Question :

Today, my son was using our iPad 2 with his headphones on, and when he tried to pull out the plug, it broke…

Now half of the broken 3.5mm audio plug is stuck inside the audio-port of the iPad. It’s so deep inside, I can’t see a way to grasp it with a pair of tweezers and get it out…

What can I do ?

Answer :

Normally, I would say : “take your iPad to an Apple Store and have them get it out”. That’s the way Apple would want you to handle this…

…but if you make sure you’ll be very gentle not to scratch the iPad, you might give it a try yourself ( AT YOUR OWN RISK !! ) :

– first make sure that what you see stuck inside the 3.5mm audio port looks ‘ringed’ ; meaning a (copper-colored) round core, with a (black) plastic tube around it and a very thin (chrome-colored) shell around that

– then get a thick needle (a really thick one, or a safety pin ; it’s important that it will not bend or break and has a very thin and pointy end)

– put the point of the needle on the (black) plastic tube of the broken-off audio plug and very gently push it outwards, onto the (chrome-colored) shell

– if you do so in al directions very gently, the (chrome-colored) shell will come loose and will fall out if you turn the iPad upside down

– after you’ve accomplished that, get a very tiny flat-headed screwdriver (of less than 3mm width), and push it down very gently in-between the side of the audio-jack and what is left of the audio plug

– then very gently scoop out the remainder of the audio plug by using the edge of the audio-jack for leverage

– when you feel a very tiny click, the remainder of the audio-plug has come loose, and will fall out if you turn the iPad upside down

– pfff… relax… congrats… done !

😉

NOTE : do this only AT YOUR OWN RISK ! do this only if you are very gentle, very patient, and very confident, and can control yourself to stop if you encounter any additional problems !