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AirPods Max Severe Battery Drain
- Thread starter VL_424
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i dont think airpods software is bundled with ios. its independent. and since theres no way to update manually, we have to just wait until they automatically update if there is an update
Apple needs to just fix both the drain issue and add power-off functionality to one of the buttons. I haven't had an issue with excessive battery drain (about 10% a day), but I also can go days without using them and just don't need them to be always on.
No, but there's no button on the airpods (unless you count the pairing button on the case), and the come in a charging case (obviously much more necessary because of the low capacity of the batteries in the airpods themselves). Also, much easier to carry them and use the throughout the day. I really like the sound and comfort of the APM, which is why I'm keeping them, but I don't plan to carry them around with me during the day or travel with them, so they will get much less use, especially if WFH ever ends. I don't know how long it would take for the APMs to restart from an off condition - I haven't tried to hard reset them - but if it takes a while, it may be why Apple decided to not build in that functionality as people might get frustrated.
I have two iPods Max at home. Mine has the battery drain, the other one is totally fine. The only difference is that mine connects to two computers (an iMac Pro and a MBP) while the trouble-less Max only connects to a MBP. Both headphones also connect to an iPad and one iPhone. Could it be related to the bluetooth connection to computers?
Did I miss another announcement? I have two AirPods Maxs, but tell me more about the iPods Max...
I do agree it appears there is battery drain with one of them that multi-connects.
I got mine yesterday (just kept stalking Amazon), and I've been watching this thread. Last night, they were at 91% when I put them in their little case and went to bed. This morning (I looked about 9 hours later), they were at 44%.
If this isn't fixable, these aren't going to work. And it would be a shame to return them because they sound great.
If this isn't fixable, these aren't going to work. And it would be a shame to return them because they sound great.
LOL! I didn't even see what you were talking about! I am sorry about the throwback. The lockdown is affecting me.Did I miss another announcement? I have two AirPods Maxs, but tell me more about the iPods Max...
I do agree it appears there is battery drain with one of them that multi-connects.
This is a huge insight. By this we are narrowing the battery drain bug to the constant attempt of connections. Which also confirms the problem of having several devices.
SO FAR WE KNOW THIS NOW:
People that have several apple devices at home, with bluetooth on, would experience a battery drain cause the headphones would constant search for new conextions
This may cause the the 10% battery drain per day. Because, giving your experience, If you turned off the bluetooth in your other devices but the iPhone, the drain is 0% or almost 0%.
Now. This would become a problem with Apple TV user, because there is no way to turn off the bluetooth there.
This make a lot of sense, because most of us experiencing the drain saw the common patter of having Apple TV or Mac (most of people just leave the desktop Mac on all day, with the bluetooth on)
Now my hypothesis is the the large drain (more than 50% over night) is cause by mistaken disconnection from the device, that causes the A1 cheap to believe that it is still playing music, therefore, it never stops processing, not even inside the case.
I don't have my AirPods Max anymore cause I returned them, to try turning off the bluetooth all my devices and see if I have the same behavior, but you guys should try to see if we found the root problem.
That makes sense. Turn off Bluetooth in all devices except the phone and power off Apple TV and see if the power drain continues
Now people want an off button in the AirPods Max because is the most simple solution, but is not practical in the eyes of Apple.
Now, what does the OFF BUTTOM do on other over-ear headphones like Bose or Sony??. NO, it doesn't turn them off completely, they just turn the headphones into a very low power mode, so that they save battery for days and the drain is minimal. And they do that because if you would completely turn them off, they would delete their memory and connections with other devices, which is not the optimal experience.
But what is you somehow forget to switch off the so claimed button: your battery would drain as much as always.
Apple must have some surveys in the behavior of their customers and see that this is a common problem, because we are human, and we forget, we make mistakes.
That's why apple tried to address this problem by automatically turn the headphones "off" by not wearing them. We make mistakes, devices not, at least not if they are well programmed, which is not the case now.
The future is making the this easier, more intuitive, with a better and more natural experience.
Those asking for a turn off button, or aiming it as design failure, are the type of people with the believe "if you got something working well, just let it work, don't modify it", when we should really push the companies for new innovations and improve the old ways of doing things, challenge paradigmas in every aspect.
I think apple tries to do that all the time, and it fails a lot, but the keep trying until they make it right.
This wants an design failure, it is designed to provide a better experience, avoiding human mistakes by automation. we just need to wait for it to be corrected.
Im sure that if wants any battery drain, people wouldn't be asking for an off button.
In the meantime, if you wanna keep the battery for a lot of days untouched because you won't use you APM, hard reset them before putting them in the case (this is the way of turning them off completely) , and you'll see that you can have them with battery for months. Just pair them back the next time you use them, which is easy.
this first big battery drain is because they were updating to the latest firmware 3C16. Just hard reset them and you'll be fine.
I am one of the few don’t mind the on/off button. Battery drain seems spread so i guess its a matter of Apple optimising their software, probably a bug they need to address and we who got APM early are guinea pigs.
So, I have updated both my iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max to the new iOS and grabbed my AirPod Max out of my bag and they have zero battery again.
I am starting to get worried.
If this is an actual problem plaguing the device, why aren't more outlets talking about it?
If it is a known issue, why aren't they rushing to push out a fix?
I am concerned that my very expensive product with very expensive to replace batteries is going to run out of juice much sooner than I planned.
What was the result when someone went to the Apple Store to fix?
I am starting to get worried.
If this is an actual problem plaguing the device, why aren't more outlets talking about it?
If it is a known issue, why aren't they rushing to push out a fix?
I am concerned that my very expensive product with very expensive to replace batteries is going to run out of juice much sooner than I planned.
What was the result when someone went to the Apple Store to fix?
I really would contact apple support via phone. I'm still waiting for mine, but if I have this issue, I'll contact them for sure
Do we know that they aren’t working on it? Since most people seem to be reporting this first started with the most recent update, it’s reasonable to think that this is software/firmware related. But it is also an intermittent or inconsistent problem. Those kind of bugs are the hardest to fix and take the longest to test before release of a software update.
I don’t have my APM yet but if I experience this when I do get them, I’ll be on the phone with AppleCare to document it ASAP. Then, unless it causes charging problems that crop up while I’m actually using the APMs, I’ll just plug them in at night just like I do my Beats. Problem solved for the time being.
And if I’m lucky, Apple will have already fixed the bug and sent out an update before I even get my grubby little mitts on them.
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It is a very common problem. There are a lot of blogs talking about this (here, iMOre, 9to5, apple discussions , etc) as well as youtubers . If you check the previous post on this 15 page blog you’ll see posted the videos and articles from other sources.
In order to fix it just hard reset your AirPod max by pressing and holding the crown and button for 15 sec until
The led get white, they pair it again with you iPhone. This is for the AirPods Max to stop loading in that infinity loop that they got stuck. This problem is related to having several apple products with Bluetooth on, so far we know.
Thanks. I'll try the reset trick but also heard it went back a few days later.
That’s correct. Until the bug is solved that’s the temporary solution to fully disconnect the AirPods. You can do it anytime you feel you have the drain.
It was a good theory, but last night they dropped from 66% to 12% overnight.
Last night, I check that they weren't connected to my iPad and they didn't show on the battery monitor on my phone, but they still burned through a lot of battery...presumably doing nothing.
Tonight, I'll try to "forget" them on both devices, reset and set up new. Then I'll see what happens in the morning.
This happened to me last night as well, the sudden disconnection and airpods max restart happened twice a day now since ios 14.4, reported this to support in addition to my issues 3 weeks ago, customer support decided to send me express replacement, i expect it will be the same.
At this point for you, it doesn’t matter is it’s connected or not to your devices. Your A1 chip is already stuck in an infinity loop load triggered by the firmware update to 3C16 (lots of people had the same behavior when their aripods are new and they update). You are going to keep experimenting the battery drain weather you use them or not (even if they are inside the case) at an average rate of 4-6% per hour (8 hours (overnight) = 40%) because the headphones are stuck, frozen or however you want to call them.
SOLUTION
The solution is the hard reset as I just explained, cause that would reboot the airpods.
After that you’ll be totally fine.
After that most people have a 10% battery drain during the FIRST 24 hours of not use. Except when they left the AirPods fully charged at 100% (they retain more battery when they are at 100%).
After the first 24 hours of continuously not use , we have not drain rate cause they AirPod get into an ultra low power mode after the 18 hours continuously not use (And people use them back before we achieve this time window). And by no use i mean inside the case. If you leave them outside the case, it takes 72 hours to get that ultra low power mode. And you have to consider that you CANT touch them during this 72 hours , cause the headphones have an accelerometer, sensitive to movements, so any touch should wake them up, and the counting starts from 0 again.
if you want to minimize the drain during the first 18 hours, you need to turn the Bluetooth off from all your devices, SPECIALLY desktop Macs and APPLE TV
Finally, if you want to retain all battery over night, perform a hard reset before going to bed and put them inside the case, so they are fully disconnected (This is the actual way to turn the headphones off).
Next time in the morning pair them back with you iphone.
The problem can happen again in the future, this time triggered by the automatic switching feature presumably, but you can still solve it temporarily with the hard reset until the bug fix comes out.
hope this help you
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