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Best suggestion to clean out iPhone 5 mic? (chocolate embedded)

iParis

iParis

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 29, 2008
3,671
31
New Mexico
So one night last month I went to sleep sooooo stoned, right? Like I fell asleep eating hershey's kisses and in my highness laid on them all night, causing them to melt all over my phone. I woke up to see chocolate wrapped around my lightning port, inside it, inside the mic and part of the headphone jack, over the home button, etc, etc. Well I cleaned it and sucked out as much as I could (this just sounds more and more stupid as I go), but I don't think it's ever going to be perfect again. I'm only about 10% audible when not on speaker and the sound is a little cluttered even when on speaker. I took it to the Apple Store yesterday and they couldn't replace it for free (figured since I was a preorder and already had one), but they blew it out and tested in the back at least and it was still doing it, though I'm sure it's a little better. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions on how to clean out the bottom internal mic to the left of the lightning port?

Any input's appreciated, thank you! Oh, and totally not trolling.
 
Last edited:
Sorry I laughed so much at your post.

But I'd recommend going to town with a can of air and a soft toothbrush.
 
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Ahh, if I had a nickel for every time thats happened!

Unfortunately I can't help you because what I do is replicate the same situation and think of a way to clean it out. But I can never remember how... :(

/s

I'd probably edit your post again. There is information that isn't required that will hinder good answers.
 
Roessnakhan said:
Sorry I laughed so much at your post.

But I'd recommend going to town with a can of air and a soft toothbrush.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll probably try that, as simply air duster will probably not do it enough.

carjakester said:
looks like you might be too chocolate. i couldn't help but to snicker at your post.
Click to expand...

Haha, totally don't blame you.

cynics said:
Ahh, if I had a nickel for every time thats happened!

Unfortunately I can't help you because what I do is replicate the same situation and think of a way to clean it out. But I can never remember how... :(

/s

I'd probably edit your post again. There is information that isn't required that will hinder good answers.
Click to expand...

Eh, I don't mind if there's a mix of comical replies. Maybe it wasn't exactly required, but then I have people asking how I got chocolate in my phone, haha..

The Doctor11 said:
Well that's interesting... I'm not real sure what to do about it. The air and tooth brush seems like a good idea.
Click to expand...

Me either, right? It's just a situation I never expected to be in.
 
Whenever I get dust in between my Mac keys I use tape. Scotch tape might work? Never tried getting chocolate out though.
 
Duct tape can pretty much fix anything. It may just help pull the offending material out. :cool:

If that doesn't help.... suck like crazy!!
 
As mentioned, I'd go at it with a can of air and a soft toothbrush. If that doesn't work, or if the chocolate isn't budging, perhaps melting it a touch with a hair drier on the LOWEST setting would help.

Chocolate melts between 86° F. (30° C) and 90° F. (32° C), so very little heat would be required.
 
just thought of this, maybe melting it so it would start to drip out, and getting a vacuum or something to like pull it out more and wipe it away.
 
Here's a reasonably serious approach: They make "solder suckers" for vacuuming molten solder off circuit boards (cheap ones are spring-loaded, more than good enough for this purpose, the expensive ones have electric vacuum pumps). Anyone who does circuit board repair on a regular basis is likely to have one (I have one, though I haven't done that kind of repair in over 15 years). The problem is similar - small area, fairly high-viscosity liquid... IF it was possible to get the chocolate soft without doing further damage, that just might work. Maybe using a small halogen lamp as the heat source?

Or here's a less serious, but just crazy enough to work approach: Biological agents - chocolate-munching bacteria or yeast, cockroaches, ants... this is the CSI pick-the-bones-clean method.
 
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A very small amount of heat from a hair drier and some mini cotton buds/swabs (make your own with cotton wool and something thin like a wooden toothpick).

Work slowly and carefully and mop the chocolate with the cotton wool.
 
Use a Milwaukee Sawzall. Just having fun. I need to keep the balance of useless/useful answers!!
 
iParis said:
So one night last month I went to sleep sooooo stoned, right? Like I fell asleep eating hershey's kisses and in my highness laid on them all night, causing them to melt all over my phone. I woke up to see chocolate wrapped around my lightning port, inside it, inside the mic and part of the headphone jack, over the home button, etc, etc. Well I cleaned it and sucked out as much as I could (this just sounds more and more stupid as I go), but I don't think it's ever going to be perfect again. I'm only about 10% audible when not on speaker and the sound is a little cluttered even when on speaker. I took it to the Apple Store yesterday and they couldn't replace it for free (figured since I was a preorder and already had one), but they blew it out and tested in the back at least and it was still doing it, though I'm sure it's a little better. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions on how to clean out the bottom internal mic to the left of the lightning port?

Any input's appreciated, thank you! Oh, and totally not trolling.
Click to expand...
Something similar happened to me. I had chocolate and my phone in the same pocket without realizing. When I found out, I rushed to the sink, got a paper towel and got it wet. I also had to remove my case but you might be able to try to heating up the chocolate to melt it enough to clean it up but do not use the microwave or oven or anything like that. Put it in the sun on a hot day and then clean it with wet paper towels
 
Ultimately, you should take it apart (or have someone else take it apart if you are not comfortable) and clean it out properly. The holes are so small that it's really the only way you're going to be successful.
 
iParis said:
So one night last month I went to sleep sooooo stoned, right? Like I fell asleep eating hershey's kisses and in my highness laid on them all night, causing them to melt all over my phone. I woke up to see chocolate wrapped around my lightning port, inside it, inside the mic and part of the headphone jack, over the home button, etc, etc. Well I cleaned it and sucked out as much as I could (this just sounds more and more stupid as I go), but I don't think it's ever going to be perfect again. I'm only about 10% audible when not on speaker and the sound is a little cluttered even when on speaker. I took it to the Apple Store yesterday and they couldn't replace it for free (figured since I was a preorder and already had one), but they blew it out and tested in the back at least and it was still doing it, though I'm sure it's a little better. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions on how to clean out the bottom internal mic to the left of the lightning port?

Any input's appreciated, thank you! Oh, and totally not trolling.
Click to expand...
chilling the chocolate will make it more brittle and allow you to scrape it better and won't be liquid like if you used the heat method described in other posts.
 
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