One earbud is quiet, muffled or not working
Good news: it's usually earwax, fit or a phone setting, not a broken earbud. Most people are sorted by step 3.
- Swap ears: put the left earbud in your right ear and the right one in your left. If the quiet side is still the same ear, it's the fit or earwax, so clean the tip and try a different size. If the problem moved with the earbud, keep going.
- Check your phone's balance setting. If the slider has been nudged to one side, it sounds exactly like a broken earbud. On iPhone, go to Settings → Accessibility → Audio & Visual. On Android, go to Settings → Accessibility → Audio adjustment. Make sure the slider is in the middle.
- Clean the tip and the nozzle (the small tube the gel tip sits on). Pull off the gel tip and wash it in warm, soapy water, then rinse it and let it dry completely. Gently brush the nozzle with a soft, dry toothbrush or cotton swab. Keep water away from the earbud itself.
- Charge both earbuds fully, for about 1.5 hours.
- Reset your earbuds using the steps in Reset your earbuds. This fixes the case where one earbud has lost its link to the other.
- Try them with a different phone, tablet or laptop. If one side is still quiet there too, that earbud needs our help.
Hearing crackling or static? Try playing a song you've downloaded instead of streaming one. If it gets worse when you walk away from your phone, it's the Bluetooth connection, not the earbud. See "They keep cutting out" in Pairing & audio.