Can I use bleach on my AirPods?

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Okay, a show of hands here. How many of you have actually ever cleaned your AirPods (or any other earbuds) since owning them? Anybody?

Those tiny masterpieces of technology provide sweet beats to our eardrums, but have you ever looked at how much gunk they collect over time? Earwax, lint, dust, sweat, and other things all collect on them and the charging case and that can make the sound change, or even make them stop working.

That gunk can also spur ear infections, which are no joke. You’ll want to clean them every so often, but how to go about it? If they’re stained, can you bleach them back to white again?

So, can I use bleach (or any other cleaning products) on my AirPods?

Short answer: No

Apple used to say that you shouldn’t use any fluids at all on your AirPods to clean them, but that was before the pandemic. Now they say you can use 70-percent isopropyl wipes, or similar. They specifically call out bleach and hydrogen peroxide as not safe to use on your AirPods, so don’t do it.

READ MORE: How to check your AirPods battery level

If you really need to clean out your AirPods, you can get a cleaning kit that has things like cotton swabs that are small enough to fit into the speaker grille area and sticky putty squares that help to remove earwax and other gunk.

You can also follow Apple’s own instructions, and use a microfiber cloth that’s ever-so-lightly dampened with fresh water. Make sure to get them completely dry before putting them in the charging case or your ears.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• How to replace the default gesture controls on your AirPods
• If you refuse to use your charging case for storage, you can slap your AirPods on a MacBook screen
• How to find your AirPods in case you lose them
• How to turn off Apple’s annoying auto-switching feature on AirPods

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.