You rinse your hands, the iPhone catches a splash, and an hour later every notification sounds like it is coming through a torn paper cone. Crackling after water is common and, most of the time, temporary.
Why it crackles
An iPhone speaker sits behind a fine mesh. When water lands on that mesh, it does not sit still. Each time the speaker moves, the droplets are pushed and pulled, and they slap against the mesh and the diaphragm behind it. That contact is the crackle. It is worst on bass-heavy sounds, because those move the speaker furthest.
Muffled sound means the water is blocking the opening. Crackling means it is moving around in there. Both usually clear the same way.
Step 1: check which speaker it is
iPhones have two speakers: one on the bottom edge and one in the earpiece at the top of the screen. Play music, then cover each in turn with a finger. Knowing which one crackles tells you where to aim.
Step 2: push the water out
- Turn Silent Mode off and raise the volume fully with the side buttons.
- Disconnect AirPods and any Bluetooth speaker.
- Hold the phone with the crackling speaker pointing at the floor.
- Open the iPhone water eject tool and tap the button. Let it run the full 60 seconds.
- Dab the grille with a dry cloth and repeat two or three times.
For the earpiece, switch to Ultra mode. That small speaker cannot reproduce the low tone, so a high one is used instead.
Step 3: let it finish drying
Stand the phone upright, speaker down, on a dry cloth in a place with moving air. A fan nearby helps. An hour or two clears what the sound left behind. Do not use a hair dryer, and do not put the phone in rice. Apple advises against both.
If it crackled after salt water or a sweet drink
Plain water evaporates and leaves nothing. Sea water, pool water, juice and tea leave salt or sugar on the mesh, and the crackle can return after the phone looks dry. Wipe the grille with a cloth dampened with fresh water, dry it, and run the eject tone again. See salt water and phones.
Trapped water or a damaged speaker?
| Sign | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Crackle improves a little after each eject run | Water. Keep going. |
| Crackle only on loud bass, gone by the next day | Water that has now dried. |
| Same buzz at every volume, days later | The diaphragm or coil is damaged. |
| Crackle on speaker and on headphones | Not the speaker. A software or audio chip problem. |
When to get it repaired
If the crackle is unchanged after 48 hours of drying and several eject runs, the speaker itself has probably failed. Book a repair with Apple or an authorised service provider. Bear in mind that Apple's standard warranty does not cover liquid damage, so ask about the cost before agreeing to a repair. A speaker replacement is among the less expensive iPhone repairs.