Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Airpods - new owners views, problems and questions
- Thread starter dave2010
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple replied this when I opened a bug report to complain about battery being wasted if the Airpods are outside the case, but not being used:
"This is an engineering tradeoff. If we were to stop all paging and advertising while the buds are sitting idle on your desk, any time you picked them up and placed them in your ear, we’d take a few seconds to connect. We prioritize the more often seen user situation in which the user leaves the buds out only when they intend to use them relatively soon after."
"This is an engineering tradeoff. If we were to stop all paging and advertising while the buds are sitting idle on your desk, any time you picked them up and placed them in your ear, we’d take a few seconds to connect. We prioritize the more often seen user situation in which the user leaves the buds out only when they intend to use them relatively soon after."
Makes perfect sense. If your not going to be using them for a bit, put em in the case. Simple.
Last edited:
EXACTLY this. Simple solution to a simple problem. I can't imagine the AirPods using that much battery out of the case to warrant a complaint to begin with....Really??
You didn't read my post, then. The battery is totally depleted if you leave them outside the case for hours and don't use at all, and this happens even if there are no devices with Bluetooth enabled in the area.
I am not talking about 10, 20, 30% a day, instead think of 5% or more each hour!
What was explained makes sense but I still don't like a device that wastes battery and leaves me with no alternative to turn off such waste besides putting it inside its own case. I realize that it's nice to take it out and starts using right away, however for the way I planned to use this isn't ideal. All I wanted was a severe reduction in this waste, I mean, if I am constantly using the Airpods, 5% each hour is acceptable, if I am not, 1, 2 at best.
These devices make no distinction. Or perhaps they could have made their batteries last a lot longer.
The only good think about this is that the Airpods need a few minutes to be charged, the ad says 15 minutes for another 3 hours of listening.
Please note that my complaints are not only limited to battery usage, it's also related to this + a way to quickly use them again when needed.
For example, assume I can stop my iPAD from wasting battery while idle (5% each day?), but that would require me to completely shut it off, and wait a minute for the system to boot again.
What would be better than this? Not having to wait a full minute for the iPAD to boot, and still have it sitting idly and not waste 5% in 24 hours, only turned off with the Smart Cover closed.
What I wanted was a way to shut the Pencil or the Airpods while they are idle and be able to start using them again without too much hassle. For the Pencil the "hassle" is to connect to the lightning port, for the Airpods is to keep removing them from that charger case.
You see, when I bought the Airpods no one told me that case was going to be where they would stay most of the time to prevent the battery from being depleted. I wasn't expecting this, considering I don't take my Earpods from the iPAD even when I don't use them, to avoid damaging the headphone jack.
So follow my logic: if I always used the iPAD with the Earpods and never remove the latter from the hadphone jack, they are imediatelly available/at my disposal 24/7, right? It's just that I don't use them ALL THE TIME.
With the Airpods I need to decide whether or not I am going to use them.
This isn't very efficient.
That's why I already stated they would be uncomfortable to sleep with them intact. Being they have the potential to fall out.
I chopped that down because it was ridiculously long. Sounds to me like the AirPods are not for you, I would return them or sell them if too late to return and move on.
I may have been, if not the only, one of the few users to suggest we should have the Airpods long before no one here even thought about the idea. I never liked the alternatives. For me it's not a big deal, since I don't watch or listen as much as I did in the past. And as I said before I have 2 iPADs (besides 2 Earpods), so whenever I don't want to use one, the other is available.
I just think these minor details shouldn't be neglected. We shouldn't need a button to turn them off, only some improvement in terms of battery or at least reduce the use when idle. And by "idle" I don't mean inside the charger case. You can expand these concerns to other Apple devices, too. It's just that this will inevitably be more noticeable while using the Airpods.
Remember we had problems with the charger case that were fixed in firmware updates. There's always room for improvement, and if you think really hard you'll realize what I am suggesting isn't impossible to be perfected one day.
I must also add that I take great care of everything I have and want to see my stuff lasting as much as possible. So obviously I could let them outside the charger case to use the way I want and keep charging them for a few minutes, that could be a compromise, yet that will also reduce the Airpods battery lifespan, so it would be idiotic in the end.
I tried to explain that leaving the Airpods outside their charger case is more practical for me to quickly grab them and use it, no one understands my point, that's OK. I just want things to be as practical as possible.
One thing that isn't practical is being fixed in the next ATV 4 update, which is the fact the Airpods don't pair automatically. I remember right before they were released some users said here there wouldn't even be any ATV support.
In my case there aren't many people complaining, or Apple isn't interested in changing anything. That doesn't make my justifications or anyone else's less valid.
Yea don't care enough to read all that. Thanks though.
Last edited:
Since the AirPods connect to your iPhone/iPad as soon as you pop them in your ear, you are maybe talking about five seconds of saved time to keep them out of the case vs in.
If five seconds of your time is too valuable, then perhaps Bluetooth earbuds are not for you.
Wait....why would I leave my AirPods out of their case for hours at a time without them being in my ears??
It's not about them being outside the case without being used. I'll explain this again:
It's the fact that you may use them at random moments of the day, whether in your PC (with the help of a dongle), or one of your Apple devices.
If you plan to use for hours without any interruption then what I complained doesn't make sense.
If you always had the Earpods with you 24/7 and you could use them whenever you wanted, now you have to make a decision. You will use and put the Airpods back in the charger case again.
It's obvious something changed and you have to really do this sort of stuff in a mechanical fashion.
One word for you: spontaneity. It's not laziness from my part. I just don't like devices that have a battery that can be quickly wasted or that remain inside a case when not being used.
Take the Apple Pencil, for example. I already said it's paired to my #2 IPP 9.7, which has Bluetooth on 24/7.
If I disable BT in this iPAD I'll need to plug it into the lightning port. Doing this multiple times will surely wear that port or the Pencil itself, no matter how careful I am. Just like removing the Earpods when I am not using, and plugging them again.
There's less spontaneity that way, since the Pencil it's already paired I don't need to repeat this procedure ever again (unless I update iOS).
If you think about it the Airpods work better than the Pencil in this regard. However, since I also want to preserve the tip of the Pencil, when not using it remains inside the original box:
(Click to enlarge)
It makes sense to put the Pencil inside this box to avoid damaging the tip.
Now, for the Airpods, I thought the charger case was only going to be used for that end.
When needed.
When you are not using your iPAD (let's say you went to sleep, and will only wake the next 8 hours), do you keep it that way? If it's already at 100%?
Of course not. But for the Airpods, it's either that or a 100% drop when you wake up. Even if not being used.
Broadcast without any use
versus
Actual use
=
Why it's the same thing for the Airpods?
AirPods don't have an on/off switch, they are turned on by opening the case, and off by putting them back and closing the lid.
You really, really need to shorten these posts.
Look, you obviously are not a fan of the product, and that's fine, so return them. I think 99% of AirPods owners would disagree with you, but that's what opinions are for.
Look, you obviously are not a fan of the product, and that's fine, so return them. I think 99% of AirPods owners would disagree with you, but that's what opinions are for.
Have been using my Airpods for about 3 months now and absolutely love them. Only got one gripe though, curious to see if anyone else has run into it.
I mostly wear mine while I'm at work and 99% of the time will only use the left Airpod and have the right one in its case. Thing is if I'm playing music or listening to a podcast, if I have to take it out for a quick second and put them back in and double tap to resume the song/podcast, it will play fine for about 5 seconds and eventually no sound will come out of the Airpod. I check my iPhone and it's showing that the song/podcast is still playing but no sound is coming from either one. Found the only way to resume it is having to hold the home button on my phone to activate Siri and only then it will resume playing after I close Siri.
I mostly wear mine while I'm at work and 99% of the time will only use the left Airpod and have the right one in its case. Thing is if I'm playing music or listening to a podcast, if I have to take it out for a quick second and put them back in and double tap to resume the song/podcast, it will play fine for about 5 seconds and eventually no sound will come out of the Airpod. I check my iPhone and it's showing that the song/podcast is still playing but no sound is coming from either one. Found the only way to resume it is having to hold the home button on my phone to activate Siri and only then it will resume playing after I close Siri.
Best Buy just got the airpods back in stock so I placed an order and they are arriving Saturday. I also just ordered the EarSkinz. I hope they do make a difference in comfort. I had tried the airpods before and they weren't very comfortable in my ear.
I'm having an issue with my Airpods connecting to my iPhone 7.
When I flip the case, I'll get the "connection card" or whatever you want to call it. I see the battery for the case and each pod. But then it doesnt take the next step and actually connect. I have to manually go into Bluetooth, or use control center swipe up and select, to get them to actually connect.
This happens maybe 50% of the time.
When I flip the case, I'll get the "connection card" or whatever you want to call it. I see the battery for the case and each pod. But then it doesnt take the next step and actually connect. I have to manually go into Bluetooth, or use control center swipe up and select, to get them to actually connect.
This happens maybe 50% of the time.
My biggest problem are the dropouts I get when crossing intersections here in SF. Pretty much in the middle of any intersection with stoplights I get bad dropouts. Once I cross the intersection its fine. Other then that no issues.
Got my AirPods today - absolutely love them after a whole day's use.
Was sceptical, as previously had B&O H5 in-ear wireless headphones, and NEVER used them. Can see that this will, again, be a case of apple giving me something I'll use in a category I thought I never would. </fanboy>
Was sceptical, as previously had B&O H5 in-ear wireless headphones, and NEVER used them. Can see that this will, again, be a case of apple giving me something I'll use in a category I thought I never would. </fanboy>
To Do a factory reset. Put pods in the case (keep lid open) hold the button on the back 3-5 seconds until the light blinks amber 3 times, close lid Forget device in BT settings (iPhone). Once done with all that, open the AirPods case and repair
So I got mine and used the today the first time, great little pieces! Finally no worries anymore regarding batteries.
I have a "almost everday usage" problem which I would like to address to to you guys, which you hopefully encountered as well and give me a tip.
So when I go and make some groceries (or paying anywhere at all) I normally took off my earbuds and just let them hang aroung (just one piece) and when I payed
and leave the store I take them back on. So and as we don't have any strap here, I stood there and didn't really know where to put the little AirPod. In the pocket would not be such a good solution
as many times my keyes are in there or even my phone.
Did you encounter this "problem" as well?
Happy to hear your experiences.
I have a "almost everday usage" problem which I would like to address to to you guys, which you hopefully encountered as well and give me a tip.
So when I go and make some groceries (or paying anywhere at all) I normally took off my earbuds and just let them hang aroung (just one piece) and when I payed
and leave the store I take them back on. So and as we don't have any strap here, I stood there and didn't really know where to put the little AirPod. In the pocket would not be such a good solution
as many times my keyes are in there or even my phone.
Did you encounter this "problem" as well?
Happy to hear your experiences.