AirPods Pro different battery level (Left vs. Right)

[TWDbag]

So, an update.

As far as I understood from the email they sent me - they did diagnostics and concluded that they hate to change the Case and both AirPods (the whole thing). I have to wait now from 15 to 25 work days (absurd).
As soon as I get the new ones I will let you know if all the issues are resolved, which I think they will.

 

[bmat]

The best way to test this is to wait until one of the Airpods charge to 100% (even if the other shows 50%, 40& or whatever), & then test them for a long time until you hear the flat battery tone - if they work for 4.5 hours, then you have proof the battery reading is incorrect.

Incorrect readings are what is happening to me & others on this forum.

have you experienced the situation where one AirPod won’t charge or goes down all the way to zero or won’t say it’s charging. Or just the discrepancy in charge levels?

both are happening to mine.

 

[TWDbag]

have you experienced the situation where one AirPod won’t charge or goes down all the way to zero or won’t say it’s charging. Or just the discrepancy in charge levels?

both are happening to mine.

It's for the best if you take them to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider.

 

[Kardinal1911]

Ok I just bought my AirPods pro... my left pod just completely died while my right one says 54% battery I’m heading straight back to the Apple store

 

[dumastudetto]

I can confirm there are no known defects with AirPods Pro. If yours needs charging, pop it in the case.

 

[Kardinal1911]

I can confirm that you’re wrong. It’s a widespread issue and I exchanged mine yesterday for a new set. I’ll keep you posted on my findings

 

[perezr10]

My AirPods Pro seem to discharge at different rates but after careful observation of how they CHARGE in their case I’m noticing that it may actually be a charging up problem. As opposed to a rate of discharge problem.

I’ve noticed that my good side always shows the little charging lightning symbol in the battery widget. Whereas my bad side often doesn’t appear to be charging even though it’s in the case. If I jiggle it, it will resume charging.

When I remove the AirPods from the case, they both show 100% but the bad side very shortly starts showing a lower battery level.

I don’t know if this applies to everyone else’s problem. But in my case, I think I have a hardware problem.

I have to confess a mea culpa. I solved my problem and here was the issue. It turns out that the left Airpod, the one which always seemed weaker than the right, wasn’t charging correctly in the case. However, it was due to my incorrect mounting of the silicone component. I noticed that it was charging just fine without the silicone. So I paid more attention to the installation process. Voila! My problem went away. User error.

I don’t doubt others may be having an issue, but in my case, it was an incorrectly placed silicone ear insert.

 

[MPclk2006]

I have to confess a mea culpa. I solved my problem and here was the issue. It turns out that the left Airpod, the one which always seemed weaker than the right, wasn’t charging correctly in the case. However, it was due to my incorrect mounting of the silicone component. I noticed that it was charging just fine without the silicone. So I paid more attention to the installation process. Voila! My problem went away. User error.

I don’t doubt others may be having an issue, but in my case, it was an incorrectly placed silicone ear insert.

That’s great that it worked out for you. I encountered a similar problem, but also I went to use my Airpods one morning after they were in the case all night and one was 14% and the other 5%, even though the case was 74% charged. Thankfully I had just bough them last month so i went back to the store for a full refund and bought another pair.

 

[vgk80]

Brought a new pair last week, and the battery shows 99% right after I pop it out of the case. Should I be heading back to store for a replacement?

 

[CoronaOnTap]

Brought a new pair last week, and the battery shows 99% right after I pop it out of the case. Should I be heading back to store for a replacement?
View attachment 925009

It’s completely normal. The AirPod you take out of the case first shows 99%. You can test it by switching the AirPod you take out first.
Don’t fret over tiny differences in the battery levels.

 

[Ralfi]

Brought a new pair last week, and the battery shows 99% right after I pop it out of the case. Should I be heading back to store for a replacement?
View attachment 925009

If you’re serious...NO.

 

[MPclk2006]

Brought a new pair last week, and the battery shows 99% right after I pop it out of the case. Should I be heading back to store for a replacement?
View attachment 925009

Mine did that too right after i bought the new set too...figured its just a little glitch since they held charge after.

 

[Theryesider]

Getting this problem just now, have been having problems with songs not skipping, can hear the two clicks but won’t skip to the next song.
Tried them there and the right earphone just felt solid, so put them on charge for 10 mins.
Both earphones showing 90% case 75%.
After 5 mins I take it the low battery noise and right ear stops working, now showing 10%.
Put it in its case and every second it is going up 1%.
Just checked there between typing this it is now up to63%.
When is swipe right on my iPhone my battery for air pod only shows 1 Airpod never the case yet those screenshots show both and the case?
Think it’s time to return these.
Right suddenly got the drop down arrow and it showed 2 now disappeared again back to 1😡
Now at 97% l/h 73% r/h have never made a phone call with them ever🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[Blowback]

Hello all,

Weird thing just happened to me.
I was listening to some podcasts, watching YouTube videos, listening some music, etc. for some time with both AirPods.

When I put them back into the case I noticed the following:

View attachment 889409

Is this normal? I don't see a reason why my Right AirPod is drastically with lower battery level.

Also another thing that I have noticed is that when they are fully charged 100% (overnight charging) as soon as I take the right one the battery immediately drops down to 99%. With the Left AirPod that isn't the case.

I got them on 4th of January 2020.

Happens to me sometimes but only ~5% or so....think it may have to do with playing around with/removing etc. one and not the other . I would monitor over a few days and see what happens.

 

[makatak]

Hi Ralfi,

I called Apple Support and I just finished talking to them and they say this isn't expected at all and there must be a replacement. They offered a shipping the parts (I don't know if Left and Right AirPod or just the one I am having issue) but because I am not in the US nor Canada at the moment they cannot to do so, so they told me to ask for a replacement at the store where I bought them.
The store is a Apple Premium Reseller.

Now, I've noticed couple of things that are weird as well to me (I've told Apple only about the first one, the other two happened after my conversation with them):

1. As soon as I take my Right AirPod from the case battery drop to 99% (my left one is still in the case). That isn't the case when my I take my Left AirPod.
   This has been tested when my Microphone is set to Automatic, set only on the Right AirPod and when is set only on the Left AirPod.
   
   
2. The following happened is when I opened the case, took both AirPods from the case.
   
   View attachment 889521
   
   
3. Or even this after taking both AirPods out from the case - it shows that the Left one is still charging.
   
   View attachment 889522

Now, for point 2 & 3 I don't know if it's just a problem with both AirPods or even a problem with the case as well.
After all of this I honestly don't want to take the risk of having a defective product and I will try to have everything replaced.

I’m facing the same issue as sometimes the right does not charge and sometimes the left AirPods.. What’s the solution to this issue?

 

[itsmilo]

The cheap fks at Apple only replaced one of my AirPods so now their charging is on different level cuz the one they didn’t replace obviously has more wear already. Super annoying

 

[ElementThink]

I have a same ish problem. My airpods pro work fine when i’m using them until i put them in the case. When they become 100% issues starts to appear. Like my right airpod randomly goes from 100% to like 2-10%. And when i start to use them everything works fine later but sometime my right airpod wont work at all when i get them out of the case when this appears. I tried almost everything. But it only fixes it temporarily.

btw the battery is fine so its only a error on the software side.

 

[andreagrandi]

Hello folks, I'm having a similar issue and and I'm trying to conduct some tests.

Reading your messages, none of you have specified a very fundamental piece of information: are you using NOISE CANCELLING or not? Because it matters. A lot. NC feature is not "magic", it uses a microphone placed on the external part of the Airpods Pro to detect any noise/sound so that it can be "countered" by the chip.

From the tests I've done so far, when I use the Airpods with my Mac, I normally use the Mac microphone. I can do a 1 hour call, no NC activated and after 1 hour the battery difference is 1% or even none.

Yesterday evening I was listening to Spotify (so in theory no NC involved) with NC activated and when I placed my Airpods in the case one was 14% battery left and the other one was 43%.

It's possible that with NC activated the Airpods don't need to use both microphones (it would just consume double battery) but they pick one and stick with it for "a while". What Apple could surely improve is the algorithm that switches between the two microphones.

I will keep you updated when I discover more about this.

 

[andreagrandi]

Update: I listened to Spotify (on my iPhone) for a few minutes, with NC off. When I put the Airpods in the case they were both 85% battery left.

Now I'm going to recharge them and then I will listen again to some music but with NC on this time.

Update 2: I listened to Spotify for ~30 minutes with NC on. When I put the Airpods in the case they were both 88% battery left 🤔 I have a suspect now, but I want to verify it before saying anything.

Update 3: I suspected it could be some app "secretly" using the microphone, but I wasn't able to reproduce it. At least not on my iPad. I will try again on the iPhone.

 

[andreagrandi]

Update 4: my opinion is that battery widget is completely bugged and doesn’t reflect the real battery status.

Yesterday evening I put my Airpods away before going to bed and there was over 40% difference between the left and the right (I had not used any noise cancelling). After 6-7 minutes in the case they were both at 36% and after another 3 minutes they were at 81%

 

[Ralfi]

Ok, so from the above tests, yet again, it proves that when faced with a discrepancy in battery levels between the L & R Pods, the higher reading is the accurate one.

In the above example, they were both at 70%, & after 10 minutes of charge, they were 81%.

 

[andreagrandi]

Ok, so from the above tests, yet again, it proves that when faced with a discrepancy in battery levels between the L & R Pods, the higher reading is the accurate one.

In the above example, they were both at 70%, & after 10 minutes of charge, they were 81%.

What you say makes sense. The wrong reading doesn't even happen all the time. I checked at least 3 times yesterday whil I was watching a movie on the iPad and putting the Airpods back for a break.

The battery level were always "even" (at least for me): both at 93% the first time, both at 82% the second time etc...

Maybe the wrong reading is something that Apple could fix with a firmware update?

 

[Superrenz]

What you say makes sense. The wrong reading doesn't even happen all the time. I checked at least 3 times yesterday whil I was watching a movie on the iPad and putting the Airpods back for a break.

The battery level were always "even" (at least for me): both at 93% the first time, both at 82% the second time etc...

Maybe the wrong reading is something that Apple could fix with a firmware update?

Any news on this issue? Just found out that I have the same problem. After 1.5 hours of use with NC on, left AirPod Pro was down to 45 percent. The right one was at 80. I am running the latest firmware. Any ideas? Hardware issue or software bug? Thx for your help!
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Short update: After 15 minutes of charging both AirPods are back at 98 percent. Seems like the widget is kinda ****ed up. What do you think?

 

[Ralfi]

Short update: After 15 minutes of charging both AirPods are back at 98 percent. Seems like the widget is kinda ****ed up. What do you think?

Lost count of the number of times I’ve mentioned that it’s a software bug. The higher reading is the accurate one.

 

[Superrenz]

Lost count of the number of times I’ve mentioned that it’s a software bug. The higher reading is the accurate one.

Thanx for your expertise. Pretty bad Apple hasn’t fixed this yet.