Water eject: sound to get water out of a speaker

How to use it

1. Dry the outside of the phone first with a soft cloth.
2. Open this page on the wet phone itself; playing it on another device does nothing for the phone's speaker.
3. Turn the phone volume up to about three quarters and set the page slider to 30–60%. You do not need maximum volume.
4. Hold the phone with the speaker grille pointing down, over a towel or sink, and press Start water eject.
5. When it finishes, wipe the grille and play some audio. If it is still muffled, repeat once or twice, then let the phone dry in the air.

Keep the phone away from your ears and face while the tones play, and do not use this with headphones or earbuds in your ears.

What it can and cannot do

A speaker produces sound by moving a thin cone or membrane back and forth. Low frequencies make it move the furthest, and that movement can push small drops of water out through the grille. That is why some smartwatches play tones after swimming.

• It can help when the only problem is water sitting in the speaker opening, which is why the sound is muffled.
• It cannot repair water damage inside the phone, corrosion, or a speaker that was damaged by liquid. It does not dry the inside of the device.
• It does nothing for a wet charging port, microphone or earpiece other than the speaker that is playing.
• There is no guarantee: TestDock cannot see or measure the water. If the sound stays distorted after the phone is fully dry, the speaker may need service.

What phone makers advise for a wet phone

• iPhone: Apple advises tapping the iPhone gently against your hand with the connector facing down, then leaving it in a dry area with some airflow; drying can take up to 24 hours. Apple says not to use external heat or compressed air, not to put cotton swabs or paper towels into the connector, and not to put the iPhone in a bag of rice. Do not charge while a liquid-detection alert is shown.
• Samsung Galaxy: Samsung advises drying the phone right away and gently patting the earpiece, microphone, speaker and USB port with a clean, soft cloth, and not using cans of compressed air. After salt water, rinse with fresh water and dry thoroughly.
• Apple Watch: the watch has its own Water Lock. When you turn it off (on watchOS 9 and later, press and hold the Digital Crown), a series of tones plays to clear water from the speaker, so you do not need this page.

Water resistance ratings do not make a phone waterproof, and they can weaken over time. Follow your manufacturer's instructions first.

Why 165 Hz?

There is nothing magic about one exact frequency. Most water-eject sounds use a low tone around 150–200 Hz because small phone speakers can still reproduce it while moving their cone a long way. This page combines a steady 165 Hz tone, a sweep from 300 Hz down to 120 Hz, which catches the frequency where your speaker moves the most, and a pulsed tone whose stop-start movement can shake drops loose.

To play your own frequency or waveform, use the tone generator. To check the speaker afterwards, use the speaker test.

If the speaker still sounds wrong

• Give it time: let the phone dry for several hours in a dry place with airflow, then test again.
• Check that the grille is not blocked by dust, lint or a case.
• If audio is quieter on one side, check the left/right balance setting in the accessibility settings.
• If there is no sound at all from any app, see no sound on computer for the general checks, or contact the manufacturer for service.