The right side of my earpod stopped working.

Hi,

This is what I have found with the Apple earpods specifically. I've had two pairs and both have stopped working properly over time. Both pairs have had the volume in the left side go quiet. It appears like the large opening has very low or muffled sound but the smaller grille on the side of the earpods has sound coming out.

I use my earpods a lot at night in bed, often falling asleep with them in. This results in a warming of the wax in the ears and a thin almost imperceptible film, builds up on the grille, effectively muting the sound. I was very sceptical that this was causing the issue as my earpods looked very clean, even on extremely close inspection.

I have found this procedure works best if you wear the earpods for a while, to warm up the wax film and then remove them from your ears and brush the main grille repeatedly with firm but gentle pressure using a toothbrush ( I used an old one, but if you love the flavour of earwax, feel free to use your current one! ). You're not trying to force the bristles through the grille, just to brush the wax off. You should find that 'bits' will form on the grille itself and then they will be brushed off.

You will be surprised how much difference a small amount of wax removal will make.

Hope this helps!

S

Hey,

I've had the same problem...just found out it was an accumulation of ear wax. Even if your ears are clean, when you put the earpods in, it heats up and happens to land where the sound comes out.

I found a solution that works pretty good for me: i dip the top of the earpod in 70% alcohol (it evaporates really quickly so no chance to mess it up) and let it work for about 10 seconds. When it's done, i take a tissue and remove the excess. Do that a couple of times and my earpods are like new.

Good luck with that!

I have been replacing my earpods since these came up first with iPhone 5.
everytime i got a bad right earpiece after a month's use.
recently i figured it out.its the wax.just take a toothpick and take the wax layer off and boom,its starts working fine again..

Wow, I never expected this would actually work!!

I thought It must have something to do with the design of the earphones or similar since the loss of sound happened on two pairs on the same side

I had tried cleaning before the mesh, but what I did diferentlly this time is that I did it more vigorously with an old toothbrush.

Results were immediate because I had moved the balance on the Accessibility setting on my iPhone to hear properly. Once cleaned sound level increased and I had to rearrange to the original balance.

You just saved me buying a new pair of earphones! The slowly became more muffled until the right one was barely working. When I looked closely, yep, ear wax! I brushed it out with an old toothbrush (and used a toothpick, very very gently, for the rim) and they work like new.

Hey rubengouvea,

Thanks for the question. I understand you are experiencing issues with your Apple EarPods. The following resource may provide a solution:

Apple EarPods: Low or muffled sound

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4395

If your issue persists, be sure to follow the instructions in the article for finding information on service.

Thanks,

Matt M.

As a last resort, get the thinnest sewing pin you can find and gently punch four to six tiny holes in the mesh of malfunctioning/muffled earbud. The area to punch through is toward the center section of the mesh. Do this very gently by applying just enough pressure to puncture the mesh.

This 100% fixes the muffled sound. I was about to junk my two, supposedly bad, Apple ear-buds before I used this solution. Now I have two new sounding earphones.

honestly mine stopped working due to the white circle that holds the end of headphone plug has broken off a bit so this is why it doesn't work on the right side of the headphone. This product no offense to apple, unfortunate doesn't work. Spending 80+ bucks each time the headphones go out is not in my budget limit. hope you the best. very fragile. each pair alone cost 40+ and buying one every 6 months can be quite expensive over time. i suggest just buy yourself a good pair for 200 or so so they would last and make sure they have 5 years warranty.

Or buy a decent set of earplugs.

Pete

how to fix earpods - YouTube

thank you so much ,that was really helful

One of the EarPods not working ?

How bad do you love them ?

Well if you love them this much then take the non working earpod and put it in your mouth. Don't tell me ewwww because this takes less than 5 seconds but it works instantly. Now gently lick the grill. And then gently suck back your saliva.

You have just moistened the accumulated wax from your ear 👂 and then gently sucked it back out. Now we are not talking a dog lick just a gentle lick.

Worked in 5 seconds !!!

Yep. This is the move.

I have the same thing. First the remote from my earpods stoppen working and then the right sight stopped working. I did evrything you guys said but they still don't work. Can anybody help me please?

I've replaced my EarPods 6 times!!!

Every time when I got a new one, after 3 months it stopped working on the left side (only the big raster). I got really frustrated because the sound that comes from and the fit of the EarPods are amazing!

Now, after a year and a half of replacing and much frustration, I just discovered the most simple solution thanks to Shaunjp.

I recently wanted to open the new pair I got with my new phone because my previous ones stopped working.. again.. Then I saw this post about your earwax just entirely blocking the sound and immediately tried out the solution above. It worked! thank you so much! this just saved me 30 Euro's.

Now I have two great working pairs of Earphones.