Have a headphone plug break inside your phone? Follow along for several ways to remove a broken headphone plug from your iPhone or another smartphone.

If you have an iPhone SE or 6s or earlier, or another smartphone with a headphone port, it can be a tricky problem to remove a broken headphone plug that’s stuck in your phone. Below, we’ll look at several strategies to safely extract a headphone without damaging your iPhone.

Note: Taking your iPhone with a broken plug to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider may help you make up your mind if you’d like to attempt one of the options below at your own risk or pay for a repair. Depending on how the plug is broken, Apple may have to replace your entire device.

How to remove a broken headphone plug from your iPhone

If the broken plug is sticking out

  • If the portion of the broken plug that is stuck extends past your iPhone but you can’t pull it out with your fingers, try to remove it with a pair of small pliers. You can try a pair of tweezers, but it may be tough to get enough grip on the plug.
  • Another option is to use a dab of super glue to reconnect the two broken pieces of the headphone plug. Let the glue set, then give a pull to see if you can get it out (just make sure not to slop glue around your iPhone 😅).

If the broken plug isn’t sticking out

  • If there’s no way to try and pull out the broken headphone plug with pliers, an extraction tool is another option. iFixit’s headphone plug extractor sells for $25. The company notes the tool is made specifically for removing broken headphone plugs but is for repair professionals, so use it at your own risk.

For more help with getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how-to guide as well as the following articles:

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