Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Your AirPods Aren’t Actually Broken”.
( upbeat music, ), Hey Jonathan, do you think you could help me out with these Sarah? These are full of … Ear. Wax.. I’Ve noticed this myself when using my old EarPods over the years.. They clog up in the mesh of these headphones and at points. It got so bad that I couldn’t even hear out of them.. In fact, these are Sarah’s second pair after clogging up her last set..
So I think this is probably a pretty common problem. Being a bit of an earwax producer myself. I’Ve often wondered if seeing a bunch of earwax on my air pods meant that I’m ruining my ears., But after reaching out to a local hearing specialist.
He told me in an email that one everyone has different earwax some softer some harder. Having no ear wax is a genetic anomaly.. Two.
I’M always worry that I’m pushing earwax further in my ear., But he said that often times you’re actually helping removing earwax from your ears. Hence this mess. Three.
Also, if you are someone who cleans their ears frequently that could be causing your earwax to become softer, making it all the more easy to clog your ear buds. And four. If you’re seeing lots of earwax, you don’t need to worry about your health, just the health of your air pods..
Obviously, the easiest and most wasteful solution to the problem is to just buy a new set of AirPods, which is what Sarah did the first time. Hers got clogged., But that’s intenible. Apple does service AirPods, which it’s $ 70, each for a repair or replacement., Or it’s $ 50, just to get a battery service. From what I can tell it’s the same service, just one’s cheaper.
So make sure to say battery service To save $ 20., So between $ 100 and $ 140 to deal with a naturally occurring body excretion, it all seems steep.. There have got ta, be better ways.. But before that, let me introduce you to our sponsor PDFElement by Wondershare. Newly updated PDFElement. Eight features a brand new UI with friendly iconography and a dark and light mode. Convert PDFs to and from any popular formats.
Like Microsoft, Word, PowerPoint EPUB, html pages and more. Sign documents with the track pad signature feature or use their advanced OCR function to make old, scanned documents, searchable. Download, PDFElement on your Mac or IOS device, and use our special offer with the link below.. Now, where was I Ah, yes, wax filled AirPods. In doing this research, I came across a little startup called Podswap founded by Florida entrepreneurs, Emily Alpert and Emma Stritzinger., The company swaps, your old AirPods, with refurbished ones, and then they refurbish yours.
Remarkably they’ve worked out how To replace the battery and clean AirPods. At $ 50 to swap a pair of first gen, AirPods and 60 for a second gen set they’re, certainly a compelling option. ( computer ringing ).
So I got this pair of AirPods from a colleague.. I can just show you what they look like.. How often do you deal with AirPods like this? It’S nothing we haven’t seen before. Yeah.
I mean it’s no secret, that AirPods are pretty gross, so this is something we deal with everyday at Podswap.. It’S no surprise. People have sound issues when they send their AirPods to us, because they’re so filled with ear wax.. So this, actually is one of the reasons why you might experience issues with sound on your AirPods.. Does the earwax get really smoothed through the mesh Yes. ( laughing )? We’Ve seen AirPods that we’re shocked people can even hear out of because they’re so clogged up. From the back through the front.. It’S just unbelievable.
But they’ve been out since 2016. So it makes sense that someone’s using them for the past four years and it just builds up.. We have to open’em up and really get in there. Let’S just say: that.
( Emma laughing ). So then, what does it mean for me as I embark and try and clean these AirPods Often times when you attempt to clean them yourself? We have a lot of people who damage them ultimately., So careful out there. Well thanks for all the help. Okay.
So let’s see what these Podswap AirPods look like and how clean they are. – Oh yeah okay.. Let’S see this other one. Okay, these are pretty clean., So I wonder, what’s going on behind the mesh., Let’s find out..
So one of the concerns I have with cleaning AirPods is that the earwax has been pushed through the mesh, and so all I’m gon na be doing is cleaning the surface and not actually addressing the problem.. So I wan na know how bad it can get behind the mesh.. So I’m gon na sacrifice these old EarPods that I’ve had since my iPhone five and see what’s up. Cue, the music..
I have no idea what I’m doing. So there’s a seam here and I wan na get into it. Looking at, I Fix It, they used a knife.. I believe that these are glued together and with a bit of heat and a bit of pressure, maybe I can pry these apart..
Let’S just see., It’s warm., Oh yeah, it’s warm.! Oh yes! Yes, it worked. Hey., Oh okay., But I do need to get the speaker off now.. Yes, oh I got it. Okay. Here we go. Interesting., It’s not full of earwax, but it has gone through ever so lightly. ( laughing ) When the light goes through it.
It’S orange, so that’s delicious. All right, so I think this is a design issue., With the release of the AirPods in 2012 Apple made a big deal about how these headphones could fit comfortably in more people’s ears.. They used this funnel shape to help, but what doesn’t help is where the mesh is placed right near the tip..
So if you’re a waxy individual, you can probably see the problem.. So what about cleaning them? Well, I discovered this cut little thing. Recently, it’s an ear buds washing machine from a company called Cardlax who also make a portable muscle stimulator no matter.. Now this is a Kickstarter and they kindly sent over a prototype to try cleaning one of these AirPods.. So, let’s see what it can do. And if you want not pre order, one they’re currently going for about $ 50 on Kickstarter., All right.
Gloves., (, gentle, music, ), Not bad.. Still some residue here and there. It looks like it was used..
It’S probably good for maintenance., But what, if you wan na, try it the manual way Looking at some videos on YouTube, I also learned of an Irish phone repair shop called Phone Fix Craft. That’S been posting very gross microscopic videos of AirPods being cleaned.. It looks like he has a thin pick.
He uses to clear out the wax and then scrubs it with some sort of liquid and brush and sucks it out with a vacuum if it’s really bad. God. I can’t watch this anymore. Also when, in my interaction with the ear specialist, he mentioned hearing aid cleaning tools, which is interesting, so I ordered a set off Amazon for about $ 12.. Look at these fine picks and brushes..
They might be a big help., ( gentle music ). Oh my gosh., It’s really come out. All right. Let’S go up to Sarah and get her to see how well I’ve done. Sarah..
I think I’ve cleaned them.! Oh, my gosh., Let’s see if you can guess which one I cleaned manually and which one I cleaned with the earbuds washing machine. All right.. What do you think of how they look. This one looks way cleaner than this one for sure.? I guess the real test is by trying them out. [ Jonathan ] Yeah, let’s put’em on we’ll see if you actually hear music.. Okay, let’s try this side first. Okay., So I still have to turn it up a fair bit to hear it. [ Jonathan ].
Does it sound better, It does sound better.. Okay, let me try the other side.. I don’t know if they sound better.. Okay, here’s the thing.
I have to still turn my audio up to more than halfway to hear something. [ Jonathan ] Right., Now put them both in. Okay. [ Jonathan ] Does one sound better than the other.
This one does sound a little better. [ Jonathan ] Okay., But they’re still not like they were when they were brand new.. Okay, so I hope these are charged up enough.. These are from Podswap., Let’s see if we can- Ooh wow.
It’S way: louder: already., [, Jonathan ], Oh really, Yeah insane difference.! Oh this sounds way better.. I can turn it down to here and it sounds loud enough.. Clearly, I’ve failed, haven’t I Yeah I’d, say so. Okay.. Well, we have a conclusion, a very sad one., So I wasn’t able to do it. Myself., I’m quite surprised and disappointed..
Emma and Emily at Podswap certainly know what they’re doing. Me. On the other hand, don’t. God – this makes me wan na keep on trying until I get it., The disposability of AirPods has been an issue since they came out almost five years ago. So it’s no surprise that we’d wan na keep them running as long as possible. And as annoying as it may seem. I think maintenance is an important way to reduce the likelihood of your AirPods getting filled with earwax.. So if things do get bad and your battery’s thin Podswap offers what seems to be the most cost, effective and environmentally friendly way of breathing new life into older AirPods, which is remarkable considering how tightly these things are glued together.. Thank you for listening Into this Mac.
Address., If you too, are a producer of earwax, give us a like. And, if you’ve clogged up a set of earbuds before might as well subscribe.. I’M also curious, if any of you have found a really great working solution to this problem.. Let me know in the comments below’cause, I’m desperate to figure this thing out. .