How do I clean my EarPods effectively and without damaging the surface nor using the shirt method?

I always use Blu Tack to clear out any dirt in my ear piece. It's cheap to buy from any store and doesn't damage anything (Y) All the dirt sticks to it (the tack is a soft rubber-like thing that's sticky)

Ok, so I had earwax inside the wire mesh which is like impossible to clean, so i used a toothbrush to clean it out,

That helped out a bit but not completely.

So here comes the "dirty" part, which actually worked, i sucked on my earpods and probs sucked out all the dirt...

I just discovered that using an earplug (y'know, the kind that you use to reduce noise) to clean my earpods is a great solution! They're made of super soft foam to conform to the small nooks/crannies of earpods and it expands back to it's regular form for next-time use. Haven't seen anything on the web about this technique - so, i thought i'd place it here.

I had wax build-up (over a period of two years - I'm not Shrek!) that I made worse by using a toothpick - all I did was compact it into the mesh, no matter how gentle I was when cleaning it. Here's the solution I used and it works great:

DO THE FOLLOWING AT YOUR OWN RISK!

You will need:

• Q-tips/cotton swab
• Hydrogen peroxide (can get at the pharmacy for $2)
• Can of compressed air, like you use to clean a keyboard

How to clean:

• Take a cotton swab dip in hydogen peroxide. (hydrogen peroxide softens and dissolves ear wax)
• Squeeze one drop onto the mesh of your ear bud. (go slow, don't over-do it)
• Wait 2-3 seconds then tap the earbud, mesh-down, onto the table to physically remove as mush hydrogen peroxide as possible.
• Blow compressed air onto the mesh to eject the rest of the peroxide.
• Listen to the sound quality, and repeat if necessary

Works great! They sound like new.

Having tried the weirdest things I decided to put some denaturalised alcohol in play. Well, that turns out to be as useful for cleaning earpods as it for disinfecting stuff. I can finally listen to the sound that I'm used to again. I took a couple of cotton buds and moistened one end with the alcohol. I used the other to dry the earpod off afterwards. I also used my air duster to make absolutely sure nothing leaked into the speaker.

I used an old dry and clean battery operated spin brush with a tiny, tiny bit of Seabreeze on the brush, just a little. I used Seabreeze because it breaks up oil and dirt. Before I used it the sound from my earpods was of low quality, now they are just the way I like them.

I just removed the mesh inside of the earpods (the new earpods from iphone5 etc) with a needle.

The mesh is pretty useless, it just stops dirt from getting in, but instead in holds al the dirt inside the little holes in the mesh and they are very hard to clean. Ao if you remove the mesh, you have a better music quality and they are easier to clean. The only disadvantage is that dirt now easily can reach te speakers. This hasnt happened to mine yet.

There are tutorials online that outline how to pry the "caps" of the earpod off with what look to be tweezers. That way you can use alcohol/water/high pressure air to clean the mesh covers from the inside and avoid pushing earwax into the speaker. This, of course, will void any sort of earpod warranty that exists I would think. The online tutorials show that the "caps" snap back on after you're done.

Here's a really simple solution for getting ear wax and other dirt out of the EarPod screen mesh. Just turn on the hot water tap and run the hot water over the screen mesh for approximately 20 seconds. Even better is if you have a sprayer so you can spray water into the mesh. While this sounds like it might destroy the EarPods, I tried this out of frustration after reading other sites that recommended just getting a new set of EarPods. After the 20 seconds of hot water treatment just use an absorbent paper towel over the mesh and it will absorb the water out of your EarPod. You can also shake earpiece to get any excess water out or even blow air through the side port to force any water out. In any event, after less than five minutes my EarPods were working like brand-new and I have now been using them for another week and there've been no problems.

hope this helps.

Probably just adding to what's already here (haven't read the whole thread so apologies/kudos to anyone who's posted a solution).

I found that disinfectant hand cleaner (like the pump bottle variety) with alcohol works wonders without harming anything. Get a drop onto the mesh for about 30 seconds and then dab it dry with a lint-free cloth (or your tee shirt, in a pinch!) Had to turn my volume back down to about 50%!!

The "Blu Tack" worked amazingly well 😮

I had some white sticky tack (same putty-like stuff, just white instead of blue) and I could easily see the mesh grill indentation and all of the dirt it pulled out of the EarPods. Before the sound was so uneven it was really irritating, but now they sound like new and it literally took like 15 seconds!

Thank you for the suggestion! 😀

My left earpod was alot quieter than the right, so i got an old toothbrush, and dampened it a little bit (not too much so it doesnt leak into the speaker), and just brushed it, and that helped a ton. I also did the right one just because I could

Duct tape. I know it sounds a bit odd. Cut a piece roughly 1cm and wrap it in a ring shape so the sticky side is outside. Then just stick it to the mesh repeatedly for a few times. I cleaned my right speaker and compared it to the left and I could see a difference

rremove the mesh and the paper underneath with a needle or pin. I left the mesh out and now my headphones are louder than b4, but don't know how long they will last if dirt and stuff gets inside. Still, sounds great

Blu-tack. It completely removes the ear wax from the EarPod's metal mesh, incredibly clean as new!

I tested several methods on the past couple of years:

https://youtu.be/vrPzsP2gl4M

Any mounting putty will work (Sticky-tack, Tack-it, Poster-tack, etc...). I like it because it is dry, so it is even safe to clean the AirPods.