Need to troubleshoot your iPhone or iPad because it fell in water? Find Out How to Get Wet iPhone Off Headphones Mode ASAP and save from water damage with these easy steps I did at home! May contain commissioned links.
How to Get Wet iPhone Off Headphones Mode
I did a serious blunder this summer. I brought my new iPhone to a water theme park, used it, and forgot to protect it.
So there my son was, going down his first big water slide, and whoosh! Big splash of water all over my phone. Luckily, the phone still functioned and I quickly dried it off with my towel.
But the one thing I could not do was get the phone out of headphones mode. My wet iPhone was stuck in headphones mode (even without something plugged into the jack) and I could not receive any phone calls or listen to anything via my speakers. Insert a bunch of explicit words.
So in my infinite wisdom (aka complete stupidity) I am sharing today how to get wet iPhone off headphones mode from home, without calling in the tech guys. This easy how to fix a water damaged iPhone or iPad may help save you time and money! This may also work for iPhones with headphone malfunctions. I thought this fitting with the iPhone 6 buzz 🙂
And now there’s iPhone 7 and iPhone X and iPhone 11 and iPhone 12? I can’t keep up.
Let me start with this disclaimer that I am NOT a tech guru or a wise person in all things iPhone, iPad or iPad mini. This is just something that I personally did to fix my water damaged iPhone from the comfort of home, and it worked.
Many years later, I have had NO problems with my phone since the water immersion accident. I do not guarantee results, just wanted to give folks a simple, easy, and frugal option before calling in the experts to possibly repair their water damaged iPhone.
How to Get Wet iPhone Off Headphones Mode at Home Step by Step Tutorial
Persistence, patience, and humility. It’s not easy to accept the fact that a little elbow grease may be needed to get your iPhone back to top condition. But how exactly do you get your water damaged iPhone back to normal?
With a few materials that you already own at home and a few deep breaths, you can have your phone back in no time without paying a professional or spending a ton of money. Ready to fix your own water damaged phone? Here are the easy steps I completed to get water out of the headphone jack:
What You Will Need:
-
- A Q-Tip
- A Toothpick
- Your iPhone Headphones or your iPhone charger cable (NOT Air Pods)
- Your humility
Need a cheap waterproof case for next time? I highly recommend grabbing one:
Directions:
An iPhone can get stuck in headphones mode for multiple reasons. Most commonly, because of trapped dirt/dust/water in the headphone jack. Have some patience!
1. Start by taking your Q-Tip, and tightly wrapping the fibers around the Q-Tip stick. (This step is important, to make sure the fibers you are placing into the phone jack do NOT get stuck as well.) GENTLY place into headphones jack and twirl a few times to try and remove the water/dirt. You may have to remove some of the Q-Tip swab and re-wrap to get the swab tip to fit.
2. Take your iPhone headphones and push the cord end into headphones jack. (Alternatively if you only have iPhone air pods, you can use your iPhone charger cord.) Pull the headphones cord back out. Push and pull a few times to check if the phone is now on speaker mode. If your phone is still stuck in headphones mode, move on to step 3.
3. Using a toothpick, gently dig into the headphones jack to loosen an more debris still stuck in there. Reinsert the Q-Tip to grab and remove any excess debris from the jack.
4. Repeat step 2.
5. Repeat steps 1-3 if necessary. If still stuck in headphones mode after a few attempts, you unfortunately will need a professional.
I have heard this also works for those who possibly have water damaged iPads and iPad minis. Again, I do not guarantee results – but I’m so happy to hear how this post has helped many from purchasing new electronics. Reminder to never insert anything METAL into your iPhone or iPad. This could permanently damage your device.
I would bookmark, pin and save this site for future reference. You never know when you need to save your phone from your child throwing it in the toilet or something. I really, really, really hope this works for you guys and saves you and your phone from utter catastrophic destruction.
Was this post helpful? Let me know in the comments below!
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MegaN says
Thank you! I was in panic mode that I was going to need to buy a new phone. It worked perfectly, right away.
Christie says
YAY, awesome!
Kimmy says
Omg thank you so much! I panicked and almost paid to get it fixed! You are a saint!
Atul says
You could spin the q tip when it is in the jack. It surely get the work done
Ryan says
Thank You So Much. All I needed was to sprint the Q-tip a little and it worked like a charm. Saved my life!!
Anthony says
Thanks bud. Worked
Grace says
Thank you so so much! I would’ve never have thought to do this!!!
Stephen Elder says
Great stuff it works! I used a paperclip as I did not have a q tip to hand and the fluff was removed working iphone now
AM says
Big mistake, Stephen. Metal can and will destroy delicate tech parts. Certainly no tech person would advise this due to risk of permanent damage. No reader should do this. Use a QTip.
Rebecca says
Thank you so much! I was panicking as water got into my headphone jack!! I didn’t expect this to work! <3 <3
Fatima says
I had got some steam in my headphone jack and it wasn’t going off the headphone mode..I tried multiple times with the cotton bud but it didn’t work..tried plugging the headphones in and out couple of times and I was panicking as I couldn’t find a toothpick.. I took a safety pin inserted it in and was able to remove some small white fibers and ta-da !! My phone was back to speaker mode !! Thank you so much !!!
Sofia says
I tried everything and still not working really worried 😟
Kbs says
I think I love you. Omg. Worked right off the bat😩😁
Jeremy Ortiz says
Thank you so much I was scared I would have to pay $80 to get something so small fixed I’m an athlete and when I was done working out I saw they were stuck in headphone mode…I panicked and when I saw your truck and it worked I almost shed a tear for saving me thank you so much XD
Ashley morales says
Thank you so very much I was panicking that it didn’t work but you saved my life thank you??
Michelle says
It doesn’t seem to be working for me. ?
Hannah says
It worked the 2nd time thanks!
Mason (Emily) says
didnt work for me either. My ceiling leaking onto my ipad (haha ironic ;-;) and it is now stuck in headphone mode…my parents are stupid and theyll probably just buy another one…haha…a-at christmas…its August… 😓…fml.
Sofia says
Me too.
Zoe says
Hi! I don’t know if you fixed this, since this comment is really old, but if you haven’t try turning airplane mode on for 15-20 minutes and it should go right out of headphone mode, it possibly could cause the audio to cut off sometimes but based on my experience it shouldn’t be that hard to deal with.
Krista says
OH MY GOSH, YOU have NO IDEA how appreciative i am I’ve met my quote of insurance replacements for the year :-[ I thought i was doomed. This worked flawlessly, first try!!!
THX SO MUCH for sharing ,
Randy says
How did you did do it? Was it a iPhone? Because I have Android and im panicking RN!
Heather says
I agree OMG this was sooooo helpful and a body pin helped me too (didn’t want to go down stairs for tooth pick lol)
emma rafuse says
didnt work :/
AM says
NO! Heather. No! No metal into delicate tech parts! Qtip, with or without rubbing alcohol or compressed air only. Inserting metal into expensive delicate computer parts … well, be prepared to pay the price. For expensive repairs or a new device! Common sense. Common sense.
Andrew Albright says
The tooth pic and q-tip worked! Thx so much! You are a lifesaver! I thought I needed a new phone
Kelly says
Omg I just did it and it work I just kept putting the Q-tip on the phone jack part thank god my phone is back working
Kate says
Didn’t work
hi there says
If it doesn’t work, don’t give up! I did this for over 20 minutes. Eventually, i pulled out a huge piece of dust with the toothpick! Play around with the tooth pick for a few minutes, and you’ll definitely pull out the debris, if that is the problem.
Bella Alonzo says
Thank you so much ! I dropped my phone into the sink and I was so scared because I knew my dad would get steaming mad if he knew about my phone stop working. You saved my life!
Seka says
YEAH THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! REALLY MY PHONE GOT A LITTLE WET BUT IT WAS IN MY EVEN WETTER POCKET AND SO THE SOUND WASN’T WORKING BUT THIS FIXED IT. BLESS YOUR HEART. HAVE A GREAT DAY.
Julie says
This trick worked great for my phone. Thanks so much for posting. I am in the woods camping and nowhere near an Apple store, so this saved me a trip.
Yay
Grace says
Thank you!!!!! I was getting scared. You saved my life!
Kaitlin says
Oml I was the same way! Thought I was about to have to pay a bunch of money to fix my phone!
Frank Ramos says
Me too….It worked for me as well….sleigh riding…
Tricia says
This worked! on my iPhone6 that my cat decided to spill water on. Thank you so much! I had to remove a lot of the fibers on the head of the q-tip but i was able to snugly get it in there and make a good fit. Then in and out with a headphone jack and like magic it worked!
Christie says
So glad it helped!
Sine says
Omg! Helped sooo much! I did not think IT would work, dit IT did! Thanks❤️
Mike says
I’m at work I had to go out in a frickin monsoon here at the nuclear power plant – your solution worked! Thank you very much
Liz says
This. Did not workkkk
Mike says
This worked perfectly! Thank You! Saved me from having to get a new phone.
Christie says
Yay, glad it worked, Mike!
Sanjida says
Mine isn’t workinggg
Grace says
OMG you’re amazing, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us!! Worked like a charm with just the Q-Tip 🙂
Christie says
Woot! Awesome, Grace 🙂
Melissa Hays Jenkins says
It didn’t work
Justice Duhon says
Thank you!!!
Abby says
I tried this about 3 times, it didn’t work! My dad is going to be SO mad!
meredith says
MINE WONT WORK EITHER; thanks for article though
=^•w•^= says
Same!!! 😭😭
Abby says
Ohmigosh thank you SO much! At first it wasn’t working and I started freaking out because if my dad found out he would be very mad. I did it about 4 times, no luck, so finally I plugged my headphones back in and twisted, pulled out, put back in and twisted, I repeated it about 5 times and I unplugged it and it worked! Thank you so much, you probably just saved me a lifetime grounding! 😀
Unicat says
Same!!! I’m super glad that your trick worked!! My phone got dropped in snow and everything worked except the volume. It took me a LOT of try’s for it to work so patience people, I was almost ready to give up and go to the store and pay lots of $$$ but I was determined to try just ONE more time! Thank you sooo much!
P.S if it does not work the first few times try to twist the toothpick thank you again!
Yudhvir says
How i thank u i love u my iphone now works correctly with Q Tip
Thanks alot
lEsley says
thank you so much omg i was freaking out
Seamuss says
This is amazing!!!
bREE says
This happened to me only my iPhone 6 was completely submerged for several seconds — thankfully this is the only apparent thing wrong with it!! But I don’t have toothpicks so I tried mechanical pencil lead which WAS A MISTAKE — the lead got caught on something, broke inside the jack, and now no matter what I try I can’t get it out. Now I can’t even get the actual headphone cable to plug in!
billy says
amazing i tried everything and this worked you have to clean it with a q tip and then get headphones in and out twice and it will work
Tyahr says
OMG it’s not working on my iPhone 6… I’m screwed, someone help
Christie says
Tyahr, I had to do this process quite a few times to get it to work. Hope you’re able to get this fixed!
Molly Mcdonald says
I dropped my iPhone 6s in the snow and Ickes up straight away, I have tried to leave It in hot areas to cool it down, it’s been in there 2 hours now. It’s still saying I have my earphones plugged in and I’m panicking😩 Please help me
Shawn says
I used a shoelace and it worked Gucci thank you
dude says
I just had the same problem. After a few tries, the thing was still stuck on headphone mode so i went to setting, sounds and mess with the ringer and alert slider and it worked right away.
Jen says
Thank you! Didn’t work for me either but I read your comment and tried the same thing and voila!
Allison says
Oh my gosh, this actually works! I was panicking after I dropped it in the snow. I tried the q-tip and toothpicks but it wouldn’t work. Then I tried this after and it was like magic! Thank you you majestic being!
Lou says
Thank you so much! This worked for me too after the q-tip and toothpicks failed! Phew!
rANDY says
Worked on my iPhone6! Thank you!!
Emily says
Qtip worked, thanks!!!
Melissa says
It didn’t work for me BUT I did try it a few times and I went on Settings>Sound and played with the volume thing on the ringer and it WORKED right away!!!!
MIKE says
I got my iPhone 6 exposed to water, and stuck in headphone mode.
I tried qtip multiple times, restarting, blowing dry air, and trying to reinsert multiple types of headphones (with mic and without) and thought I’m lost.
Then finally going to settings -> sounds and fiddling with the volume slider a few times did the trick for me. I hope this helps. Thank you
Michael says
Yes thanks man this worked for me too. But mine makes me do this every time after I take headphones out which is weird. I appreciate your comment
Tori says
I tried so many times I did the q-tip , the toothpick, the dryer thingy , the settings >> sound and it still hasn’t worked yet ! Please help me guys and I don’t want a professional please help !!!!! Thank u every one
Bethanietia says
Hiya tori, I dropped my phone in the swimming pool, so I put it in a zip bag filled with uncooked rice. When I checked it this morning it was working perfect apart from the sound, it was stuck on headphone mode, I got a cotton bud and took some fibres off to make it fit I played with it for a while and it wasn’t working so I played with the sound in settings. Still nothing, I then started to type a message and the sound automatically came back on. I hope this helps☺️
DG says
This worked for me too! Thank you for sharing!
Grace says
Thanks so much!!! It worked!!!! I played with volume slider a few times and used a Qtip in the headphone jack joke and it worked!