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Airpods - new owners views, problems and questions
- Thread starter dave2010
- Start date
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Turns out that the update didn't really make a difference after all. My AirPods very rarely, if ever, cut out. The signal seems to be pretty rock-solid. That's not my issue. The issue I'm still having is when initiating phone calls. Sometimes I have to hang up and try again due to weird distortion. I thought the update fixed it, but it didn't. Still loving the AirPods overall, but looking forward to Apple addressing this remaining issue.
Have you tried changing the output from Airpods to phone (speaker) & back to Airpods again during the call?
I get the odd call with no sound through Airpods, but by doing the above, it fixes it.
If I remove only the RIGHT AirPod, my music stops. (No sound in the left AirPod)
If I remove the LEFT AirPod, however, my music keeps going in the right AirPod....
Has someone else noticed this, is this a glitch / a setting? It happened both times I tried this today. I'm going to try it again tonight to see if this is a one-time only glitch, or something weird.
(I know if I have a phone call and remove the RIGHT AirPod, the left AirPod still has the sound from the phone call on it.... so there might be a case where this happens)
If I remove the LEFT AirPod, however, my music keeps going in the right AirPod....
Has someone else noticed this, is this a glitch / a setting? It happened both times I tried this today. I'm going to try it again tonight to see if this is a one-time only glitch, or something weird.
(I know if I have a phone call and remove the RIGHT AirPod, the left AirPod still has the sound from the phone call on it.... so there might be a case where this happens)
For music, removing either ear should pause it (I'm not a fan of this design, I think it should only pause if none are in), and as you noticed, phone calls should keep going with one removed.
I would say yours is not acting as designed.
I tried removing one of each of my AirPods while listening to music and removing one from either ear pauses the music. The AirPods have an optical sensor that sense when your AirPod is in your ear, so that might be the problem on yours.
As a first step, you might try toggling off and on the Automatic Ear Detection setting to see if that helps. To get there, connect your Airpods and on your phone, go to Settings, Bluetooth, and tap the blue "i" button associated with the Airpods. From there, scroll down to Automatic Ear Detection and toggle it off and on to see if that sorts things. Leave the setting ON if you want to have the AirPods turn on when you put them in your ear.
Well, I tested it out just this afternoon - and it seems that the software is a little buggy.
If I take one AirPod out or the other, the music stops. Put it in again, the music starts. Fine. It does this MOST of the time. I pulled in/out the left one/right one/etc., until it failed for me again, so I confirmed that it WAS an issue, me not imagining it.
I found out that if I pulled the left AirPod out, it takes about 1/4-1/2 a second to turn off the music... wait until the music is stopped, put in the left AirPod again, and take it out immediately, at some point, the right AirPod will keep going and not notice that the left AirPod isn't in the ear.
Now, it's possible that the LEFT AirPod is also playing music, but I can't confirm that as it wasn't in my ear.
So I did a little bit of testing to see if I could reproduce this a few times. I kept a count until it failed this way 3 times - it took me up to the count of 32.
So, 90%+ it worked, even when you're trying to trick it, which I was.
I think I might have pulled it out while holding some part of the AirPod differently (wherever it senses it's inside the ear), and there was a race-condition in the code where it talks back and forth to the other AirPod and it receives messages out-of-order maybe.
How do you grip the removed Airpod? If you cup it in your hand, then it'll think it's still in your ear. If you grab it by the stem, then it should pause.
I grab the larger circular part up top, not the stem, when I pull them out. I must be covering some hole when I do it sometimes.
That's probably it. According to various teardown schemes and pictures showing the anatomy of the airpod, one of those holes on the fat part is the optical proximity sensor (I think it's the small round hole in front of the oval one on the earbud). When you grab the AirPod, that sensor is blocked by your finger and the airpod thinks it is still in your ear. Try grabbing it by the stem and see what happens.
This is nice to know. I wouldn't really consider it a problem though, because a car can get up to 130+ degrees, and I'm sure the temp rating doesn't go that high.
Does anyone use them for running?
I do, and when I do, I have one problem: I'm not bringing my phone with me, I'm using my watch to play music directly on my AirPods. Somehow, I have to restart the Watch, or else I'm not able to connect my Watch to my AirPods. Do you recognize this?
I do, and when I do, I have one problem: I'm not bringing my phone with me, I'm using my watch to play music directly on my AirPods. Somehow, I have to restart the Watch, or else I'm not able to connect my Watch to my AirPods. Do you recognize this?
I will try that. But after this post, I did a full reset of the AirPods (hold the pairing button until the light blinks) then re-paired, and it seems to have eliminated the problem. I'll have to see how it does for the next week or so to see if I've completely eliminated the issue.
Mine started having issues after the latest update (either iOS or firmware; I'm up-to-date on both). The toggle that turns ear detection on and off now works the opposite way that it is intended to work. If I turn it off I get the right behavior but if I turn it on I get behavior similar to what you are describing.
I have reset them and re-paired them multiple times daily for weeks now and it's not helping.
But if I leave it off it works as if it were on so I can live until future updates. But it's really weird.
This is why I have a 6+ that is my beta tester, and my go to phone (7+) stays on the most current OS. I used my beta to update the airpods in the beginning, once they were working, I have not connected them to my beta tester since. Once it is on later firmware, it says. These latest iOS10's haven't provided anything that beta 1 of iOS11 has.
I have a fear that Apple will either mess it up prior to iOS 11 release date, or worse yet, take a feature away (because they feel it isn't ready for primetime on release date).
Got my AirPods on Tuesday - excellent so far, the practically of having true wireless is amazing - and best of all this morning connected to my LG TV can now enjoy films with all the effects late at night and early morning not to disturb the rest of my family
Another VERY satisfied buyer here.
I was a skeptic at first and only bought them to try them out to see what all the fuss is about. 2 weeks later and not only I decided to keep them but they are slowly turning into one of my most used accessories. Never before had I used headphones at home and out that much but I guess that the ease of use and intuitiveness of the AirPods keeps making me come back to them and finding "excuses" to use them.
At the end of the day this is what is all about. It is not about the spec sheet but how much you want to use a product. Apple has this "magical" way with things - as they like to say - and the AirPods are no exception. They may not have the best sound out there but they are a joy to use and even though I happen to have a pair of B&W and Harman Kardon's, I don't see myself preferring them over the AirPods any time soon.
P.s. A quick question. I know that controls have been added in iOS 11 but do the controls include volume as well ?? I feel that is the only thing that I would like to be added.
I was a skeptic at first and only bought them to try them out to see what all the fuss is about. 2 weeks later and not only I decided to keep them but they are slowly turning into one of my most used accessories. Never before had I used headphones at home and out that much but I guess that the ease of use and intuitiveness of the AirPods keeps making me come back to them and finding "excuses" to use them.
At the end of the day this is what is all about. It is not about the spec sheet but how much you want to use a product. Apple has this "magical" way with things - as they like to say - and the AirPods are no exception. They may not have the best sound out there but they are a joy to use and even though I happen to have a pair of B&W and Harman Kardon's, I don't see myself preferring them over the AirPods any time soon.
P.s. A quick question. I know that controls have been added in iOS 11 but do the controls include volume as well ?? I feel that is the only thing that I would like to be added.
No it doesn’t. But you do not have to use Siri (like many of the naysayers latch onto) you can use your iPhone or if you have an Apple Watch you can use that as well.
yes i had that issue a few times now and it is annoying because Apple Watch takes awhile to restart. Hopefully they can fix it in an update. Alternative is get it connected while your Apple Watch is still in range of your iPhone and transfer it over.
None. Carry the charge case... when you remove them from your ears, place them in the case... mine have not fallen out of my ears one time... it almost 8 months of use... no strap needed.
Yet another happy user here... I picked up mine last week, after hesitating a lot - I thought I was happy with the standard EarPods and had no use for the wireless version... well I was definitely wrong. Not only is the sound way better, but it's such a relief not to have to deal with the hassle of the cables any more. I was concerned about them falling off my ears easily as due to surgery one of my ear canals is wider than the other. But no, they are very steady and even if I shake my head like a crazy rock singer they won't fall off 
The only downside so far is that it seems to me that a prolonged usage of the AirPods will drain the iPhone's battery faster...
So all in all yet another very happy customer here. Won't miss the jack once I get a new iPhone.....
The only downside so far is that it seems to me that a prolonged usage of the AirPods will drain the iPhone's battery faster...
So all in all yet another very happy customer here. Won't miss the jack once I get a new iPhone.....