How to Clean an AirPods Case
A printed AirPods case picks up more than you would think, because it lives in a pocket or the bottom of a bag rather than on a desk. The good news is that the whole routine is a dry cloth.
The method
Take the AirPods case out of the printed shell first. Then:
- Wipe the shell with a clean, dry cloth — microfiber or soft cotton.
- For anything the dry cloth will not shift, dampen the cloth with water only, wring it out until it is barely wet, and wipe in one direction.
- Let it dry fully, inside and out, before the AirPods case goes back in.
The gloss finish is smooth, so there is no grain holding dust the way a textured surface would. Most marks come off dry.
What not to use
Nothing with alcohol in it
Hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, surface spray, nail polish remover. On a dye-sublimation print, high-alcohol liquids lift the print off — not stain it, lift it — and the pale patch where the design used to be does not come back.
This matters more on an AirPods case than on anything else we make, because it is the item most likely to be in the same pocket as a bottle of sanitizer.
No abrasive paste, no magic eraser
Both work by taking a layer off the surface. On a gloss finish that layer is the shine, and the case goes cloudy in patches instead of clean.
The carabiner and the hinge
Grit collects around the carabiner loop and in the hinge gap. A dry toothbrush gets into both in about ten seconds. Do not push a damp cloth into the hinge — it is a narrow gap and it takes a long time to dry properly.
The charging port cutout
Lint gathers in the cutout because the case goes in and out of pockets. Blow it out or lift it with the corner of a dry cloth. Nothing metal, and nothing pushed into the port itself.
Why the print does not wear off
The design is applied by dye sublimation, which means the color goes into the surface of the polycarbonate rather than sitting on top of it as a film or a wrap. There is no printed layer to peel at the corners, and nothing to scuff off where your fingers rest.
What it does not like is prolonged direct sunlight — a dashboard or a windowsill over weeks rather than hours. That is true of any printed plastic.
See the AirPods range, or read which AirPods do I have.