Airpods - new owners views, problems and questions

[Ralfi]

Hi,
it's a bit weird as so far nobody replied to my post. Wherever I've tried it so far.
So let's try it again.
"I received mine last Thursday.
Music, Videos and FaceTime sound great.
Only issue I have is when using Siri. Her responses are in very low sound quality.
It's the same on iPhone 7, iPad Air 2 and MacBook Pro.
Has anyone noticed the same?
Apple support can't help in this case. "

I always notice a very low crackling sound during calls. But it's not too disturbing.

It's poor quality for me also. Others have mentioned it here also.

I presume transmitting Siri at a lower bandwidth/quality is to save battery life?

I'd hope there was a setting to adjust the quality of Siri as the battery drain surely couldn't be that significant?

I'm having the same issue. They seemed to pair fine up until a few days ago. I too tried forgetting and re-pairing, but still not working. I use my iPhone most of the time, so when using my iPad, I've have to manually pair them. What gives?

I had issues yesterday also....was aiming to show them off at a Christmas lunch, but they didn't want to play

 

[I am Andy]

Sounds annoying. What do iPod or iPad users do when no wifi is around? It can't be to hard to implement these simple siri commands directly into iOS. Maybe in the next update?

You can still use the controls of your device.
Siri of course needs internet, so far. Your fingers don't. ;-)

 

[Mac 128]

You can still use the controls of your device.
Siri of course needs internet, so far. Your fingers don't. ;-)

Doesn't really help if the phone or iPad are plugged into a charger across the room, and the person is otherwise engaged elsewhere.

 

[Abazigal]

What range are you getting with your airpods?

With my iPhone, I can easily move to the other end of my house without losing connection (~6-7m?). With my iPad, I am getting only half that range. People in other forums are reporting range of up to 20m, which sounds insane.

 

[Ralfi]

What range are you getting with your airpods?

With my iPhone, I can easily move to the other end of my house without losing connection (~6-7m?). With my iPad, I am getting only half that range. People in other forums are reporting range of up to 20m, which sounds insane.

20-25m at my gym, with only the odd blip in sound. Today, I lost connection after activating Siri from the furthest point (~25m), but I'm sure it would've stayed connected if I hadn't called on Siri.

Workouts are flying now that I don't have to put up with the gym's music..

 

[The Game 161]

What range are you getting with your airpods?

With my iPhone, I can easily move to the other end of my house without losing connection (~6-7m?). With my iPad, I am getting only half that range. People in other forums are reporting range of up to 20m, which sounds insane.

I can leave my phone in the kitchen and go to the furtherest room upstairs with no connection issues at all.

 

[Jax44]

Um, the purpose and convenience of being truly "wireless" is that you reduce the need to be tethered to another device to perform basic functions when listing to any type of audio. While, of course, the phone, watch, or other device that the Airpods are paired to ultimately have the most control over what you are doing there are times when accessing those source devices are not "convenient" to do a simple action (i.e. volume control, next / back, etc).

Try putting on a coat (winter or otherwise) with a pair of gloves in cold weather and try to perform a simple task using the Apple Watch (which I do own). Nothing is as convenient (or quick) as accessing in-line control on a BT headset, especially for volume. I don't have to pull out a phone from a coat or pants pocket on the run, etc.

How would you accurately click the little inline buttons with gloves on?.

 

[tivoboy]

I can leave my phone in the kitchen and go to the furtherest room upstairs with no connection issues at all.

I can't imagine there are no connection issues at all. Going across floors and between multiple rooms there is so much insulation and shielding that there is bound to be some degradation

 

[The Game 161]

I can't imagine there are no connection issues at all. Going across floors and between multiple rooms there is so much insulation and shielding that there is bound to be some degradation

Trust me there isn't any issues, it only buffers abit if I go outside the house to put washing out

 

[teidon]

Between my Late 2010 MBA and iPhone 6s, the iPhone has much better range. With iPhone I can go to a room so that there is two walls in between the iPhone and the AirPods, but yet the connection is perfect. With the MBA the connection drops as soon as I go behind the second wall.

 

[CharlesShaw]

Doesn't really help if the phone or iPad are plugged into a charger across the room, and the person is otherwise engaged elsewhere.

Funny how quickly everyone has moved past the loss of the headphone jack.

 

[dk001]

Funny how quickly everyone has moved past the loss of the headphone jack.

They haven't. This group is a snapshot.
Wired is my primary. BT is a hope.

 

[daijholt]

Trust me there isn't any issues, it only buffers abit if I go outside the house to put washing out

Completely depends on what your house is made out of, but my experience is also very good.

With my powerbeats2 and my phone in my room, I would lose connection once reaching the bottom of my stairs. With AirPods, they're still going strong well past that point and only show signs of stutter when I reach the kitchen, between which there are a floor and 2 thick walls. Very impressed with the W1 chip.

 

[christian.terra]

The seam where the two pieces are glued together is slowly coming apart.

 

[Pupi]

What’s the best way of cleaning and keeping the AirPods and its case?

I find my case to have a bit of an oily feeling, I guess the non-porous glossy surface tends to that but still I think it can get better.

At the same time I don’t know what to use so that’s gentle with plastic and not very harmful if accidentally goes a bit inside those connectors and vents on the AirPods + case.

 

[rockyromero]

What’s the best way of cleaning and keeping the AirPods and its case?

I haven't cleaned my AirPods yet.

I will probably use the keyboard cleaning solution that I have.

Probably an alcohol based napkin?

➰

 

[Night Spring]

I haven't cleaned my AirPods yet.

I will probably use the keyboard cleaning solution that I have.

Probably an alcohol based napkin?

➰

One more plus for removable ear tips. With my Bose earphones, I just take off the tips and wash them in soapy water, then wait for them to dry and pop them back on.

 

[Crazy Badger]

The seam where the two pieces are glued together is slowly coming apart.

Are they actually coming apart, or is it just some dirt in the groove? I've just checked mine and one looked worse than the other, but a quick clean and they look the same again.

 

[jk73]

So I let the charging case's battery run empty. The AirPods will turn off as you put them in the case and turn on as you take them out, even though the case has no battery left. The Pods won't turn on when you open the lid, only when you take them out.

And as I said earlier, the case won't charge the Pods if the case is low on battery. I assume low is less than 5%. Not sure why it does that, because as far as I can tell the case has only one task: To charge the Pods. I can't come up with a good reason why it refuses to do that.

The case has a very important other task: Pairing the AirPods with one's devices. Maybe a small amount of power is retained for that purpose.

 

[dk001]

Interestingly ran into this on ARS... Seems to fit a bit of what poster's here are saying...
The good

• Really sturdy and hard to damage by accident.
• Battery isn’t a problem.
• Charging case is a reasonably convenient, practical way to carry them around.
• If they fit in your ears, you’ll have no problem keeping them in while working out or walking around.
• They sound better than standard EarPods, though they won’t win awards from audio buffs.

The bad

• Sorta dorky looking, though dorkiness is in the eye of the beholder, and this may fade as they become normalized.
• Wireless issues aren’t 100-percent solved.
• Easy to lose.
• Might not fit your ears.
• Apple seems to have backed off from claims that the AirPods will play audio automatically and seamlessly from whatever device you’re using; iPad and Mac users will need to select the AirPods manually as they would for any Bluetooth device.

The ugly

• Expensive to buy, expensive to fix, expensive to replace.

 

[Brookzy]

Picked up two more sets of AirPods today for gifts.

Checked their serials on CoconutID and it shows they were manufactured in mid October! How bizarre. The labels on the boxes still say 12/16 though which I assume means December 2016. I hope I haven't got dodgy/out of sync ones that slipped through the net.

My ones were made in mid December and my friend's late November to early December but I was surprised to see October.

Maybe CoconutID is just wrong.

Anyone interested can check theirs using the CoconutID app and using the custom tab.

 

[tbhausen]

I wouldn't clean the AirPods or the case with anything other than a dry microfiber cloth.

 

[twinlight]

Five days with these little things now and I almost stopped using my Beats Solo3.

Sure these have less bass but what can you expect from the tiny speakers? They still sound really good with anything I have played so far (~20 hours).

They are really convenient and so far its only hugging girls that have made them become loose. I even took my sweater on and off without problems.

Running at them gym or doing situps is just fine. Guess I have them Apple Ears..

I use siri rarely and go to my watch for controls instead. For the next version Im hoping some more sensors are added and that we can have activation lock on them.

 

[christian.terra]

Are they actually coming apart, or is it just some dirt in the groove? I've just checked mine and one looked worse than the other, but a quick clean and they look the same again.

The genius at Apple thought it was dirt too, but it's that one piece is higher than the other so it creates a small gap. We used a piece of paper to confirm it was a gap and it went right through. Going to another Apple Store tomorrow, hopefully they have replacement parts.

 

[Ralfi]

I was surprised to see the iPhone 7 has Bluetooth 4.2.

Having a 6S, I just thought the Bluetooth 5 Airpods would be timed to be released with an iPhone also having Bluetooth 5.

So does this mean if next years iPhone has Bluetooth 5, we can expect even better range & robust signal from phone to Airpods since the jump from Bluetooth 4.2 to 5 is meant to be a significant one?