How it works
How watereject works
A plain explanation of why a low tone clears a wet speaker, and where its usefulness ends.
Inside an iPhone speaker
An iPhone speaker is a moving-coil driver: a light diaphragm attached to a coil of wire, sitting in the field of a small magnet. When the audio signal flows through the coil, the diaphragm moves in and out and pushes the air in front of it. That air leaves the phone through the speaker grille, a fine mesh in the bottom edge (and through the earpiece slot at the top on models with stereo speakers).
The mesh is there to keep dust and liquid out. When water gets into it, surface tension holds a film or droplets across the tiny holes. Sound has to push through water instead of air, and you hear it as a muffled, crackly or quiet speaker.
Why a low frequency works best
For the same loudness, a speaker has to move further to produce a low note than a high one. A low tone therefore makes the diaphragm travel through its longest stroke, again and again, many times per second. Each stroke is a small pulse of air pressure against the water held in the mesh.
Too low, and a phone speaker simply cannot reproduce the note at a useful volume. Too high, and the movement becomes tiny. Around 165 Hz sits between the two: it is the frequency most water eject tools have settled on, and the one this site uses by default. There is no single perfect value, and neighbouring frequencies work too.
Apple uses the same principle on Apple Watch. After you turn off Water Lock, the watch plays sounds to clear water from its speaker. iPhone has no built-in version, which is what this page is for.
What each mode does
| Mode | Sound | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Eject | 165 Hz steady | First try, for most splashes, rain and showers. |
| Sweep | 120 to 500 Hz, rising and falling | The speaker is still muffled after two runs of Eject. |
| Pulse | 165 Hz, 0.4 s on, 0.25 s off | A drop seems stuck; the repeated start gives a sharper push. |
| Custom | 80 to 1000 Hz | Experimenting, or checking the speaker sounds clean afterwards. |
Every tone fades in and out over a few milliseconds so the speaker never gets a hard click. The tone is created on your phone as audio data at the moment you press Start and played through Safari’s media player, which is why it keeps playing even if the screen dims.
What the tone can and cannot do
- It can push water out of the speaker grille and the earpiece slot.
- It works on any phone with a speaker, not only iPhone.
- It cannot dry the Lightning or USB-C port, the microphones or the inside of the phone.
- It cannot repair corrosion or liquid damage that has already happened.
- It will not clear water when audio is going to AirPods, a Bluetooth speaker or CarPlay. Disconnect them first.
Is it safe for the speaker?
The tone is an ordinary sound played at the volume you choose, through the same amplifier and speaker that play music and ringtones. Phones limit their own maximum output, and the tool stops automatically after 15, 30 or 60 seconds. Running it a few times in a row is fine; if the speaker crackles badly or the sound stays distorted after the phone is fully dry, stop and have it checked, as the problem is no longer water.
The tone is low and loud. Keep the phone away from your ear while it plays, and be considerate of people and pets nearby.