AirPods battery

[skillwill]

[@ Mods: please move if this is in the wrong place]

Love my AirPods way more than I ever thought I would, no marketing or review does them justice, you just have to use them in person.

That said (and this isn’t a complaint, I’m merely curious), is there a reason the battery on my left AirPod drains much quicker than my right one? Does one do something the other doesn’t? I’ve only used my AirPods together so far, so they’ve both had exactly the same usage but my left is on 13% and right is on 24%.

Thanks!

 

[Gav2k]

I’m guessing the left one is the one you put in first?!

 

[scottcampbell]

I've found that my AirPod batteries drain a lot faster when I'm using mic.

I've heard that even when you have both AirPods in, only one microphone is used at a time, so that could be causing your battery discrepancy.

If you're not using any microphone features, perhaps you're performing the gestures on one EarPod, causing more drain?

 

[Starship67]

I’m guessing the left one is the one you put in first?!

That wouldn’t make that big of a difference. I would do a reset and repair.

 

[skillwill]

I've found that my AirPod batteries drain a lot faster when I'm using mic.

I've heard that even when you have both AirPods in, only one microphone is used at a time, so that could be causing your battery discrepancy.

If you're not using any microphone features, perhaps you're performing the gestures on one EarPod, causing more drain?

Yep been using the mic quite a bit and if that’s true I guess that would explain it.

I’ll give it a few more cycles and if things stay the same I’ll have a look at replacing!

 

[AZhappyjack]

I don't use them for music... only for talking on my phone while driving... I am "left-eared", so that's the AirPod that I use most often... when it runs down, then I use the right AirPod... in my experience each seems to last about the same amount of time/usage... but I've wondered about the long-term effect of using one AirPod more than the other... so far, I have no issues.

 

[TonyK]

There is a setting to use both mics, one or the other. You might go to Settings -> Bluetooth and look at the (i) for the AirPods to see how your pods are configured.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I was "fortunate" to get my hands on a pair when they first came out. I ended up having to go though 3 exchanges over a year until I finally go a pair that charged evenly. I don't know if your issue is draining evenly or charging evenly, but my first 3 pair all would have one bud that would charge at a slower rate than the other, or even not all all. Typically the buds were perfect for the first month then gradually started to charge wonkily until eventually it would barely charge at all.

I've had my current pair since the end of Nov and they still charge and discharge pretty even so (knock on wood) I finally got a good pair.

 

[AlphaHumanus]

I've found that my AirPod batteries drain a lot faster when I'm using mic.

I've heard that even when you have both AirPods in, only one microphone is used at a time, so that could be causing your battery discrepancy.

If you're not using any microphone features, perhaps you're performing the gestures on one EarPod, causing more drain?

This.

I’ve had mine for 10 months, with at least 4 hours usage a day. I used just the left for about 3 months solid before I thought about battery “balance.” That said, I haven’t noticed any imbalance. To echo scottcampbell, that microphone is the culprit on uneven battery drain. On my “music only” work nights, they die almost simultaneously.