How to Clean AirPods Max Without Damaging Them

AirPods Max headphones need to be washed. I know this because I recently needed to wash mine after an incident in which coffee spilled into my bag and damaged many of my personal items. For obvious and personal reasons, I won’t give up the practice of carrying coffee in my purse when circumstances warrant it, but I will wash my Apple headset more often because, as it turns out, it was disgusting. Here’s what I did and what you should do too.

Preparing to wash AirPods Max

Apple is very clear about the most important part of washing Airpods Max , and so am I: don’t submerge them under water. Do not soak them in water. In fact, never get them too wet. It’s a holy miracle that coffee didn’t spoil me; Don’t tempt fate any more than necessary.

Instead, you’ll have to do a lot of delicate work by hand, away from the sink. First, gather everything you need: liquid laundry soap, two lint-free rags, a container and some water. You will then notice that the ear cups pop out of the headband and are held there by magnets. Go ahead and delete them. They’re probably dirtier than regular leather or vinyl ear pads because they’re made of foam and mesh, so makeup, sweat, hair products, and general odors can seep in.

Cleaning the electrical part of AirPods Max

For the metal tech part, all you need is a slightly damp cloth to wipe the outside and inside of the ear sections. Do this carefully, getting into all the crevices, avoiding any liquid getting into any openings, such as the sound holes or the port where you charge them. If the outside of the headphones is very dirty, gently wipe the surface with a disinfectant wipe or wipe moistened with 70% isopropyl alcohol. Just don’t let it touch the knitted part of the bandage, and don’t use anything with bleach or hydrogen peroxide.

Use a dry cloth to wipe down any areas you have wiped and do not attempt to use them until they are completely dry. While brushes and hard tools can be useful for cleaning AirPods, avoid using such products on in-ear headphones as they are made of anodized aluminum and tend to be a bit more finicky.

How to clean AirPods Max cushions

This is the part that was most important to me since my pillows smelled like Dunkin’ Donuts and I had a whole layer of foundation all over my face. The headband was also terrible as it is also made of mesh and is cleaned the same way as pillows. I’ve seen some other tutorials that recommend using a SIM eject tool to completely remove the headband from the electrical parts, but I’m not even going to tell you how to do that because Apple doesn’t recommend it and there’s a risk of it not attaching it’s all right again – it’s too great. As long as the strap doesn’t hit the metal part, you’ll be fine.

To avoid this, the best way to clean the headband is to turn the device upside down so that the stream of water flows away from the headphones themselves. Start by mixing one teaspoon of liquid laundry soap and one cup of water in a container, dampen a cloth with it, and gently scrub the headband for one minute. It’s harder to keep it upside down while you’re doing the outside of the cast, but don’t skimp: even the outside of my cast ended up messier than expected. Do the same with each pillow. Yes, all you need to do is wipe them with a cloth soaked in detergent. Don’t soak them. When I did this, the makeup that was deep in the pillows came out onto the fabric, so be sure to take a long time to clean it.

Take a dry cloth and rub them again to dry them. Lay them out for a day before reattaching them, paying attention to the letters R and L imprinted on the right and left pillow respectively, and you’re done.