Couldn't agree more with this. This is exactly what it's like for me. The case alone doesn't drain. The airpods alone get 5-6h play time. But together I see constant cycling of the airpods in the case, losing about 10% per 12 hours in the case. Tried all 'fixes' -- none work consistently.
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AirPods case bad standby battery life
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Couldn't agree more with this. This is exactly what it's like for me. The case alone doesn't drain. The airpods alone get 5-6h play time. But together I see constant cycling of the airpods in the case, losing about 10% per 12 hours in the case. Tried all 'fixes' -- none work consistently.
Ok, I finally got a replacement in 24 hours (refund + new purchase in store).
It was 73/60 when I got them at noon, used them for 2-3h of music and now 100/43.
I will do more testings through the week-end but I'm sure there will be firmware updates like there was on the Pencil...
It was 73/60 when I got them at noon, used them for 2-3h of music and now 100/43.
I will do more testings through the week-end but I'm sure there will be firmware updates like there was on the Pencil...
Sorry for lack of updates.
Busy with work. But I seemed to get a bit of a better life.
After 25 hours, 3.5 hours of playback. My case still had 61% remaining!
However, since the erase settings trick didn't work on my watch. and my iOS is a backup from an SE, which started as a back up from a 5s. I have reset the watch, and phone as new devices.
Prior to to this, I reset the airpods again and left them on charge.
Currently on 8 hours with just over an hour of playback. And still at 91%.
A guy on reddit suggested that he held the reset button, and just left it. When he reconnected much later, he found that they had lost no charge. So it seems like it may be a software issue.
Busy with work. But I seemed to get a bit of a better life.
After 25 hours, 3.5 hours of playback. My case still had 61% remaining!
However, since the erase settings trick didn't work on my watch. and my iOS is a backup from an SE, which started as a back up from a 5s. I have reset the watch, and phone as new devices.
Prior to to this, I reset the airpods again and left them on charge.
Currently on 8 hours with just over an hour of playback. And still at 91%.
A guy on reddit suggested that he held the reset button, and just left it. When he reconnected much later, he found that they had lost no charge. So it seems like it may be a software issue.
Lihp8270, would you mind telling me what issue you have been having with your watch/AirPods? I'm sorry I have sort of lost what was going on with your devices and I wonder if it may be similar to my issues. Please feel free to PM me if you don't mind. Thanks!
Back when I had my SE. My watch series 1 started draining a lot of battery. "Erase all settings", fixed it. It recently started again on my 7. But my 7 was restored from a backup made from the SE. So they may be related.
I have simply just set them all up as new devices. But having headphones in my pocket draining fast, and my watch draining fast. Did get quite testing
Oh ok. Thanks for getting back to me. My issue is not anything like yours. In my case, my AirPods don't like to connect to my watch (Series 2) when they are also connected to my phone.Back when I had my SE. My watch series 1 started draining a lot of battery. "Erase all settings", fixed it. It recently started again on my 7. But my 7 was restored from a backup made from the SE. So they may be related.
I have simply just set them all up as new devices. But having headphones in my pocket draining fast, and my watch draining fast. Did get quite testing
Turning on and off airplane mode on my watch or phone for a moment fixes it but it eventually happens again. Bluetooth between my watch and phone is fine. Watch just doesn't like to connect to the AirPods.
I repaired my watch. I've reset my AirPods. Not willing to set my phone as new. Hopefully my issue is software related because I sent the watch to Apple and they didn't do anything about it.
Did some testing today.
Charged the case and AirPods to 100%
Went to the gym for 55 minutes using my AirPods and leaving the case at home.
When I came back the AirPods said 87%
I didn't use the AirPods for 2 hours, left them lying around (not in the case) in my house. The iPhone was nearby.
After those two hours: 75%
Then I went away for three hours (with my iPhone). Left the AirPods at home, out of the case, turned Bluetooth off on other devices.
When I came back: left 56% and right 69%
The AirPods case:
100% since this morning.
So it seems that only the AirPods are draining.
Charged the case and AirPods to 100%
Went to the gym for 55 minutes using my AirPods and leaving the case at home.
When I came back the AirPods said 87%
I didn't use the AirPods for 2 hours, left them lying around (not in the case) in my house. The iPhone was nearby.
After those two hours: 75%
Then I went away for three hours (with my iPhone). Left the AirPods at home, out of the case, turned Bluetooth off on other devices.
When I came back: left 56% and right 69%
The AirPods case:
100% since this morning.
So it seems that only the AirPods are draining.
I have the exact same problem. My case is not draining. The airpods are draining when they are out of the case even though they are not connected to any bt device.. Anyone can comment?
So i think it is safe to say that the case is not the issue and that it is the AirPods which are draining battery and do not seem to be going into a sleep state or powering down. Maybe a software update can fix this and maybe it cannot. In my opinion what stupid design that is.
All the testing made us assume it's the airpods. It's fine if they drain while out of the case: they have no power buttons and they should keep searching and staying connected to bluetooth devices in order to work properly.
The issue here is that they don't go in sleep mode while inside the case and this leads to the drain. Apple should be able to fix it by software. Something like "when charging with the case closed, turn everything off".
The issue here is that they don't go in sleep mode while inside the case and this leads to the drain. Apple should be able to fix it by software. Something like "when charging with the case closed, turn everything off".
I'm on my second pair and still experiencing battery drain.
When I got the new pair I tried resetting them multiple times and it did nothing to help. I decided to try draining them completely until the case was at 0% and both AirPods stopped working. When all the components were dead I charged them up to 100% and unplugged the case yesterday morning. I have not used them at all in 24 hours and this morning the case is at 64%.
I know for sure that it's the AirPods themselves that are draining and the being topped up by the case. Sometimes when I check the battery levels the AirPods will have dropped to 94% and even when it does show they are at 100% most times there is the little charging lightning bolt indicating that they are recharging from the case.
With this pair I'm also having some other issues. A few times now they would be connected playing music and suddenly stop working. It would still show they were connected and the progress bar on the song was still continuing but there was just no sound coming out of them. Fixing it required rebooting my phone and resetting the AirPods multiple times.
When my local store has more stock this pair will be going back for sure. I'm just starting to wonder if all of the AirPods are having this issue and only some of us are noticing it. Is there anybody who can leave their pair for 24 hours and not lose charge?
When I got the new pair I tried resetting them multiple times and it did nothing to help. I decided to try draining them completely until the case was at 0% and both AirPods stopped working. When all the components were dead I charged them up to 100% and unplugged the case yesterday morning. I have not used them at all in 24 hours and this morning the case is at 64%.
I know for sure that it's the AirPods themselves that are draining and the being topped up by the case. Sometimes when I check the battery levels the AirPods will have dropped to 94% and even when it does show they are at 100% most times there is the little charging lightning bolt indicating that they are recharging from the case.
With this pair I'm also having some other issues. A few times now they would be connected playing music and suddenly stop working. It would still show they were connected and the progress bar on the song was still continuing but there was just no sound coming out of them. Fixing it required rebooting my phone and resetting the AirPods multiple times.
When my local store has more stock this pair will be going back for sure. I'm just starting to wonder if all of the AirPods are having this issue and only some of us are noticing it. Is there anybody who can leave their pair for 24 hours and not lose charge?
With all the people focusing on battery drain, I also kept some logs of the power usage of my AirPods, bought at launch day in Belgium (roughly 2 weeks ago).
This is a literal log of use but it is representative:
100/100 @ 23:42 Day 1
100/100 @ 19:05 Day 2
085/096 @ 20:14 after 01:09 Play time so the pods lost 0.22 % per minute
100/090 @ 21:32 0.40 charge ratio (pct case for pct pods)
070/090 @ 23:14 after 01:45 Play time so the pods lost 0.28 % per minute
100/082 @ 09:10 Day 3 - 0.27 charge ratio
096/081 @ 10:24 !A bit odd!
089/080 @ 10:51 after 00:25 Play time mixed with two 2 min calls (0.44% per minute)
100/069 @ 16:48 1.00 charge ratio
087/069 @ 17:37 after 00:49 Play time (0.27% per minute)
100/065 @ 18:30 0.30 charge ratio
071/063 @ 20:10 after 01:40 Play time (0.29% per minute)
100/055 @ 18:45 0.28 charge ratio
097/054 @ 18:56 after 00:11 Play time (0.28% per minute)
100/051 @ 20:46 1.00 charge ratio
036/050 @ 00:07 after 03:22 Play time (0.32% per minute)
100/034 @ 10:36 Day 4 - 0.25 charge ratio
090/034 @ 11:19 after 00:43 Play time (0.23% per minute)
100/029 @ 12:36 0.50 charge ratio
At this stage I plugged them in.
Total play time: 604 minutes or a little over 10 hours.
Extrapolating that would net me (10/70)*100 = 14 something hours of play time.
Some observations:
1) At the rate of say, 0.3% per minute, the pods would last 5.6 hrs which is pretty much as advertised.
2) Assuming a 'charge ratio' of 0.3 I'd get 333% of AirPods charge out of the case, at a discharge rate of 0.3% per minute for the pods that would be 1110 minutes or 18.5 hours.
That last number would come close to the rated 24 hours Apple seems to promise on their product pages. Then again, they listened to the pods until drained and only then put them in the case each time...
"Testing conducted by Apple in August 2016 using preproduction AirPods units and software paired with preproduction iPhone 7 units and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks purchased from the iTunes Store (256-Kbps AAC encoding). Volume was set to 50%. Testing consisted of full AirPods battery discharge while playing audio until the first AirPod stopped playback. The drained AirPods were charged for 30 minutes, then audio playback was continued until the first AirPod stopped playback. This cycle was repeated until both the AirPods and the Charging Case were fully discharged. Battery life depends on device settings, usage, and many other factors."
What I am interested in hearing: "How much play time do others get from their pair???"
This is a literal log of use but it is representative:
100/100 @ 23:42 Day 1
100/100 @ 19:05 Day 2
085/096 @ 20:14 after 01:09 Play time so the pods lost 0.22 % per minute
100/090 @ 21:32 0.40 charge ratio (pct case for pct pods)
070/090 @ 23:14 after 01:45 Play time so the pods lost 0.28 % per minute
100/082 @ 09:10 Day 3 - 0.27 charge ratio
096/081 @ 10:24 !A bit odd!
089/080 @ 10:51 after 00:25 Play time mixed with two 2 min calls (0.44% per minute)
100/069 @ 16:48 1.00 charge ratio
087/069 @ 17:37 after 00:49 Play time (0.27% per minute)
100/065 @ 18:30 0.30 charge ratio
071/063 @ 20:10 after 01:40 Play time (0.29% per minute)
100/055 @ 18:45 0.28 charge ratio
097/054 @ 18:56 after 00:11 Play time (0.28% per minute)
100/051 @ 20:46 1.00 charge ratio
036/050 @ 00:07 after 03:22 Play time (0.32% per minute)
100/034 @ 10:36 Day 4 - 0.25 charge ratio
090/034 @ 11:19 after 00:43 Play time (0.23% per minute)
100/029 @ 12:36 0.50 charge ratio
At this stage I plugged them in.
Total play time: 604 minutes or a little over 10 hours.
Extrapolating that would net me (10/70)*100 = 14 something hours of play time.
Some observations:
1) At the rate of say, 0.3% per minute, the pods would last 5.6 hrs which is pretty much as advertised.
2) Assuming a 'charge ratio' of 0.3 I'd get 333% of AirPods charge out of the case, at a discharge rate of 0.3% per minute for the pods that would be 1110 minutes or 18.5 hours.
That last number would come close to the rated 24 hours Apple seems to promise on their product pages. Then again, they listened to the pods until drained and only then put them in the case each time...
"Testing conducted by Apple in August 2016 using preproduction AirPods units and software paired with preproduction iPhone 7 units and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks purchased from the iTunes Store (256-Kbps AAC encoding). Volume was set to 50%. Testing consisted of full AirPods battery discharge while playing audio until the first AirPod stopped playback. The drained AirPods were charged for 30 minutes, then audio playback was continued until the first AirPod stopped playback. This cycle was repeated until both the AirPods and the Charging Case were fully discharged. Battery life depends on device settings, usage, and many other factors."
What I am interested in hearing: "How much play time do others get from their pair???"
This is what I am thinking. Part of me thinks that this is how the case is meant to operate and that the Airpods are meant to be behaving like this. 24 hours of battery life in the case might just mean that you have to charge the case every day.
Mine last a lot, about 5 hours they stated before needing a charge. But nobody uses them for straight 24 hours.
It would be totally stupid and a major design flaw. Airpods in the case shouldn't do anything but charging.
Well that is how they seem to be operating and if it is such a wide spread issue we will not know if it is how they are intended to function unless Apple says otherwise. So all we are doing is guessing.
Nitens, I think you don't get my post...
The numbers show the pods indeed manage to play for 5 hours straight. No problem there. However, how Apple presents it on their product page: 'Over 24 hours play time' is misleading from what I am seeing.
24 hours would mean that the case would holde enough charge for me to recharge the pods from 0 to 100% at least 4 to 5 times (5 * 5 = 25). However, at best, my pair wil get me 3 to 3.5 something recharges or 15 to 18 hours.
However, if you then check the way Apple came up with the numbers, ie. draining the pods completely and only then putting them in the case for a minimal amount of time as opposed to how most people use them, maybe the numbers make sense.
Either way, Apple marketing is misleading us a bit. How leaves their pods out of the case until they are completely dead? When you listen for short stints and put the pods in the case, they probably keep on trickle charging to keep the pods at a continuous 100%
When I read a battery spec, I expect to achieve that result in realistic scenarios as opposed to some completely unrealistic usage pattern.
That being said, AirPods are still great, still would have bought them if they were advertised with the real world spec.
Same here. Here's hoping that Apple doesn't have to disable something we love about AirPods (instant connection, for example) in order to satisfy everyone's expectation about battery standby life (which Apple does not advertise).
What would be a satisfying stand-by charge?
If the case were to actually charge the pods 5 times, but not in a row, the case should ideally last what, 5/6 days in total?
If the case were to actually charge the pods 5 times, but not in a row, the case should ideally last what, 5/6 days in total?
Yeah I get what you say and I agree.
I don't think Apple wanted the case/airpods to drain in standby. If the standby consumption is 0, those tests are fine because they didn't need to tell us what happens when you leave them in standby for a while (as opposed to the test situation).
If the drain was intended, those tests are indeed useless for realistic scenarios but I don't think this is the case.
The ideal satisfying standby duration would be infinite.
Being realistic, I'd say max 10% lost/week in standby. I mean, they SHOULDN'T work inside of the case, they should just rest. There's literally no reason for that drain. The instant connection isn't literally instant, it takes some seconds anyway and I think it's when the airpods turn on. There's no reason change that in order to fix the problem.
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Haven't replied for a while, but have been testing a few scenarios over multiple days to get a better idea of battery life.
I have 3 sets of AirPods right now: AirPods 1, 2 and 3 I'll refer to them as.
Original multi day test of AirPods 1 and 2, without being used at all - just paired, full charge and then sitting in the case:
Now, AirPods 3 - I have used these in addition to the other two sets, casual use trying to get an idea of battery life. Recently I tried something different. I forgot them from my iPhone, and reset them to default. Didn't pair them at all with any iPhones or other devices. Gave them full charge and let them sit. After 2 full days of sitting idle, not paired, battery life is 100% case and 100% AirPods (I paired them to check the battery level, then unpaired them and will check again in 2 days).
I really think something unintentional is happening when they're in the case. We've seen when the case is closed that bluetooth communication to the iPhone is stopped. But wonder if they're still doing something else and if it's related at all to how many devices they're paired with.
I have 3 sets of AirPods right now: AirPods 1, 2 and 3 I'll refer to them as.
Original multi day test of AirPods 1 and 2, without being used at all - just paired, full charge and then sitting in the case:
- AirPods 1: connected to my iPhone (and a total of 7 devices) - case battery drained about 10% per day
- AirPods 2: connected to my wife's iPhone (total of 3 devices) - case battery drained about 5% per day
- AirPods 2: connected to my iPhone (total of 7 devices) - case battery drained close to 10% per day
- AirPods 1: connected to my wife's iPhone (total of 3 devices) - case battery drained 4% per day (It's been nearly a week since charging and the battery is at 74% which seems decent)
Now, AirPods 3 - I have used these in addition to the other two sets, casual use trying to get an idea of battery life. Recently I tried something different. I forgot them from my iPhone, and reset them to default. Didn't pair them at all with any iPhones or other devices. Gave them full charge and let them sit. After 2 full days of sitting idle, not paired, battery life is 100% case and 100% AirPods (I paired them to check the battery level, then unpaired them and will check again in 2 days).
I really think something unintentional is happening when they're in the case. We've seen when the case is closed that bluetooth communication to the iPhone is stopped. But wonder if they're still doing something else and if it's related at all to how many devices they're paired with.