The first time I heard mention of a Bluetooth speaker for a shower, it struck me as funny enough that I featured it as an "And finally..." item at the end of a Friday post back in 2012. But then I tried out the iShower, and I actually found it sort of nice to have a Bluetooth speaker that I could use to listen to podcasts while in the shower, as I noted in my 2013 review. My iShower lasted for about two years and then stopped working. After a few months of not having a speaker in my shower, I decided to buy another one, and I purchased an Aukey Rugged Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker on Amazon. It works okay, and the price was right (I paid $20; it currently sells for $22), but the tire design is a little too cute — especially because it results in buttons that are very difficult to find. A few weeks ago, iClever sent me a free review unit of its iClever IC-BTS03 Waterproof Outdoor/Shower Bluetooth Speaker, which only costs $29.99 on Amazon. I've been using it for a few weeks, and I like it.
Design
As you can see, the unit itself is a thick rectangle, almost a square. It is 3.75" across, 3.5" from top to bottom, and 2" thick. The front and back are hard plastic. The edges are a hard rubber, and the buttons on top are molded into the rubber. A blue LED light on the front illuminates when the unit is on. If powered off and charging, the LED is red, and it turns green when finished charging. If powered on and charging, both the blue and red LEDs light up, producing sort of a purple color.
A rubber handle on the top right makes it easy to carry this speaker.
If you lift a tab on the left side of the speaker, you will see two ports: a micro USB port for charging, and an AUX port. I didn't use the AUX port, and instead relied on its Bluetooth, version 3.0+EDR, to connect to my iPhone.
The button of the speaker has a screw hole that you could use to mount the speaker to a tripod or something similar.
iClever says that the 2000 mAh battery works for 8 to 10 hours on a single charge, which seems about right in my tests. It takes 3 to 4 hours to charge the speaker.
Dust Proof and Waterproof
The key feature of this speaker is that it is waterproof. It is rated IP65, which is a rating on the Ingress Protection scale established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The first of the two digits after the "IP" refers to the protection against solid objects getting inside of the device on a 0 to 6 scale, and the second digit refers to the protection against liquids getting in to the device on a 0 to 9K scale. You can see the full scale here on Wikipedia.
For this device the "6" is the highest level, meaning complete protection against dust getting inside of the device. So you can use this device outside without fear of sand or dirt getting inside and damaging the electronics.
The second number is a "5" which means protection against water jets aimed at the device for at least three minutes. This is lower than a "6" which would be protection against powerful jets, and is less than a "7" which means that it can go 1 meter underwater for 30 minutes. The Apple Watch has IP7 water protection, which is why it will continue to work even if you dunk your wrist in water while wearing the watch — and why some people go swimming with an Apple Watch on, although I wouldn't recommend that.
So with a "5" rating, you are not going to want to drop the iClever speaker into your tub, although if you drop it in and pick it up quickly you might be OK. But if this speaker sits on a ledge in your shower and jets of water spray it from time to time, it will be fine because it is designed to handle that.
Note that if you use the AUX port to play music using a cord instead of Bluetooth, I doubt that the unit remains water resistant because you have to open the protective flap to access that port.
Music / Podcasts
There are four buttons on the top of the device: power, volume down, play/pause and volume up. The way that I use the device is I start playing something, typically a podcast, on my iPhone. Then once in the shower I hold down the power button to turn on the speaker. The unit turns on and automatically pairs with my iPhone and then continues to play whatever my iPhone was playing.
The volume buttons are independent of the volume buttons on the iPhone — it is not a remote control for the iPhone's volume. Thus, if your iPhone volume is turned all the way up, then you can get the loudest possible sound on this speaker. But if your iPhone volume is set to around 25%, then the volume buttons on the speaker will just go between 0% and 25%.
You can also long press on the volume up or volume down buttons to advance to the next or previous track.
The quality of the speaker is fine, but nothing special. The sound is clear, but I in a quiet room when I can really hear the quality of music, I find it a little tinny with certain songs, although to be fair with other songs it sounds perfectly fine. But in the shower, when the music is competing with the sound of a shower anyway, it is more than fine. And since I virtually always use this speaker to listen to podcasts that I play on my iPhone using the Overcast app, most of my use of this device over the last few weeks has been with voices, which sound great.
I've been mostly using this as a speaker in the shower, but you could also use it as a portable outdoor speaker, and you don't have to worry about it getting wet from rain or splashes. It can get reasonably loud — not loud enough for a big party, but it would be fine for a smaller gathering, especially if you are just looking for background music. The specifications say that the speaker is 50mm diameter with 5W RMS.
Phone calls
You can also use this speaker to answer the phone and serve as a speakerphone. I cannot begin to imagine using it for this function while in the shower — and hopefully you don't take many phone calls in the shower either. But if you are using this as an outside speaker, perhaps next to a pool while you are swimming and your iPhone is located in a safe location on a table, it is nice that you can answer calls using this device. When the phone rings, you just long press on the play/pause button. The other caller will definitely be able to tell from the sound quality that you are speaking on an inexpensive speakerphone, but it works.
You can also place a phone call from this speaker, but in a limited way. If you long press on the play/pause button, the speaker will make your iPhone redial the last number that you called. I suppose that this feature could be useful in some situations. For me, this function just made me cautious that I was pressing the right button while using the speaker in the shower. I was afraid that I would intend to long-press on the + button to advance to the next track, but instead I would long-press on the play/pause button and I'd call someone from my shower.
Conclusion
This is a nice, durable, inexpensive speaker that can work even when exposed to jets of water. I'll admit that listening to music or podcasts in the shower is an extravagance, but for only $30 it is an extravagance that you can afford. And it works well as a portable outdoor speaker because you don't have to worry about dust or splashes. I see that there are other speakers for sale on Amazon that cost about the same and that are similarly resistant to water (although some are only rated IP54, not IP65) and I haven't done a broad test of waterproof speakers. But I can say that I like the design of this speaker better than the more expensive iShower that I reviewed in 2013 because it is more compact and the rubber and hard plastic makes it more durable. I also like it better than the an Aukey Rugged Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker that I have been using since last November because the buttons are easier to press and the square shape makes it more sturdy.
Click here to order the iClever IC-BTS03 Waterproof Outdoor/Shower Bluetooth Speaker from Amazon ($29.99).
