That heart-wrenching moment of dropping your AirPods into water doesn’t have to end in tragedy and another expensive charge on your card. Let’s take a look at just a few ways that you can try to salvage your AirPods from water damage.
Method 1: Use a Dry Cloth and Tip Them Upside Down
Before attempting to connect them to your phone or use them, simply dry them thoroughly with a microfiber cloth and let them sit upside down to air out. The same practice should go for the charging case. If, after a few minutes of drying time, your AirPods seem dry, go ahead and try to use them. If they still don’t work, don’t lose hope yet.
Luckily, Apple’s own recommendation for maintenance may just solve the problem.
Try step two.
Method 2: Use Desiccant Packets
If it seems like your AirPods are still harbouring some lingering moisture, grab a container and some desiccant packets.
Those are the little paper packets that say “do not eat!” that often come in shoes, electronics, and other product packaging. The beads inside these packets soak up moisture. Dump a few packets into the container with your wet AirPods and seal it up for a couple of hours. This will hopefully pull any remaining moisture out of the AirPods, making them dry and operable again. Once dry, try to connect your AirPods to your iPhone. Remember to listen to them first thing. Even though they connect, the audio quality could be permanently distorted. If this step doesn’t work proceed to step three.
Method 3: Use Airwaves To Eject Water From Inside Your Airpods
Another option here is to use airwaves to help eject any water that got into your AirPods. This is very similar to the feature the Apple Watch uses to eject water. First, make sure your AirPods are connected to your iPhone and turn the volume all the way up (don’t put them in your ears!)
Next, download the Siri Shortcuts app to your iPhone. While covering the sensors on each AirPod and then activate the Water Eject shortcut. You should feel your AirPods vibrate and water should start to slowly come out. You can repeat this process as many times as you need to.
If your AirPods don’t work after they’ve dried out and you’ve tried the Water Eject shortcut, the only option you’ll have left is a replacement.
Unless, of course, you can convince Apple to give you a new set of AirPods for free…