Testimonial sequence to tell you the “funny” story we experienced with our AirPods 4 (ANC) and our Belkin brand cleaning kit. A product that cleans Apple headphones from top to bottom, but which gave us a few cold sweats.
The Belkin AirPods “cleaning” kit
Since 2008, we like to be the first to highlight interesting products in the Apple universe. However, we are also always transparent with our community. It was therefore unthinkable not to tell you about our misadventure with the cleaning kit for AirPods from the Belkin brand, sold on the Apple Store at the price of €14.95.
Belkin is a renowned American company specializing in the manufacturing of computer hardware and the design of accessories for Apple products such as the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro and AirPods. Recognized for its quality, Belkin has the advantage of being an official partner of Apple, which allows it to sell some of its products directly on the Apple Store, the official online store of the American giant.
Among the Belkin accessories available on the Apple Store, there is the AirPods cleaning kit. As its name suggests, this kit allows you to clean your AirPods in an optimal and “professional” way. However, Belkin leaves out a crucial detail: cleaning may cause AirPods sound to temporarily deteriorate after use.
Temporary deterioration
Being a big fan of AirPods, I don’t go a single day without using them for at least two to three hours. Intensive use which has the indirect effect of quickly getting them dirty. Recently I acquired the AirPods 4 (ANC), the test is available. As is often the case, when we treat ourselves to a new Apple product, we spend our time pampering it for the first few months.
For the first time, I decided to adopt an “official” method to clean my AirPods. I opted for simplicity by ordering the Belkin brand cleaning kit from the Apple Online Store with my eyes closed. An initiative that I quickly regretted…
In the box you will find two bottles, a scraping wand and a microfiber cloth for wiping. Simply follow the instructions without asking too many questions with a sequence of 11 steps to clean the AirPods in five to ten minutes. At the end, Belkin recommends waiting 120 minutes (two hours) before using again for the best possible result.
After careful cleaning and a 2.5 hour wait, I reinsert my AirPods 4 into my ears and suddenly disaster: the audio is extremely weak, with crackling in the background, and putting them back in the case doesn’t change anything. It appears that the liquid from the vials may have damaged the internal components.
According to the instructions, Belkin recommends inserting two drops from Bottle 1, scraping, wiping, then repeating these three steps three times in a row, for a total of six drops per AirPods. For my first cleaning with this kit, I took the precaution of only doing this step once. This means that the problem is not caused by too much product on my part.
After an hour of fiddling and searching the internet, the sound from my AirPods began to gradually return. At first very weak, it then worked better on the left earphone than on the right, but the noise reduction was still not operational. Eventually the sound returned to an almost normal level, although I have the unpleasant feeling that it is no longer as good as before the cleaning. But in the editorial office, my comrades found nothing abnormal.
Conclusion: more fear than harm
In conclusion, it is important to note that AirPods work again. It is possible that this mishap is due to waiting too short before reuse, resulting in drying that is not completely finished. Belkin should consider doubling the waiting time indicated on the instructions, because clearly, two hours (even 2 hours 30 minutes) is not enough.
What you should remember from this story is that it is strongly recommended not to insert liquid into AirPods, even if it is officially sold on the Apple Store as a cleaning product. This helps avoid scares like this and maintains optimal audio quality, without that unpleasant feeling of diminished sound quality.
If you decide to purchase this kit anyway, we recommend leaving the AirPods out of the case for at least 3-4 hours after cleaning. This seems like the best way to avoid a bad experience.
Otherwise, we talked about another cleaning kit, this time dry, which allows you to scrub AirPods, but also the iPhone or the Mac at a great price.
Finally, you can also follow Apple’s official tutorial to clean the grilles of your AirPods with a toothbrush (and water). Here is a video summary below:
