Call speaker cleaner — clean the ear speaker your calls come through

A call speaker cleaner plays a low tone to shake water and loose dust out of the small speaker at the top of your phone — the earpiece, or receiver, you hear calls through. No website can send sound to the earpiece itself; the tone above plays through the phone’s media speakers.

That limit matters less on many phones than it sounds. Phones with stereo sound often play media from the top opening as well, so the tone can still reach it. To check yours, run the left and right speaker test with the phone sideways: if one of the tones comes from the top edge, this cleaner reaches the earpiece grille too.

iPhone ear speaker not working

An iPhone ear speaker that stops working is most often blocked rather than broken. Apple’s checklist for poor sound on a call starts with things that cover the receiver: screen protectors, films and cases. The receiver sits behind a narrow slot above the display, so even a slightly misaligned protector can cover it.

1. Step 1

   Remove the screen protector

   Apple lists removing screen protectors, films and cases, and checking that the receiver isn’t blocked or dirty.

2. Step 2

   Try speakerphone

   On the same call, switch to speaker. If that sounds fine, the problem is the ear speaker, not the call.

3. Step 3

   Call from somewhere else

   Apple says static or crackling on a call can come from the network or reception.

4. Step 4

   Clean the opening

   Use a small, soft, dry brush on the receiver slot, then run the cleaning tone above.

These steps come from Apple’s page on no sound or distorted sound from an iPhone speaker, which also covers Silent mode and Do Not Disturb for the loudspeaker. The full sequence is in the iPhone speaker troubleshooting guide.

How to clean an iPhone ear speaker

Cleaning an iPhone ear speaker means working from the gentlest method up, because the receiver mesh is small and easy to damage. Apple’s method is a small, soft-bristled brush that is clean and dry.

If the ear speaker went quiet after water, the drying advice for the rest of the phone applies here too — the guide to a wet phone has Apple’s and Samsung’s steps. For the loudspeaker at the bottom, the online speaker cleaner has the same two modes.

iPhone ear speaker too quiet

An iPhone ear speaker that works but sounds too quiet is usually partly blocked or turned down. If the whole phone is quiet, not only calls, the settings that cap volume are covered in quiet iPhone sound settings. Press the volume-up button while you are on the call: call volume is set separately from media volume, so a loud song doesn’t mean a loud call.

Two settings can also change what you hear. Apple’s audio settings guide for iPhone describes phone noise cancellation, which reduces background noise when you hold the receiver to your ear, available and on by default on iPhone 12 and earlier. The same Audio & Visual screen holds the Balance slider, which shifts sound between left and right.

If the volume is at the top, the protector is off and the opening is clean, a quiet ear speaker is a hardware question for a repair shop.