AirPods Max power modes - will they fix?

[UKapple73]

Apple say that APM have 20 hours battery life. So you’d think if you only use them for 1 hour per day, you’d get 20 days before needing to charge , right?
WRONG
Because Apple know best and have created probably the only consumer electronics device in history to not be able to power off by the user, the APM drain battery to the tune of 10% per day when not in use.
so if only used for 1 hour per day , together with the drain when not in use, you actually only get 6 days. Yes that’s right, 6 days instead of 20 days using only 1 hour per day
What the hell were they thinking?? I get they want to have seamless switching etc but surely this could be done, and just give us the option to turn them off when we don’t have this requirement!!
I’m fully aware that Apple aren’t famous for giving choice but this seems a step too far, a device you can’t turn off if you want!! When I want to use then I know it and I can turn them on, just like every other product I own does - I just don’t get this at all

 

[Steve121178]

You are over-thinking this.

Just use them for as long as you want then put them on charge when not in use.

 

[UKapple73]

Put them on charge every time?
why though, it’s so unecessary , I’ve never known any product where you have to do that, it’s ridiculous
Also leaving them on charge permanently day probably will make the battery fail much earlier, these should last years

 

[EntropyQ3]

I own the product, and I agree.
You should be able to turn them OFF.

 

[Steve121178]

Anything with a battery will degrade from the first day you get it. I've yet to have a pair of wireless headphones that have lasted years.

And stop taking things so damn literally. I don't mean every time, but when you know you've given the battery a good caning, charge it.

 

[svanstrom]

Apple say that APM have 20 hours battery life. So you’d think if you only use them for 1 hour per day, you’d get 20 days before needing to charge , right?

No, because all batteries lose charge over time; they always have, and probably always will (at least normal rechargeable batteries).

That's always been the truth for all of us; but perhaps someone forgot to pass that on to your generation? ?

 

[UKapple73]

No, because all batteries lose charge over time; they always have, and probably always will (at least normal rechargeable batteries).

That's always been the truth for all of us; but perhaps someone forgot to pass that on to your generation? ?

your wrong
I have several wireless buds and have owned over the ear headphones, and all of them I can turn off so there is no battery drain in between, even if there is it’s only 1-2% over a day certainly not 10%

 

[svanstrom]

your wrong
I have several wireless buds and have owned over the ear headphones, and all of them I can turn off so there is no battery drain in between, even if there is it’s only 1-2% over a day certainly not 10%

Well, now we've done a bit of sliding from "Apple say that APM have 20 hours battery life. So you’d think if you only use them for 1 hour per day, you’d get 20 days before needing to charge , right?" to that there's a reasonable expectation of the batteries not lasting those full 20 days.

So now we can pretty much edit out the hyperbole in your original post, and continue from there…

Is this an actual problem to you, having to recharge once per week?

 

[Absrnd]

All the manufacurers all over the world, it has been the norm for all devices running on batteries,
the battery duration is always with continuous use, not spread over days-weeks-years.

So...no you wont get 20 days an hour

Even devices with an on-off switch will loose a few percent per day/week.
Sometimes I am amazed what kind of wild expectations some have

 

[UKapple73]

A few percent over a week is of course acceptable. I’ve owned many battery powered gadgets. But this 10% per day stuff is stupid. What possible reason is there for not allowing us to turn them off if we want to?

 

[adib]

Anything with a battery will degrade from the first day you get it. I've yet to have a pair of wireless headphones that have lasted years.

And stop taking things so damn literally. I don't mean every time, but when you know you've given the battery a good caning, charge it.

FYI I’m at year 3 of my BOSE QC35. Sure I’ve replaced the earpads by a few – but the battery still holds pretty decent charge.

 

[UKapple73]

Imagine charging a device, not using it for 10 days and it being dead when you come to use it hahaha
As I say, ridiculous

 

[adib]

Imagine charging a device, not using it for 10 days and it being dead when you come to use it hahaha
As I say, ridiculous

OTOH, you can’t really turn off MacBooks nowadays at least since the T1 era.

 

[svanstrom]

A few percent over a week is of course acceptable. I’ve owned many battery powered gadgets. But this 10% per day stuff is stupid. What possible reason is there for not allowing us to turn them off if we want to?

They allowed you to not buy them, right?

And I'll absolutely apologise for being a bit of an ******* about this whole thread if you can show me from where you got the expectation that they wouldn't lose any charge like this; especially considering all the complaining everyone has been throwing around about there being no power button (except the case; and you do use the case, right?).

 

[UKapple73]

My expectations come from :
Gaming headsets- I have some that can be turned off and as I don’t game huge amounts with them, I can get 2 weeks easily from the 25 hr life on them
Beats studio 3- I had these and again, I could turn them off and they lost maybe 5% per week, not 70% as I get now

I don’t understand why people think this is ok

 

[svanstrom]

My expectations come from :
Gaming headsets- I have some that can be turned off and as I don’t game huge amounts with them, I can get 2 weeks easily from the 25 hr life on them
Beats studio 3- I had these and again, I could turn them off and they lost maybe 5% per week, not 70% as I get now

I don’t understand why people think this is ok

I absolutely get why people would be upset about certain things about these; but when you set out with hyperbole, and it then boils down to you being upset about there not being a power button one a device that you bought full well knowing that there wasn't a power button.

Meh! ?

But… just to clear up something here, you do use the case, right?

 

[UKapple73]

I did know about the power button. But I honestly thought it wasn’t an issue, because Apple said about the “case” and the “ultra low power mode”
However, even when put in the case, it only enters ultra low power mode AFTER 18 hrs. And 72 hours out of the case. So in my use case, it rarely gets left 18 hrs without use so effectively it’s almost always in the standby power mode and drains excessive battery of which I wasn’t aware before. And am still annoyed about.Hope that’s clarifies for you

 

[Jordan921]

First world problems

 

[UKapple73]

The stupid thing is, this is such an easy thing to fix, just a software update that allows you to put it into ultra low power with a long press of the audio button or something
But no. We aren’t allowed control of our own technology for some reason at Apple.

 

[UKapple73]

First world problems

All articles on this forum are first world problems, hate to break it to you

 

[jterp7]

The stupid thing is, this is such an easy thing to fix, just a software update that allows you to put it into ultra low power with a long press of the audio button or something
But no. We aren’t allowed control of our own technology for some reason at Apple.

so i never use the bra case and in ultra low mode (where you dont see it in the battery widget) I think it lost 10% over a full week or so which is reasonable. It will turned on instantly when I put it on my head, so yeah I think there should be like a home mode where it turns off. But say it detects you're outside your home you can leave it in regular low power mode for the "Find my" reasons.

 

[UKapple73]

I feel like this whole power mode nonsense is mainly down to the Find My function. But how many will use that and how often? I’m sure most would prefer much more battery life and the ability to turn them off. At least give us the option!

 

[ignatius345]

Over this last charge cycle, I logged how much my APM were discharging during periods of active use and when they were just lying around inactive. I didn't use the case at all in this test. Before testing, I assumed the overnight drain wasn't a lot, but it turns out it definitely is, at least with my pair here.

They're down to about 8% right now, and I've gotten just over 10 hours of actual usage, and about 78 hours of idle time. Looking at the battery drain while idle, something like half of the battery capacity was lost during these idle times.

A couple nights, for example, mine lost 8-9% over a 14 or 15 hour period of inactivity.

Look, in practice at home it's not a huge deal. You use then when you use them, you charge them every few days. But it really does seem like a huge waste to have the battery cycling and wearing itself down this much when they're just sitting overnight.

I'm going to repeat this test one more time a bit more carefully without the case, and then I'm going to go a week putting them in the case when I'm not using them and see how that goes.

 

[ignatius345]

You are over-thinking this.

I disagree. The battery will wear out as all rechargable batteries do. They cost money to replace and more importantly the production of them carries environmental costs from mining, production, labor and distribution.

And based on what a lot of people are experiencing in the real world, a huge amount of the wear on those batteries is due to power discharge while idle. So yeah, bad design decisions carry weight and are worth "overthinking" about.

Sure, in practice you can just charge them when you want and use them when you want, but fact it, you should have to charge them as often as you do.

 

[UKapple73]

Especially as Apple are so keen on the environmental impacts apparently- surely this is a waste of energy for a start??