AirPods case bad standby battery life

[NauticalDan]

Here's my log since I turned off Automatic Ear Detection and the Double Tap function. It's only been just under 24 hours since I took the case off the charger, so still too early to draw any conclusions. However, after about 22 hours standby and 60 min use, the case is at 92. Previously, after the same amount of standby time and only 30 min use, my case battery level was at 81%.

Again, don't believe this info is all that important until the battery runs to 0 since I've seen variation before and I think the battery meter is just inaccruate and you have to look at total use and standby times over the entire charge cycle, not just a day.

Mon 1300 - AirPods 100 / case 100
Tues 0700 - AirPods 100 / case 100
(60 min use, music)
Tues 0800 - AirPods 82 / case 100
Tues 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 92

 

[Lihp8270]

Here's my log since I turned off Automatic Ear Detection and the Double Tap function. It's only been just under 24 hours since I took the case off the charger, so still too early to draw any conclusions. However, after about 22 hours standby and 60 min use, the case is at 92. Previously, after the same amount of standby time and only 30 min use, my case battery level was at 81%.

Again, don't believe this info is all that important until the battery runs to 0 since I've seen variation before and I think the battery meter is just inaccruate and you have to look at total use and standby times over the entire charge cycle, not just a day.

Mon 1300 - AirPods 100 / case 100
Tues 0700 - AirPods 100 / case 100
(60 min use, music)
Tues 0800 - AirPods 82 / case 100
Tues 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 92

Interesting.

Is this *so far* the best result you have had? When I finish this cycle. I will try that next and see if my results match yours.
[doublepost=1483473333][/doublepost]But as you say. There are variations. Discharge rate averages 2% per hour for me. But I had 6 hours where it drops 1% then 2 hours later it drops 13% and the average works out the same.

 

[NauticalDan]

Interesting.
Is this *so far* the best result you have had? When I finish this cycle. I will try that next and see if my results match yours.

It's the best I've had so far. 1 hour of music playback is about 5% of the case charge. So sitting at 92% after that much use in almost a 24 hour period is pretty good. (about 5% for use, 3% for standby).

Interesting.
But as you say. There are variations. Discharge rate averages 2% per hour for me. But I had 6 hours where it drops 1% then 2 hours later it drops 13% and the average works out the same.

Exactly. In my last log (posted in this thread about a day ago) I had two periods of about 15-20 hours where the case discharged only 3%. But then over the course of the 3-4 days there was large drops. Should be able to know by tomorrow afternoon if this is looking significantly different (or if I'm just on the verge of a large drop to average it out to be the same battery performance as before).

 

[Lihp8270]

It's the best I've had so far. 1 hour of music playback is about 5% of the case charge. So sitting at 92% after that much use in almost a 24 hour period is pretty good. (about 5% for use, 3% for standby).



Exactly. In my last log (posted in this thread about a day ago) I had two periods of about 15-20 hours where the case discharged only 3%. But then over the course of the 3-4 days there was large drops. Should be able to know by tomorrow afternoon if this is looking significantly different (or if I'm just on the verge of a large drop to average it out to be the same battery performance as before).

I wonder if closing the case is making some AirPods think they are in somebodies ear. So Bluetooth is shutting off but ear sensors are keeping them on?

 

[NauticalDan]

Well I just did a check 3 hours later and the case dropped from 92% to 84% with no use. So this discharge log isn't really looking a lot different than the past ones so far.

Mon 1300 - AirPods 100 / case 100
Tues 0700 - AirPods 100 / case 100
(60 min use, music)
Tues 0800 - AirPods 82 / case 100
Tues 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 92
Tues 1400 - AirPods 100 / case 84

 

[Lihp8270]

I turned the same settings off and mine and ended up with a 12% drop. ;/

 

[Ralfi]

Too many percentages in this thread. Feel like I'm in maths class.

Interesting to see the updates that come from the next IOS upgrade & weather the Airpods are included. Hopefully those with charging concerns get a fix.

 

[teidon]

One kind of strange thing I noticed about the ear detection is that if you have one Pod in your ear and the other out of the case and start playing music, the music comes from both of them. Also if you have both Pods in the case and the lid is open, they will play music. I kind of expected that taking one Pod out of your ear would disable it so that music would come out from one Pod only. Also seems somewhat useless that they play music while they are in the case but maybe someone can figure out a good use case for that.

Also as a technical detail the Pods can be in one of three states: "In ear", "Out of ear" or "In case".

 

[Lihp8270]

Also as a technical detail the Pods can be in one of three states: "In ear", "Out of ear" or "In case".

I would go with 4

In Ear, Out of ear, In open case, In closed case

 

[tomaustin44]

So after a week with my second set of Airpods, three full charge cycles later and I was still only getting 48 hours out of my case before needing a charge (with about 1-2hr playback per day). Resets hadn't worked so begrudgingly I returned them and got given set number three! Will give them a good test and see how things go Third time lucky.

In other news, have just read this Guardian article... note the part that says 'AppleInsider backs up Dickson’s claim of a 10 January start-date, saying its own site-tracker has shown a recent spike of visits from devices apparently running iOS 10.3...'

If the Airpods battery problems that people have been seeing are software/firmware related it's likely an update will be shipped with 10.3, which isn't too long away (allegedly!). A glimmer of hope for those having trouble perhaps.

 

[Lihp8270]

So after a week with my second set of Airpods, three full charge cycles later and I was still only getting 48 hours out of my case before needing a charge (with about 1-2hr playback per day). Resets hadn't worked so begrudgingly I returned them and got given set number three! Will give them a good test and see how things go Third time lucky.

In other news, have just read this Guardian article... note the part that says 'AppleInsider backs up Dickson’s claim of a 10 January start-date, saying its own site-tracker has shown a recent spike of visits from devices apparently running iOS 10.3...'

If the Airpods battery problems that people have been seeing are software/firmware related it's likely an update will be shipped with 10.3, which isn't too long away (allegedly!). A glimmer of hope for those having trouble perhaps.

Do you have a link to the article?

 

[teidon]

I would go with 4

In Ear, Out of ear, In open case, In closed case

It is the case's state to be open or closed. The Pods have those three states. They can recognise when they are in the case or in the ear. Also if you close the case, the Pod's state sometimes changes to Unknown before they stop communicating.

You can see the communication and some other things if you use the Console.app on a Mac. Enter in the Search field something like "bluetooth".

 

[tomaustin44]

Do you have a link to the article?

Haha oh yes that would be useful wouldn't it!! Here we go https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...atre-mode-for-use-in-cinemas?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

[Lihp8270]

It is the case's state to be open or closed. The Pods have those three states. They can recognise when they are in the case or in the ear. Also if you close the case, the Pod's state sometimes changes to Unknown before they stop communicating.

You can see the communication and some other things if you use the Console.app on a Mac. Enter in the Search field something like "bluetooth".

The case has no ability to communicate. Only via the AirPods themselves. Which is why you cannot get the case battery level without the pods in.

It will be easy to know what state they are in.

 

[Eduardboon]

After wearing my pods for 15 minutes without any sound playback I heard the "power down" chime and they disconnected. I had to manually click on them in the bluetooth menu to pair them again.

It seems they go into a low-power mode after 15 minutes then; so as long as your airpods need a 15-minute charge I would guess you would be fine.

 

[jasonklee]

After unpairing and re-pairing for the 11th time, they seem okay now I hope guess maybe I don't know. 9:30 PM, both AirPods and case were 100%, 12 hours later, both still 100%.

 

[Lihp8270]

After wearing my pods for 15 minutes without any sound playback I heard the "power down" chime and they disconnected. I had to manually click on them in the bluetooth menu to pair them again.

It seems they go into a low-power mode after 15 minutes then; so as long as your airpods need a 15-minute charge I would guess you would be fine.

So we have confirmed, when the case is closed. Bluetooth communication stops.
If there's no playback for 15 minutes, then they "power down" until woken up.

Which points to them not shutting down correctly while on charge

 

[rubengc86]

After unpairing and re-pairing for the 11th time, they seem okay now I hope guess maybe I don't know. 9:30 PM, both AirPods and case were 100%, 12 hours later, both still 100%.

WTF! 11th time? Are you kidding or what?

 

[NauticalDan]

After unpairing and re-pairing for the 11th time, they seem okay now I hope guess maybe I don't know. 9:30 PM, both AirPods and case were 100%, 12 hours later, both still 100%.

That isn't a sign they are OK unfortunately. It's pretty common for anyone with this issue (which I think is almost everyone) that they sometimes show no drain for periods of up to 20+ hours. If you keep going though, it'll drop pretty quickly and the average will be about a 20-25% case drain per day without use if you look at the entire period from fully charged to fully discharged.

 

[jasonklee]

That isn't a sign they are OK unfortunately. It's pretty common for anyone with this issue (which I think is almost everyone) that they sometimes show no drain for periods of up to 20+ hours. If you keep going though, it'll drop pretty quickly and the average will be about a 20-25% case drain per day without use if you look at the entire period from fully charged to fully discharged.

I'm certainly skeptical. My hopes are very muted and I'm keeping an eye. As of 3:45 PM, I'm down 1%.

Wife dropped to 80% from 100%, last charge being early Sunday. She's a happy camper since day 1.

 

[Lihp8270]

That isn't a sign they are OK unfortunately. It's pretty common for anyone with this issue (which I think is almost everyone) that they sometimes show no drain for periods of up to 20+ hours. If you keep going though, it'll drop pretty quickly and the average will be about a 20-25% case drain per day without use if you look at the entire period from fully charged to fully discharged.

I wish I could get 20% per day. I'm losing roughly 40% per day

 

[0970373]

My 2nd test going until the case was pretty much depleted. I reset & repaired the case prior to the test. I have the AirPods on multiple devices via iCloud, same as my first test. Ear-detection was also on for both tests.

Hour 0: 11:44P - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 100%
Hour 3: 3:08A - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 93%
Hour 14: 2:35P - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 86%
Hour 17: 5:39P - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 76%
Hour 24: 11:12P - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 69%
Hour 27: 2:15A - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 51%
Hour 37: 12:23P - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 44%
Hour 40: 3:02P - AirPods 100% (charging), Case 34%
Hour 51: 2:40P - AirPods 91% (charging), Case 3%

I'm going to do another test and turn ear-detection off and have removed it from my MBP & ATV4.

 

[NauticalDan]

I'm going to do another test and turn ear-detection off and have removed it from my MBP & ATV4.

Thanks for sharing! There seems to be a lot of variability in the rate of drain while on standby. Some people about 20% per day, some 40-50% per day.
[doublepost=1483574382][/doublepost]Here is my updated case drain log (over a 2 day period now). Automatic Ear Detection and Double Tab function turned off:

Mon 1300 - AirPods 100 / case 100
Tues 0700 - AirPods 100 / case 100
(60 min use, music)
Tues 0800 - AirPods 82 / case 100
Tues 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 92
Tues 1400 - AirPods 100 / case 84
Tues 1600 - AirPods 100 / case 83
(30 min use, music)
Tues 1630 - AirPods 93 / case 82
Wed 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 70
(120 min use, music)
Wed 0800 - AirPods 63 / case 70
Wed 1530 - AirPods 100 / case 60

So at 60% case charge, I have 3.5 hours use and 47 hours standby.

With my previous log posted a day or two back in this thread (with Ear Detection and Double Tab enabled), I was at 44% case charge when I had 3 hours use and 45 hours standby (48 hours total).

It sounds like there might be an improvement with the sensors turned off, but still too early to tell. Also, I'm wondering if opening the case to check battery level and closing it without taking them out to use does something. I've been checking a little less on this log. So for example, if I included a check today at Wed 1200, I wonder how that would have affected the reading at Wed 1530. The case going from 70 to 60 between Wed 0800 and Wed 1530 is almost completely explained by the use I had this morning and the battery charge required to charge the AirPods back up to 100%. So we'll see if I get a big drop in the next 12-18 hours or so to average it all out.

I'm guessing turning off the sensors didn't really help that much. I still saw some big drops over the last two days while not in use.

 

[profets]

Exactly 3 days into another test.

Original AirPods that my wife and I got - swapped them for this test (I took hers and she paired mine with her phone). In the past she was always getting better standby battery life.

Exactly 3 days off charge:
My AirPods: Case 76%, Pods 100%
Wife's AirPods: Case 90%, Pods 100%

I've only checked once every 24 hours. Seems decent, especially the wife's at 90% after 3 days.

The second pair I got, I've been using casually, also full charge exactly 3 days ago. Case just died recently, and the pods are at 60%. Probably used them for 7-8 hours. Nothing close to the claimed 24 hours.

 

[Lihp8270]

So last night, my case was at 22%.

I decided instead of removing it from the charger when it was at 100% I'd leave it on all night

So I reset them with the button, then put it on charge for 8hours over night, and paired it this morning.

I have done about 102 minutes, play back and 3 hours 30 since coming off charge and I'm at 93% case. Which considering it charged the AirPods back from 73% it's looking better. But i'm not holding my breath.

I'm not touching them till I use them again at 5pm ish.