Airpods are a super high-quality way to get great sound from your smartphone, but without an AirPods cleaning kit, they’re going to get pretty gnarly. Yes, AirPods are compact, easy to pair and use, and charge up quickly to keep the music going. But because they spend a lot of time in your ears, they’re basically magnets for ear wax if you don’t take the time to clean them.
We’ve spent a lot of time both cleaning AirPods and reviewing the best ways to clean AirPods, and along the way, we’ve found a lot of products that can help you get the job done more efficiently. Below, we’ve gathered our favorite AirPods cleaning kits; however, all of these products can be used to clean any type of wireless earbuds, from Samsung Galaxy Buds to Jabra’s popular line of earbuds.
You can buy an AirPods cleaning kit for under $10, and these low-cost products are one of our favorite cleaning hacks.
A Quick Warning on Cleaning Your AirPods
Always use great care when cleaning sensitive electronics. Wireless earbuds contain a lot of very small electronic components that can be sensitive to friction damage, and not all earbuds are waterproof, which means they can be damaged by cleaning solution. You don’t want to break your AirPods while you’re trying to clean them.
We know it’s gross, but we all know it to be true: ear wax is the scourge of wireless earbuds. Take your time to carefully scrape and wipe away any gunk that’s collected inside your AirPods. Slow and steady does the trick. You can also find additional tools and tips for cleaning electronics in our recent guide to cleaning your keyboard and mouse.
If, in the process of cleaning your earbuds, you decide it’s better to replace them, then you can buy AirPods for as little as $99. Check out our guide to the best AirPods deals to find the lowest prices on every generation of AirPods.
1. AKIKI AirPods Cleaning Kit
BEST OVERALL
The Cleaner Kit by AKIKI offers a multi-function brush for cleaning your AirPods, a soft cloth, and a set of wet and dry wipes. It also comes with a gel pad that can be used to pull dirt and wax out of the crevices of your AirPods and case. The wipes and gel pieces can be disposed of after use, and you can clean the muti-tool with the wipes. We’ve covered this AirPods cleaning kit on SPY before, and it’s often on sale — as it is now.
For true germaphobes, we love this sanitizing kit from Case-Mate. If the idea of reusing cleaning items for your Airpods makes you a bit queasy, or if you want the reassurance that your Airpods are thoroughly sanitized, look no further than the Case-Mate Airpods Cleaning Kit. The kit comes with 8 wrapped moist swabs, eight wet and dry wipes, a soft bristle brush, a stiff bristle brush, two microfiber cloths, and two pointed cotton swabs.
The Selidodo 3-in-1 cleaning pen is extremely similar to the one featured in the AKIKI kit featured previously, and it may even be made by the same manufacturer. It’s still a really great way to give your AirPods a quick clean while you’re out and about. The pen is about 4 inches long, will fit in a pocket or in a makeup kit, and has a fine tip, a scrubbing-type brush, and a soft flocking brush. You can do the fine detailing with the tip, use the scrubbing brush for tough areas, and the flocking brush to clean out the case.
The Altura Photo Professional Kit is primarily made for keeping your DSLR camera clean, but we’ve found that it has all the tools to get the job done for your AirPods as well, especially if you like everything sparkling clean afterward. It comes with three microfibre cloths, a cleaning spray, a lens cleaning pen, a brush and blower, and tissue paper. You’ll be able to dive into hard-to-reach places, and the microfibre cloths will pull off any larger debris.
If you’re looking for a neat gift idea for a friend who has AirPods, the AirPod Cleaner Kit from Aocii has a lot to offer for a low price. This 90 (!) piece kit contains an air blower, 50 pointed cleaning thin tips, a pair of tweezers, a soft brush, five soft bristle brushes, a cleaning cloth, and 30 pieces of cleaning putty. All of it comes in a storage bag, and the kit comes in blue and pink.
In our comprehensive guide on how to clean your AirPods, we recommended three products — a microfiber cleaning cloth, Q-Tips and isopropyl alcohol. We’ve gathered those same items here, as they’re a great DIY cleaning kit for all types of electronics.
If you’re looking to get the job done while keeping the cost down, you likely already have everything your need at home, and if not, you can pick up a pack of toothpicks, q-tips, microfibre cloth, and some isopropyl alcohol at any drugstore, or everyone’s favorite home delivery shopping service, Amazon. The toothpicks act as your fine point, which you can use to clean out crevices and recessed areas. The Q-tips will work for general surface cleaning and getting into the hinges of the case, and the isopropyl alcohol should be used sparingly to remove stubborn dirt or wax. A microfibre cloth is a great addition to remove any surface dust and wipe things down.
Hagibis has a super fun device for cleaning your AirPods. It combines all the pieces you need for a great cleaning, a fine point, a high-density brush, and a flocking brush into what looks like a small red push broom. There’s no lack of functionality here, and having all of the pieces fit into a central shaft is a great idea. The larger brush at the bottom is useful for cleaning your keyboard.
The Pureport Multi-Tool is great for cleaning all kinds of electronic devices, with different ends for fine details and larger brushes, and it also includes ear putty for pulling out deep-seated dirt and wax. You can also use the tool to clean the ends of your USB cables.
If you’re looking for a quick way to clean out the part of your AirPods that comes into contact with, you’ll want to use a putty option. AirSquares Putty comes with 24 putty squares. To use the Airsquares putty, you push the end of your AirPod into the putty (not too hard now!), and all the dirt, wax, and debris trapped in the crevices of the AirPod will be secured to the putty. You pull the AirPod out, and the dirt remains behind.
Erin has over 20 years of experience as a journalist in the media and news industries, with time both on-camera and behind the scenes in network TV production, plus years of writing for blogs…
