sticky tack. Nothing metal, and nothing wet — a shorted contact is a dead case.
Wipe the outside, then let everything dry before reassembly
A barely-damp microfibre cloth on the plastic body and stems, then dry. Put the tips back only once they are bone dry. A bud reassembled with a damp tip is a bud with moisture sitting against the mesh for the next hour.
What never to use
The reasoning behind all of them is the same. There is a driver directly behind that mesh, and the mesh is the last defence it has. Anything that gets past the mesh, whether solid, liquid or air pressure, ends up somewhere it can never be removed from.
Wet earbuds
Sweat during a run, caught in the rain, dropped in a sink. Many earbuds carry a water-resistance rating and most survive this, but the response matters.
- Do not put them back in the case. The case is a small sealed box with charging contacts in it; a wet bud in there is a bud sitting in its own moisture across live contacts.
- Wipe them dry with a soft cloth, tips off.
- Leave them out in moving air for several hours, mesh facing down. Not on a radiator, not in rice.
- Only then charge them. Many buds and cases refuse to charge while damp, and that refusal is correct.
- If they went in salt water or a pool, rinse the outside briefly with clean fresh water first. Residue does more long-term harm than the water.
How often
Wipe the tips weekly if you use them daily, and do the full mesh clean monthly. Earwax production varies enormously between people, so the honest schedule is “when one bud starts sounding different from the other” — which is a comparison worth making deliberately once a month rather than waiting to notice.
There is a hygiene argument too. Anything worn in an ear canal and then stored in a warm case is a reasonable home for bacteria, and buds shared between people are worse. Silicone tips are the part that goes in you; wash them properly and often.
Where CleanWave does and does not help
It is worth being precise, because the boundary is not obvious.
- Phone speakers
- Yes, and this is what the app is for. Water and lint in a phone speaker cavity respond to tone and vibration exactly as described in the water guide.
- Bluetooth speakers
- Yes. Route the audio to the speaker and run a cycle — it is a speaker in a cavity like any other, and water in it can be pushed out.
- AirPods and in-ear buds
- No, and no app can. The blocker is a solid packed into a mesh millimetres from the driver. It comes off with a dry brush and tape, and nothing else.
- Over-ear headphones
- Not really. Dust on the driver grille wipes off with a dry brush; the pads are the part that actually needs cleaning, and they usually come off.