About SoundTowel

SoundTowel is a free speaker cleaner that runs in your browser. It plays generated tones through your phone's own speaker: a steady and pulsing 165 Hz tone for water in the speaker, low sweeps for loose dust, and a left, right and full-range stereo speaker test. A browser sound level meter reads the microphone to estimate how loud a room is. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is installed.

How the guides are written

Advice about wet phones follows the device makers' support documents first. Apple, for example, tells iPhone owners not to use rice, external heat, compressed air or cotton swabs, and to wait at least five hours before charging with a cable. Where a page repeats instructions like these, it links to the source and says when it was last checked.

What sound can and can't do

A speaker moves air to make sound, and a low tone moves the most. That movement can push droplets and loose particles out of the grille. It can't dry the inside of a phone, repair a damaged speaker or clear lint that is pressed into the mesh. Pages on this site say which problem needs something other than a tone.

The SoundTowel app

The SoundTowel app is planned for iOS and Android and has not been released. It is built around a 7-day cleaning program with a new sound each day and a 30-second Turbo clean, and adds a tone generator, a top-and-bottom speaker test and a decibel meter. Until the app is out, this site does not link to store listings; the plan for the app is described on its own page.

Independence

SoundTowel is not affiliated with Apple, Samsung or Google. iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch are trademarks of Apple Inc.