Speaker Cleaner
A free speaker cleaner that plays a low water eject sound through your phone speaker for a timed run, with a volume that starts quiet.
Start quiet and hold the phone speaker facing down. It can help, it is not guaranteed, and it does not repair damage. Do not run it at full volume for long.
Loud. Keep the phone away from your ears and do not leave it running at this level.
Keyboard: Space starts and stops.
How to use the speaker cleaner
This speaker cleaner plays a low tone that can help shake water out of a wet phone speaker. First wipe the phone dry. Turn the phone's own volume up, hold it with the speaker facing down, and press Start cleaning. The countdown shows the time left. When it ends, press Run again if the sound is still muffled, with a pause in between.
Choose 30 seconds or 60 seconds for each run. Steady tone plays one low tone, Pulses plays a series of short tones, and Sweep glides slowly up and down. Tone sets the pitch from 100 to 300 Hz; it starts at 165 Hz, and you can try other values. Volume starts at 30%. Raise it a step at a time; above 70% the page shows a warning. On a computer, Space starts and stops. The sound stops by itself at the end of the run, when you press Stop and when you leave the page.
How a sound can push water out
A speaker makes sound by moving a thin diaphragm back and forth, and that movement also pushes on any water sitting in the speaker opening. Apple uses this on its watch: when you turn off Water Lock, Apple's support page says a series of tones plays to clear any water that remains in the speaker. An Apple patent on speaker design describes expelling water with a series of tones of about the same frequency, for example about 10 tones, and also mentions tones that go from low to high or high to low. The Pulses and Sweep patterns on this page follow those two ideas. Apple does not publish the frequency it uses, so no tone here is an official one.
Dry the phone the way the maker says
The tone only helps with water near the speaker opening. The phone makers' own advice for a wet phone comes first:
| Maker | What their support pages say |
|---|---|
| Apple (iPhone) | Tap the iPhone gently against your hand with the connector facing down, then leave it in a dry area with some airflow. A fan blowing cool air into the connector might help. Do not use an external heat source, compressed air or cleaning products, and do not put a cotton swab or paper towel into the connector. Do not put it in a bag of rice. Water in the port might degrade speaker or microphone performance until it completely evaporates. |
| Samsung (Galaxy) | Wipe the device with a soft, clean cloth and dry it completely. Do not use heat sources such as hair dryers, chemical cleaners, abrasive materials or compressed air. Call quality may suffer while the microphone, speaker or receiver is still wet. For dirty water or salt water, a water-resistant model can be rinsed in clean water for 1 to 3 minutes first. |
| Google (Pixel) | Dry it with a soft cloth and set it on a flat surface to finish drying at room temperature. |
Apple says to allow at least 5 hours before charging a wet iPhone with a cable, and Samsung says not to connect a charger or accessories until the phone is fully dry.
When the speaker cleaner will not help
If the speaker is still quiet, crackly or muffled after the phone is fully dry, the problem is probably not water, and no sound can repair a damaged speaker. Water resistance also wears off: Apple notes that splash, water and dust resistance are not permanent conditions and might decrease with normal wear. Samsung advises a service centre for a phone that is not water resistant. Take the phone to the maker or a repair shop if the sound does not come back.
Check the result
After a run, play the speaker test or the sound test and listen for a clear sound with no buzz. Water can affect the microphone too, so try the mic test and record a short clip. The bass test plays a low sweep if you want to hear how low the speaker still goes.
More for sound check: Mic Test · Sound Test · Speaker Test · Headphone Test · Left Right Test · Bass Test · Surround Sound Test · Audio Delay Test · Tone Generator
Questions
Does a water eject sound really work?
It can help with drops sitting in the speaker opening, which is why Apple's watch plays a series of tones after Water Lock. It is not guaranteed, it does nothing for water inside the phone, and it does not replace drying the phone the way the maker advises.
Can this damage my speaker?
No maker publishes a safe level for this, so play it carefully, for your ears too. Start at the default volume, raise it in steps, keep each run to 30 or 60 seconds and pause between runs.
Which frequency should I use?
Apple does not publish the frequency its watch uses. This page starts at 165 Hz and lets you choose 100 to 300 Hz. If one tone does not help, try Pulses or Sweep.
Should I put my wet phone in rice?
Apple says not to: small particles of rice could damage the iPhone. Apple and Samsung both say to let the phone dry in the air and not to use heat or compressed air.
How do I fix my speaker if it still sounds muffled?
Let the phone dry fully, then run the speaker cleaner again and check with the speaker test. Clean the grille only as the maker allows. If the sound stays muffled when the phone is dry, the speaker may be damaged and needs a repair.