Even when you have the most advanced pair of Apple AirPods, it doesn’t feel right when you drop them in water. However, with the right solutions, you can revive your airports and get them into working condition in a few minutes.
It’s just that most people don’t know about this and panic when they accidentally drop AirPods in water. In this guide, you will find every possible solution out there to help you solve the problem.
How To Act If You Dropped AirPods in Water?
If you dropped your AirPods in water, you should dry them using a microfiber cloth and desiccant packets. Then, you can use an app or Siri shortcut to remove moisture from the device. But if these steps do not solve the issue, you should get a new pair of AirPods.
Are AirPods Waterproof?
Before I discuss the solutions to follow if you have dropped your airports in water, we should understand whether these devices are waterproof.
Technically speaking, Apple AirPods are not waterproof. For instance, they are not designed to withstand being dropped into a pile of water. Instead, some of the models are water-resistant.
The AirPods Pro, which comes with an IPX4 water resistance. It doesn’t mean that you can simply drop them in water, and they will keep working again. Instead, this level of water resistance is designed to protect your airports from sweat and maybe the drizzle that you encounter while jogging.
Therefore, you should not take anything for granted if you accidentally drop airports in water. Instead, you have to follow some methods so that you can get them working again and avoid water damage.
My AirPods Fell in Water: What To Do?
#1 Dry Your AirPods
As you would expect, the first thing you have to do is to dry the AirPods that you have put in the water. You have to take your AirPods from the water as quickly as possible and use the following methods to dry them.
Use A Microfiber Cloth
First, you can use a piece of microfiber cloth to dry both the AirPods and the charging case. Of course, you have to make sure that the AirPods are not kept in the charging case but separately at a distance. You can use the microfiber cloth to wipe each earbud and the outside of the charging case if you have dropped both of them in water.
After you think the amount of moisture has been removed from both the airports and the charging case, you have to keep them on a dry surface for quite some time. According to experts and Apple, each AirPod should be kept for an average of 3 to 4 hours so that it is completely dried. And during this period, you should not put the AirPods in the charging case or try to use them.
The major limitation of the microfiber cloth method is that it doesn’t remove moisture that might have gotten inside the AirPods or the charging case. That is why you have to use a second layer of method for drying your AirPods.
Use Desiccant Packets
In the second step of the drying process, you can use desiccant packets that you might have seen with electronics and some other gadgets. These packets contain a material that is known for absorbing moisture from the surroundings. So, instead of going with the traditional method of putting the AirPods in rice, you should get some desiccant packets and use them to remove the moisture from both the AirPods and the charging case.
You can find these desiccant packets from one of the previous packages or some other place. But if you have time, I recommend getting it from an electronics or consumer store as well.
Once you have these desiccant packets, I recommend keeping your AirPods and the charging case near the desiccant packets for a longer period. I are talking about an average of 2–4 hours. Make sure that you have closed have kept both these things in a contained manner.
After a few hours, you can take the AirPods and the charging case from the container. This method is likely to remove most of the moisture that may have affected your AirPods after it was dropped in water.
#2 Remove Water from Inside AirPods
It is very possible that even after the desiccant packets, there could be some amount of moisture stuck within the AirPods, especially where the sound is passed on through. To avoid this situation, you can follow a couple of methods to remove water from inside the AirPods.
Use the Siri Shortcut
You might not know this, but there is a water eject shortcut that you can get for an iPhone. This shortcut is designed to help you remove moisture from within the AirPods with the help of sound.
Once you enable this shortcut, the airports will start a specific form of vibration and this vibration will push the water out. I recommend using this shortcut when you have kept the airports on a piece of microfiber cloth so that the water that is coming out of the airports will be absorbed by the microfiber cloth.
You can use this link to access the Water Eject shortcut for iPhone. However, for this method to work, your iPhone should be connected to the AirPods via Bluetooth. So, if you cannot connect to the airports in the first place, you might need some extreme measures to get out of this trouble.
Use the Clear Wave App
Clear Wave is another application that you can use to remove water from the insides of the airports, especially the microphone and the speaker part. Even though the app is designed to check the quality of the sound and optimize it for certain purposes, the custom sound protection feature of the app will be useful in this particular aspect.
To get started with this method, you can download the Clear Wave app from the App Store and open it. Once you have connected your AirPods to your iPhone, you can produce a low-frequency sound so that there is a lot of force on the AirPods. And this force will be able to push the water out of the AirPod speakers.
Once again, if you have kept your AirPods and the charging case on a microfiber cloth, this additional moisture will be absorbed in a few seconds. So, if you have dropped AirPods in water and want to make sure that the sound quality has not been affected, the Clear Wave app will be quite useful.
And if you think there are serious changes in how your AirPods produce sound, it is better to take additional steps to repair it or get it replaced.
#3 Get Professional Help
If you still find that your AirPods are not working after all these steps, it is time to get professional help. You should also do this if you feel like your airports are not working as they should. As I mentioned earlier, there could be some changes to the sound or consistency of the volume.
Once again, how you go about this depends on the device that you own and the services that you have purchased.
AppleCare+ Support
For instance, if you have an AppleCare+ warranty, it is designed to cover accidental damages including water damage. Therefore, by paying a service fee according to the agreement, you can get the device repaired or replaced according to the situation. But this method would not work if you have an old airport and if your AppleCare+ warranty has elapsed.
However, you cannot do this with the standard Apple warranty for your AirPods, and you should know that the experts at Apple will be able to recognize whether there has been water damage. So, even if you submit your AirPods for replacement saying that something else happened, the request will mostly be declined.
Non-Apple Care Support
In that particular case, you are left with third-party repairs and replacement options. But you should keep in mind that water damage is not something that you easily recover from. That is, if you have dropped your AirPods in water and find them in a non-functional state, there isn’t much that you can do apart from the methods I have mentioned earlier.
Buy A New Pair of AirPods
Therefore, if you have severely damaged your AirPods after dropping them in water, you may have to get a new pair. While it is a good idea to get a coat for repair, the prices will not be better if you are dealing with an old pair of AirPods. In that case, I recommend that you recycle the device and get a new pair from Apple. And it could well be a situation where you can upgrade to a better model.
Frequently Asked Questions
The AppleCare+ warranty for AirPods does cover water damage. When you get the subscription, you are paying for any unforeseen incidents, including drops and water damage. It means if you have dropped your AirPods and you have AppleCare+ service, you will be able to get a new pair mostly if that particular device is not repairable.
However, you should keep in mind that the process is not entirely free. Instead, you have to pay a service fee of $29 whenever you claim the warranty.
The standard Apple warranty for AirPods does not cover water damage because the damage has occurred from your side. Apple is not responsible since it is not a product defect. So, even if you submit the device for a standard replacement under the warranty, the check will reveal that there has been water damage and that you dropped airports in water, so you will get the request declined.
Conclusion
As you have seen, dropping AirPods in water is not a pleasant experience in particular. You will have to try different methods before you can get them back in a functional state. And in the worst case, you will have to get a new pair of AirPods from Apple.
But in the best case, following the methods such as drying it and wiping the moisture out of the surface will solve the problem.
I should also mention that most AirPods will start showing some quality issues after they have been dropped in water. These mostly occur due to the presence of moisture within the devices. So, if you come across an issue even after you think the airports are dry, you should seek professional help to fix them.
