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AirPods case bad standby battery life
- Thread starter ssrij
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So I'm on holiday (vacation) at the moment and so am seeing very different usage to when I was at home and using the Airpods frequently...
My last charge was on Saturday evening. I've used the Airpods for about 2 hours since then but apart from that the Airpods have been sat in our hotel room safe whilst I've been out skiing. I've checked them for the first time today and amazingly they've only lost 25% in that 72 hours. They've been paired the whole time but my phone has been out of range (with me on the slopes) for most of the day...
What conclusions I can draw from that I'm not entirely sure... as has been mentioned previously it seems opening/closing the lid is a big factor, as I haven't been doing that at all the battery life has improved.
On a separate note I wonder whether anyone running the 10.3 beta has had any improvement?
My last charge was on Saturday evening. I've used the Airpods for about 2 hours since then but apart from that the Airpods have been sat in our hotel room safe whilst I've been out skiing. I've checked them for the first time today and amazingly they've only lost 25% in that 72 hours. They've been paired the whole time but my phone has been out of range (with me on the slopes) for most of the day...
What conclusions I can draw from that I'm not entirely sure... as has been mentioned previously it seems opening/closing the lid is a big factor, as I haven't been doing that at all the battery life has improved.
On a separate note I wonder whether anyone running the 10.3 beta has had any improvement?
Not surprising anymore, but 4 days off charge without the AirPods being paired (just paired them now):
Really seems like something is happening after they're paired.
Curious about this too. Maybe by manually pairing the AirPods by pressing the button and going to iPhone - Bluetooth settings?
Wow now that is surprising and also quite positive that it may get fixed.
I've had mine for a few weeks now and don't seem to experience too much of the draining issues. I bought these for conference calls and maybe a podcast or two, not so much for music, movies, travel (I have the Bose QC35s for that). The case and pods standby times seem fine enough for me since I basically use them for phone calls (meaning I don't use them all the time or on a regular basis).
I'm only seeing < 2 hours call time with mine, at my desk, with the iPhone 7+ about two feet away (plugged in and charging). After each one-hour conference call, I'm usually at 47-49% so I charge them in the case before the next call, and then see 'em drop again. Hoping this too is software and/or firmware related. I love being wire-free and really hope these can at least make it longer than 2 hours.
I'm only seeing < 2 hours call time with mine, at my desk, with the iPhone 7+ about two feet away (plugged in and charging). After each one-hour conference call, I'm usually at 47-49% so I charge them in the case before the next call, and then see 'em drop again. Hoping this too is software and/or firmware related. I love being wire-free and really hope these can at least make it longer than 2 hours.
Just wanted to chime in and say that the battery drain for me also seems to be fixed by not opening and closing the case without using the AirPods. As long as I take out the AirPods and use them for a bit (not sure how long is required) then the battery case and AirPods seem to hold their charge as advertised.
Strange bug - but hopefully very fixable in a software update.
Strange bug - but hopefully very fixable in a software update.
At least we found the problem. Sorta funny that the problem wouldn't be a problem if I just never bothered checking the battery levels to see if there was a problem. Haha
But it's night and day difference. When I was checking, after three days I got about 4-5 hours use total before it was dead. I'm almost at 5 days now with about 8 hours use and still have 50% charge.
And it didn't seem to matter how often you open/close case without removing AirPods to use. Do it once, and it would drain slowly until you removed them to actually use them.
[doublepost=1484090361][/doublepost]
2 hours call time is the expected battery life of the AirPods.
Hello again -- ah, well then mine seem to be operating at advertised performance levels across the board. Thank you for the quick reply!
Thought I should report that I'm not having any of the battery issues described in this thread. Not sure how widespread the issue is but my battery life has been good in usage and the case and EarPods have held charge when left alone for several days.
Case in point, I haven't used them since last Wednesday when I charged them and put them in my bag. Just pulled them out now and pods and case both at 99%. Just sat in my bag for six days and negligible drain.
They are connected to my iPhone and two iPads through iCloud.
Case in point, I haven't used them since last Wednesday when I charged them and put them in my bag. Just pulled them out now and pods and case both at 99%. Just sat in my bag for six days and negligible drain.
They are connected to my iPhone and two iPads through iCloud.
After a bit more use an experimentation I can confirm that unpairing resolves the issue for me, 1-2% drain in 24h of being unpaired.
Taking the AirPods out, using them and returning them on every case open does not prevent the 10-20% overnight drain.
Using them with Apple Watch, 2016 MacBook, iPhone 7 Plus.
It also seems to make no difference if I reset them, or if I reset and only use with iPhone, or only use with MacBook. This seems to be something to do with pairing with multiple devices (which is obviously something we can't easily stop as automatic via iCloud).
Interesting that 4451 posts no meaningful drain with only iPhone and iPads on iCloud, I wonder if this is an issue isolated to people with Macs or Watches connected via iCloud, it would be useful to have a poll of what iCloud connected devices those who are experiencing drain have versus those who are no experiencing drain have.
Taking the AirPods out, using them and returning them on every case open does not prevent the 10-20% overnight drain.
Using them with Apple Watch, 2016 MacBook, iPhone 7 Plus.
It also seems to make no difference if I reset them, or if I reset and only use with iPhone, or only use with MacBook. This seems to be something to do with pairing with multiple devices (which is obviously something we can't easily stop as automatic via iCloud).
Interesting that 4451 posts no meaningful drain with only iPhone and iPads on iCloud, I wonder if this is an issue isolated to people with Macs or Watches connected via iCloud, it would be useful to have a poll of what iCloud connected devices those who are experiencing drain have versus those who are no experiencing drain have.
Now that I haven't used the AirPods nearly as much in the past couple days, I have noticed the kind of battery drain I expected all a long: If you don't use the AirPods, the battery drains only little or not at all.
I last charged the case to 100% Saturday evening. I used them few hours on Sunday, but Monday and Tuesday only like 30mins total. The case's battery is now at 40%. If I use them several hours each day the case's battery will be below 20% after 2 days.
So, if you want the battery to last, don't open the case. Also if you charge them to full today and take them out next week, there will still be plenty of charge left - as long as you keep the case closed.
I last charged the case to 100% Saturday evening. I used them few hours on Sunday, but Monday and Tuesday only like 30mins total. The case's battery is now at 40%. If I use them several hours each day the case's battery will be below 20% after 2 days.
So, if you want the battery to last, don't open the case. Also if you charge them to full today and take them out next week, there will still be plenty of charge left - as long as you keep the case closed.
I'm on my second pair and I'm still having the same battery drain issues.
I tried doing the previously suggested trick, where if you open the case, you have to actually take the AirPods out or else the battery will drain - but that didn't help. I'm still losing at least 1% per hour when they're not in use.
I tried doing the previously suggested trick, where if you open the case, you have to actually take the AirPods out or else the battery will drain - but that didn't help. I'm still losing at least 1% per hour when they're not in use.
So here's my final update on the battery, I'm not going to monitor them any further because I'm on day 5 and frankly I'm really happy with how they've gone.
I know it's no good to those getting poor battery life, I really can't figure out why we're all getting such different results at this point, unless there's people who somehow aren't on firmware 3.3.1?
But in my 5 days the case has only had 2 full charges and the AirPods have been getting a lot of use, significantly more than I usually would just because I've been testing them, so I'm using them when normally I'd be using my HiFi or whatever.
There's been times when the case has dropped by a large amount, where a similar timeframe on a different occasion is much lower. But it all balances out in the end. Interestingly I didn't use them at all on the 10th and between the 9th and 11th the case dropped by 20% but it's still on track to give me a good amount of listening hours. I think there's room for improvement there with a firmware update though. I'm not using any of the tricks or fixes mentioned in the thread, I'm just using them.
At this point I'm satisfied that they are certainly capable of getting close to their claimed battery life/playback time. So it's time for me to stop testing them and just get on with using them. I really hope that the people with issues get a resolution sooner than later.
I know it's no good to those getting poor battery life, I really can't figure out why we're all getting such different results at this point, unless there's people who somehow aren't on firmware 3.3.1?
But in my 5 days the case has only had 2 full charges and the AirPods have been getting a lot of use, significantly more than I usually would just because I've been testing them, so I'm using them when normally I'd be using my HiFi or whatever.
There's been times when the case has dropped by a large amount, where a similar timeframe on a different occasion is much lower. But it all balances out in the end. Interestingly I didn't use them at all on the 10th and between the 9th and 11th the case dropped by 20% but it's still on track to give me a good amount of listening hours. I think there's room for improvement there with a firmware update though. I'm not using any of the tricks or fixes mentioned in the thread, I'm just using them.
At this point I'm satisfied that they are certainly capable of getting close to their claimed battery life/playback time. So it's time for me to stop testing them and just get on with using them. I really hope that the people with issues get a resolution sooner than later.
Code:
Date Time AirPods Case Message
06/01/2017 15:25 100% 100% (Start music playback. First full charge of AirPods and case)
06/01/2017 19:00 40% 98% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case)
06/01/2017 20:02 100% 89%
07/01/2017 01:00 100% 88%
07/01/2017 06:03 100% 80%
07/01/2017 08:51 100% 72% (Start music playback, AirPods removed from case)
07/01/2017 11:28 58% (Not Checked) (Stop music playback, keep AirPods out of case)
07/01/2017 13:56 50% (Not Checked) (Start music playback)
07/01/2017 15:36 13% L / 23% R 68% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case)
07/01/2017 16:26 100% 45% (AirPods still in case)
07/01/2017 17:37 100% 45% (Start music playback, AirPods removed from case)
07/01/2017 22:03 18% 38% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case)
08/01/2017 09:03 100% 18%
08/01/2017 12:46 100% 17% (Start music playback, AirPods removed from case)
08/01/2017 15:20 56% (Not checked)
08/01/2017 17:44 10% 15% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case.)
08/01/2017 21:22 100% 100% (Second full charge of case and AirPods.)
09/01/2017 12:06 100% 99% (AirPods still in case after second full charge)
09/01/2017 18:15 99% 83% (Start music playback, AirPods removed from case)
09/01/2017 20:03 83% 81% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case)
11/01/2017 06:07 100% 63% (Start podcast playback, AirPods removed from case)
11/01/2017 07:15 84% 63% (Stop podcast playback, AirPods back in case)
11/01/2017 08:36 100% 48% (Start music playback, AirPods removed from case)
11/01/2017 12:57 14% 48% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case)
11/01/2017 14:42 100% 27% (AirPods still in case)
11/01/2017 16:09 100% 27% (Start music playback, AirPods removed from case)
Picked up the replacement pair today at the Genius Bar. At this point, I'm just hoping this pair will give me more than 2.5 hours at a time. I've been thinking about it and the part that is so hard about this for me is the unpredictability of how the battery in the case will discharge. So, I never really know when I need to plug it in. I don't mind plugging in the case at all - it's just the not knowing.
Apple Executive Relations called me before I even got home. My AirPods will be on their way back to Apple HQ for the engineers there to test. All in all - I've received EXCELLENT customer service for a pretty minor inconvenience in the grand scheme.
I suspect you have to take the AirPods out and use them for about 15 minutes (or until the battery level is <= 94%) before returning to the case. There's a thread on the apple support communities forums where some other users have also had success with this too, but nobody knows yet if you can simply take them out and put them back. Or if you can take them out, use them for a second or two, then put them back.
But we do know (for some of us), that using them until AirPods <= 94% charge and returning to the case resolved the issue.
There could be other bugs too besides this one. But this one change resolved the issue for me. I paired with my iPhone on Dec 23 and have never reset. My devices that are paired and that I use it with are iPhone 7 Plus, Apple Watch Series 0, and iMac late 2012 on whatever the newest OS is.
Log 3 (auto ear detection on, double tab Siri)
Fri 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 100
Sat 0930 - AirPods 100 / case 100
(used 120 min music)
Sat 1130 - AirPods 55 / case 99
Sun 1230 - AirPods 100 / case 88
(Used 20 min music, 6 min talk)
Sun 1300 - AirPods 89 / case 88
Mon 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 82
(Used 30 min music)
Mon 0630 - AirPods 92 / case 82
Mon 1200 - AirPods 100 / case 75
(used 30 min music)
Mon 1230 - AirPods 92 / case 75
Tues 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 69
(used 120 min music)
Tues 0800 - AirPods 61 / case 69
Wed 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 57
(used 120 min music)
Wed 0800 - AirPods 55 / case 57
I'm at almost 6 days with the original set that I charged full and kept unpaired. They're still showing 100% battery when I pair them.
Also, my wife's set, 10 days since being charged & paired is currently at 62% case 100% AirPods. Averaging less than 4% loss of charge per day.
Also, my wife's set, 10 days since being charged & paired is currently at 62% case 100% AirPods. Averaging less than 4% loss of charge per day.
Not surprising anymore, but 4 days off charge without the AirPods being paired (just paired them now):
Really seems like something is happening after they're paired.
Similar
Charged yesterday.
Got to work.
Airpods: 100%
Case: 84%
So a magical 16% drain from the case overnight.
Some bug this.
There's got to be something in the firmware causing it. I suppose the obvious thing would be that it's not shutting off the Bluetooth radios, or accelerometer, or something when the case shuts, causing the AirPods to discharge and subsequently drain the battery.
Well that's my theory anyway, there's no need for anything to be happening when the lid of the case is shut. It should just charge them and all other functions be disabled. It's not as if it has any reason to communicate with the iPhone or perform any other task when the lid of the case is shut. It's essentially dumb when they're charging with the lid closed.
But if that's the case (pardon the pun) why aren't we all experiencing the same thing, which again makes me wonder if we've all got the same firmware on our AirPods, though I can't imagine them being different at this point. Saying that, my firmware is 3.3.1 so there's obviously been a few revisions of it.
Unless it's the iOS device that's causing a signal to be maintained? Goodness knows. I'm on 10.2.1 beta 3 just now on all of my iOS devices.
Actually, has anyone who's having problems tried not putting the AirPods in the case to see how quickly the battery drains?
Well that's my theory anyway, there's no need for anything to be happening when the lid of the case is shut. It should just charge them and all other functions be disabled. It's not as if it has any reason to communicate with the iPhone or perform any other task when the lid of the case is shut. It's essentially dumb when they're charging with the lid closed.
But if that's the case (pardon the pun) why aren't we all experiencing the same thing, which again makes me wonder if we've all got the same firmware on our AirPods, though I can't imagine them being different at this point. Saying that, my firmware is 3.3.1 so there's obviously been a few revisions of it.
Unless it's the iOS device that's causing a signal to be maintained? Goodness knows. I'm on 10.2.1 beta 3 just now on all of my iOS devices.
Actually, has anyone who's having problems tried not putting the AirPods in the case to see how quickly the battery drains?
Almost 6 days since my last full charge now. About 8 hours use (music playback). And charge level of case is 47%. I always use the AirPods for at least 30 min when opening the case. That's the only change I made to resolve the case drain issue for me.
Works out to a case discharge rate of 0.1% per hour while in standby, in line with the 0.12% when I was looking at only a 4 day period instead of 6 now. When I was checking the case 3-4 times a day in the week or two earlier, just to see battery level, my discharge rate was about 1% per hour averaged over the 2-3 days it took until the case was dead.
A few other users on reddit threads and the apple support community threads have said this fix worked for them too. Some users say it hasn't though, including here. Perhaps some other variable affecting things (I think perhaps returning them to the case with 95% charge or more left in them is causing the problem, but just speculating) or other bugs completely. But it's a fix for some at least.
Done logging charge levels now, but if I notice anything in day-to-day use that is new information, I'll report back. Thanks everyone who shared info about their observations!
Works out to a case discharge rate of 0.1% per hour while in standby, in line with the 0.12% when I was looking at only a 4 day period instead of 6 now. When I was checking the case 3-4 times a day in the week or two earlier, just to see battery level, my discharge rate was about 1% per hour averaged over the 2-3 days it took until the case was dead.
A few other users on reddit threads and the apple support community threads have said this fix worked for them too. Some users say it hasn't though, including here. Perhaps some other variable affecting things (I think perhaps returning them to the case with 95% charge or more left in them is causing the problem, but just speculating) or other bugs completely. But it's a fix for some at least.
Done logging charge levels now, but if I notice anything in day-to-day use that is new information, I'll report back. Thanks everyone who shared info about their observations!
