AirPods Slow to Connect?

[redman042]

I've experienced quite a bit of variability on how long the AirPods take to connect to a paired phone after first putting one or both in my ear (or sometimes outright failures). This is a concern for me because when driving, I get business calls, and prefer to pop an AirPod in then answer the call. But I need the AirPod to connect before it's too late to answer the caller.

I think I've figured out the problem. My AirPods were also paired to other devices such as my Windows laptop, and occasionally I let my daughter use them with her iPad. Seems that when multiple pairings are stored in the AirPod memory, it takes much longer to scan for devices and connect, and is more prone to failures.

My solution is to factory reset the AirPods (hold back button for 10 seconds), clear the existing pairing from my iPhone, and re-pair them to just my iPhone. They work much faster after that.

But this is a little inconvenient.

Anyone else experience this or have a better solution?

 

[Tdosthp]

Yes. I have long given up on using AirPods for answering calls. I have only paired my AirPods with several iPhones and an iPad. Will give your suggestion a try. So now, you are able to actually answer calls with your AirPods?

 

[OneMike]

airpods have always been ridiculously slow to connect for me.

 

[Ralfi]

I wonder if you have an existing Bluetooth connection from iPhone to vehicle prior to attempting to connect your Airpods, & if this existing connection may be slowing things down?

Depending on which vehicle I'm in, I'm either connected to Auxiliary or CarPlay & in both circumstances, if I tried to switch to the Airpods, they'll connect swiftly.

Also, prior to jumping in the car, make sure that the last device the Airpods were connected to was your iPhone.

 

[redman042]

After the factory reset and only pairing my AirPods to the iPhone, I can usually answer calls from the AirPods if I can get it in my ear reasonably quickly after the phone starts ringing.

 

[wmoore98]

After the factory reset and only pairing my AirPods to the iPhone, I can usually answer calls from the AirPods if I can get it in my ear reasonably quickly after the phone starts ringing.

I recently upgraded from iPhone 7+ to iPhone 12 Pro Max. I was sorely disappointed in my new iPhone 12 when it was much slower to connect to my AirPods than my iPhone 7 was. After about a month of frustration and missed/confused calls (can you hear me?... how about now?...) while waiting for them to pair, I finally took a few minutes to search for a solution. I "forgot" and re-"paired" the AirPods, but that didn't seem to help. After trying the factory reset, however, they are now pairing in under 2 seconds as opposed to the 5 seconds or so before the reset. I work in sales and my iPhone is my greatest tool and my AirPods the most important accessory. THANKS!