How to clean iPhone speakers: Keep your phone's speaker clear

This small cleaning task can make a big difference to your iPhone speakers.

If you've ever tried to play music or watch a video on your iPhone and noticed that the sound isn't quite right, whether it's crackly or distorted, it might be worth cleaning its speakers.

While iPhone speakers are now so small that you could almost miss them, cleaning them can give you really great results and it only takes a matter of minutes. Here's a quick guide.

First, it's worth understanding where the speakers are on your iPhone - and the good news is that, regardless of what iPhone you have, the speakers will be in the same places.

One speaker is up by the top of the display, where your ear rests while talking on the phone. The other is on the bottom of the phone, underneath the display, with a few small grilles cut out of the phone's body.

Cleaning these various grilles is quite simple, but you have to be careful not to go too far.

Be sure not to use water, abrasive cleaners, or anything sharp at all - while you might want to gouge dirt out, you risk damaging the grilles and speakers, which isn't worth the risk.

Apple's own suggestion is that you use a soft-bristled brush (like a soft toothbrush), ensuring it's both dry and clean before use.

For added adaptability, we'd suggest a couple more potential tools - cleaning putty can be a great way to get into crevices, and a simple air blower can also let you blow away dirt without the attached risk of compressed air or a vacuum.

Use the air blower to blow away dust, hair and bigger debris, while the brush and putty can help to dislodge and get out smaller or crustier bits of gunk.

If you use these three tools, you should be able to get your iPhone speakers clean, at which point you can test them again to see if there's an improvement in sound quality.

If you're still having sound issues or not getting any sound at all, even with clean speakers, you might have a more complicated problem on your hands - consider taking your phone to an Apple Store so that the staff can have a look at it.

Max is an avid gamer, but writes about whatever is newsworthy, and works across features, reviews, buyer’s guides and more for the site.Max joined Pocket-lint after a fruitful spell writing about wearable and smart home tech for Wareable and The Ambient as a magazine journalism graduate from City, University of London.He’s also contributed to Kotaku UK, The Sunday Times, the Press Association and MUNDIAL. When he’s not working, his time is divided worryingly evenly between football, culture and sleeping.