Water Eject shortcut vs app: which to use on iPhone
Both play a low tone that may help move water near your iPhone speaker opening. The widely shared Water Eject shortcut is free and community-made. An app like Wick adds guided runs, a before-and-after sound check and extra modes. Neither removes water from inside the phone.
If your iPhone speaker sounds muffled after getting wet, there are two common ways to play a water eject tone on iPhone: the widely shared Water Eject shortcut for Apple’s Shortcuts app, or a water eject app such as Wick. Both play a low-frequency sound through the speaker. Neither can remove water from inside the phone. Here is how they differ, so you can pick the one that suits you.
What the Water Eject shortcut is
The Water Eject shortcut is a community-made shortcut, shared as an iCloud link, that plays a low tone through the iPhone speaker. It is not made or published by Apple, and there are several versions in circulation. It is free, it runs inside the Shortcuts app, and like any shortcut you can run it from the Shortcuts app, a Home Screen icon, or by asking Siri for it by name. Because it is shared outside the App Store, check where your copy comes from and what it does before you add it.
What a water eject app adds
An app is installed from the App Store and can build more around the tone. Wick, for example:
- plays a constant 165 Hz tone in its Standard mode, for 8 seconds on the free quick clean or 12 seconds plus Deep Purge with Wick Full;
- measures your speaker before and after the tone with the microphone and shows the readings side by side, including when there is no meaningful change (microphone audio is processed on the device and not saved or uploaded);
- warns you when your volume is low or audio is routed away from the iPhone speaker;
- offers extra modes with Wick Full: Deep Purge (a 100–300 Hz sweep), Earbud Mode (a 200–400 Hz tone pattern for connected wireless earbuds) and Speaker Test (a 20 Hz–20 kHz sweep);
- can be started from a Lock Screen widget, from Control Center on iOS 18 or later, or by saying “Eject water with Wick” to Siri.
Side by side
| Water Eject shortcut | Wick app | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | Community (not Apple) | Becoming Ventures, LLC, on the App Store |
| Cost | Free | First Clean & measure free; Wick Full is a one-time purchase, no subscription |
| Tone | A low-frequency tone (varies by version) | 165 Hz Standard; sweeps in Deep Purge and Earbud Mode |
| Before-and-after check | No | Yes, sound levels before and after each clean |
| How to start it | Shortcuts app, Home Screen, Siri | App, Lock Screen widget, Control Center (iOS 18+), Siri |
| Can remove water inside the phone | No | No |
Which should you use?
If you only want to play a low tone once and you are comfortable adding a shortcut from a link, the shortcut is a reasonable free option. If you want a guided run that tells you whether your volume and audio route are right, and a before-and-after reading to compare, an app like Wick does more. Either way, dry the phone first, keep the volume at a level that sounds clean, and stop if you hear crackling. The tone only helps with water near the speaker opening; results vary.
What Wick cannot do: it cannot repair physical damage, remove water from inside the phone, or diagnose whether a speaker is safe to use. Results vary. Avoid repeated cleaning if the phone seems damaged or still wet inside.