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Buadhai

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2018
1,118
434
Korat, Thailand
I've had a pair of the first generation AirPods for quite some time now. Never had a problem with them. Within the last few days they suddenly disconnect at seemingly random times. I have reset and re-paired them with my iPhone XR (iOS 14.0.1) but that hasn't helped.

The odd thing is that it seems to happen only at home. The other day I was on a Skype call and finally gave up and used the iPhone audio because the AirPods kept disconnecting. Later I was listening to music at a coffee shop and they never disconnected. This morning I was listening to music on my front porch while putting on my shoes. They disconnected. I reconnected and went cycling. No disconnect while on the road, but as soon as I got home and sat down to remove my shoes, they disconnected again.

While my home has some of the usual BlueTooth interference suspects, none of them are new and nothing has changed position in the house in quite some time.

Any ideas?
 

Buadhai

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2018
1,118
434
Korat, Thailand
Clearly, not much interest in this. Am I the only one?

Anyway, the Air Pods work fine with my iMac (2017). Never disconnect.

However, they also disconnect from my iPad mini 4 (iOS 14.0.1).
 
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DiamondarBoss

macrumors 65816
Jul 8, 2020
1,389
2,414
Dallas, TX.
Clearly, not much interest in this. Am I the only one?

Anyway, the Air Pods work fine with my iMac (2017). Never disconnect.

However, they also disconnect from my iPad mini 4 (iOS 14.0.1).
Mine also disconnect from my 2020 iPad Pro on iPadOS 14.0.1, but reconnect less than 5 seconds later. It’s is weird, and an inconvenience at most. Hopefully this is fixed with iPadOS 14.1 or 14.2.
 

Buadhai

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2018
1,118
434
Korat, Thailand
Mine also disconnect from my 2020 iPad Pro on iPadOS 14.0.1, but reconnect less than 5 seconds later. It’s is weird, and an inconvenience at most. Hopefully this is fixed with iPadOS 14.1 or 14.2.

Interesting. Sometimes mine make a sound as if they had reconnected, but when I look at the Bluetooth settings they still show as disconnected. I always have to manually reconnect mine.
 
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MrGuder

macrumors 68040
Nov 30, 2012
3,049
2,024
Your not the only one having this issue. I also have the 1st gen AirPods and ever since the last firmware 6.8.8 I have been losing connection on my right AirPod. I went to YouTube and found this video and it’s exactly what I’ve been experiencing. There are my many comments of users having the same issue.

I called Apple support twice about the issue and all they could do is offer a replacement bud for $80.00 I’m not paying that and it probably won’t fix the issue since it’s the firmware.

Apparently it will never be fixed until Apple released another firmware correct this issue but Apple has abandoned further support of the 1st gen AirPods.

 

weeesss

macrumors 6502
Oct 24, 2017
349
187
I have been noticing this lately with my Airpod Pros. I was on the phone yesterday with them and it switched audio back to the phone and I had to manually select the Airpods again under Bluetooth. I noticed after doing that later in the afternoon, my setting for the left Airpod switched back from Siri to the Transparency setting. I am not sure when the last firmware update was and mine is on the most recent. I may have to contact Applevif it keeps up.
 

Buadhai

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2018
1,118
434
Korat, Thailand
I wish I could figure this out. This morning I put my AirPods on for a cycling workout and before I got outside to put my shoes on they disconnected. I reconnected and started playing some music. They disconnected before I got my shoes laced. Then I did 30 minutes on the bicycle and they stayed connected the entire ride.

When I got home I sat down at my iMac. As happens about 50% of the time, my Watch S6 would not unlock the Mac. Just before I started typing my password the Air Pods disconnected.

I can't help but think there must be some interference in my home which causes the Air Pods to disconnect and which prevents my watch from unlocking the Mac.

What could it be?
 

estabya

macrumors 6502a
Jun 28, 2014
691
730
I wonder if it could be a bug with the auto switching between devices that was introduced with iOS 14. It might only happen when you are near other devices that it could connect to.
 
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Buadhai

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2018
1,118
434
Korat, Thailand
I wonder if it could be a bug with the auto switching between devices that was introduced with iOS 14. It might only happen when you are near other devices that it could connect to.
Didn't know about that, but it's certainly a huge possibility. In the house we have a ton of BlueTooth devices. When I'm on my bike it's only the phone and the watch. (I play music from the phone, not the watch.)
 

MrGuder

macrumors 68040
Nov 30, 2012
3,049
2,024
For me it has nothing to do with home interference because mine connect and disconnect while away from home. I really feel like it's firmware because before the 6.8.8 update mine were working perfectly and never disconnected.
 

Novius89

macrumors regular
Nov 1, 2020
248
142
With my iPhone 8, they connected, and show they were connected, but didn’t play anything.
then I couldn’t connect them anymore, and needed to pair them again.

since I have my iPhone 11, they just disconnect and I connect them again, and it works for hours/days/weeks.
 

Buadhai

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 15, 2018
1,118
434
Korat, Thailand
I wonder if it could be a bug with the auto switching between devices that was introduced with iOS 14. It might only happen when you are near other devices that it could connect to.

Didn't know about that, but it's certainly a huge possibility. In the house we have a ton of BlueTooth devices. When I'm on my bike it's only the phone and the watch. (I play music from the phone, not the watch.)

I tried turning off everything that has to do with handoff and automatic switching. Didn't help. They worked throughout my workout this morning and disconnected as soon as I walked through the front door. Exasperating.
 
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