Airpods unusable — connecting/disconnecting

[er-minio]

Which I remain unconvinced that will have any effect.

Do not do it.
I resetted my iPhone and still the problem persist. I just wasted one day manually setting everything back up.

Airtags and Apple tv maybe a 'helpful' setting thats tryna connect to them for calls?

I set up my Apple TV in a way that makes it ignore the AirPods.
Now that you make me think, I have a number of Airtags...



I'm still baffled as Apple is not available to debug or somehow track bluetooth activity (with user consent) on one of the buggy iPhones and see what happens.

 

[DaveOstrich64]

I would be surprised if they don't have the technology / resources to implement that type of troubleshooting. Disappointing that a seemingly widespread and long standing issue isn't officially recognised or investigated from Apple side.

Worth mentioning any potential similarities in our set ups? Ive got TP link access points in my house to extend the wifi 🤷‍♂️

 

[er-minio]

My home network runs on Unifi hardware.
Before that, until 6 months ago, I used an older Apple Airport Extreme + Express repeater.

Changing the wifi network/hardware didn't affect the problem in any way for better or worse.

I have to say, after a week of relatively low disconnections after purchasing the new Airpods, or at least stable connection on Whatsapp calls while at home, it now started being incredibly erratic again.

Impossible to initiate calls without the Airpods disconnecting after the first ring.
In case that doesn't happen, the call will last a couple of minutes before disconnection.

New problem: walked out yesterday, tried to listen to music and Spotify wouldn't route the audio to the Airpods but just play via iPhone speaker.
Force quit Spofity, didn't fix the issue.
Had to restart the iPhone.

 

[DaveOstrich64]

Thinking WAAAAYYYY back to the first time this happened (2-3years ago), i'm pretty sure I was in the car (Seat Ateca 2019) with the phone at the time potentially attached using USB and / or bluetooth to CarPlay...

Although I have it all turned off / forgotten all devices on bluetooth etc this could have laid some sort of a connection bug in the Carplay feature on the iOS? Like it's now continuously attempting to push calls to a nonexistent CarPlay subsequently overriding the BT Airpod connection... continuously.

 

[er-minio]

Interesting.
I had no issues with my Airpods 2 (original form factor) both on iPhone 7 and with the 13 for a few months.
I dug into my email and found out that I bought the Airpods 3 on 22.10.2021.

Issues started on Feb 2022 as I have a Genius Bar appointment (where they originally replaced both pods) on February 21, 2022. But to be fair I had my first car with CarPlay only from March the 1st 2022. I don't think I ever connected my Phone via CarPlay before that date.

 

[er-minio]

Ok, little update.

I think these disconnection might be due to interference maybe? Not software bug?

In my case there are very strong geographical connections (pun intended) with the bluetooth issue.
I can almost always trigger disconnection issues walking out of my building or walking/driving/riding in front of it on the main road.
This is on Airpods.

Another bluetooth device I do have that shows bluetooth disconnection issues, same exact way as the Airpods, is a Beeline Beemoto 2 (https://beeline.co/products/beeline...P2J8O5sMZCLsL5NP8XX5YVVHriAKnPaoaAq9-EALw_wcB).

Works generally fine, but sometimes it starts the disconnected/connected dance.

I noticed this too is tied to geographical location.
The disconnected/connected happens when I ride the bike in front of my place, briefly.

Last weekend, as a test, I had my Beemoto running for a full day and about 250km ride in Kent, I had only one disconnection episode that lasted less than a minute.

Then, this week, riding in London, I passed Old Street/Commercial Street: disconnection/connection until I left the area (from Old Street roundabout to about Hoxton Square).
On my way back, passed on the same stretch of road: same story.
Ok for the rest of the route.



Motorbike intercom (Cardo Freecom 4X) similar thing. Works of with music, etc. If I make a phone call there is a 50% chance that it will start the cycling disconnected/connected thing.

 

[DaveOstrich64]

Yeah interference sounds about right as its not every phone call it happens but is exacerbated by moving around. It could be something third party app related or some setting in some iOS feature like CarPlay. Whatever it is I have copied the bug across to new a iPhone and new Airpods made no difference.

I wonder is there anyway to promote this discussion to Apple as the thread gives alot of detail and depth to a problem that sounds identical?

Keywords being: Airpods disconnecting on calls from iPhone, disconnection then connection caught in a loop, interference tied to geographical location.

 

[er-minio]

I wonder is there anyway to promote this discussion to Apple as the thread gives alot of detail and depth to a problem that sounds identical?

I opened a thread on the Apple forums, but (as many others on the same topic) they get closed after a while.

It seems like Apple doesn't want to acknowledge the issue.

It would be nice to have MacRumors help make this issue a bit more prominent, if they are up to.

 

[er-minio]

Spoke with Apple Support again.
They connected me with a Senior support specialist, incredibly nice and patient, that agreed that this is 100% a software issue.

We did try some troubleshooting.
This was a standard phone call and, of course, the Airpods didn't disconnect during the entire duration (they always behaved better on network calls). We did some tests, I walked around my place a few times during the call to try to trigger it again.

What emerged during the call - I wasn't aware of this - is that there is a difference if you factory reset the iPhone from the device itself, or if you trigger a factory reset from a Mac's Finder with the iPhone connected via USB. I completely missed this detail previously.

In the first case the OS files are kept. So any misconfiguration or glitch that happened within /System stays even when you create a new user on the iPhone "as new".

Resetting from the Mac completely wipes the storage on the iPhone and installs everything from scratch from Apple's servers.

Immediately after the call with support, I did some other calls on Whatsapp and got the disconnections again, and decided to try and do the reset once again.
So, yesterday evening, again I took screenshots of all my apps, notes about the way I configured my iPhone, exported all the authentication keys and did a factory reset while connected to my Studio, it took a while. Then patiently re-configured it all and went to sleep

I really don't want to jinx it. Had about an hour of calls today, no drops.
I still have to try the other bluetooth devices (the motorbike thingie being the one with most issues).

Let's see what happens in the next few days.

 

[er-minio]

Day 2, still going strong
Works ok.

 

[er-minio]

After 24 hours I'm back to square one.

I called Apple again (using the link they provide), and when I spoke with the person on the phone (I wasn't sure if senior or not) he said that since I am experiencing the issue mostly with Whatsapp and other apps, they cannot guarantee the functionality of the AirPods when running third party software.

This is madness.

The previous support specialist was extremely nice and told me to call back for further testing/investigation in case this factory reset would not work.
Instead they are now dismissing the case.

iPhone is old, but the AirPods are still under warranty btw, even though the issue is with the software on the iPhone almost certainly.

All I asked was help investigating the issue further.

 

[DaveOstrich64]

Ah man, thats not even true either "experiencing the issue mostly with Whatsapp and other apps" (at least for me) as I mostly use calls on "normal carrier mode (o2)" and pretty much every other call get this issue and we've clearly got the same issue. This has plagued me for 2+ years too FML!

Maybe AppleCare would mean a more premium support service?

Had a new thought
Ive used iPhones for about 17 years and have collected an incredibly huge and messy phone book fully of duplicates and nameless numbers etc.

I think we both have common issues with Carplay I just saw (maybe my kid connected it) "Car multimedia" on my list of BT remembered devices and it has 'contact sync' option behind the 'i' icon. The first time I had this issue was while I was driving hinting it happened as a background task, so maybe the issue is in this contact sync feature?

 

[DaveOstrich64]

Also ran our forum thread through Chat GPT:

🔧 Summary of User-Reported Issues​

Users across multiple generations of AirPods (Pro, Max, etc.) and iPhones (13, 14, 16 Pro Max) have been experiencing:

• Frequent disconnecting and reconnecting of AirPods during usage.
• The issue primarily affects voice calls, both cellular and apps like WhatsApp or FaceTime.
• No problems with music or Siri playback—only during calls.
• Problem persists across devices and OS versions, including the latest iOS and macOS.
• Standard troubleshooting methods (resets, re-pairing, iOS/macOS updates, full iPhone resets) do not resolve the issue.
• New devices and new AirPods show the same symptoms, ruling out faulty hardware.
• Some users noted the issue does not affect them, even with similar hardware/software, implying a selective trigger or user-specific cause.

---

🧪 Theories and Patterns Identified by Users​

• Bluetooth Call Profile (HFP) Suspected: Since the problem occurs during calls but not with media playback, it may be tied to how iOS handles Bluetooth call audio (e.g. Hands-Free Profile).
• Device Migration Issues: Some users think data transferred from old devices may be carrying over corrupted or incompatible settings.
• iCloud/User Profile Corruption: Since full device resets don’t help, the issue may be tied to iCloud or user account data that syncs across devices.
• Interference from Other Apple Devices: One theory is that nearby Apple devices (like AirTags, Apple TV, etc.) may be interfering or trying to hijack the audio session.

---

📌 Key Areas for Apple Support to Investigate​

1. Bluetooth HFP/Call Audio Handling:
   Look into how iOS manages Bluetooth call audio protocols, particularly the Hands-Free Profile (HFP), during both VoIP and cellular calls.
2. Cross-Device Data Transfer & Migration Bugs:
   Investigate whether data migration between iPhones carries over problematic settings or corrupted configurations affecting Bluetooth behavior.
3. iCloud/User Profile Sync Issues:
   Examine whether iCloud-synced settings or profiles might contain problematic configurations that persist across device resets.
4. Device Interference & Multi-Device Pairing Behavior:
   Explore whether AirPods are being disrupted by background attempts to connect by other Apple devices like Apple TV, Macs, AirTags, etc.
5. Inconsistency Across Users:
   Since not all users are affected, Apple may need to investigate environmental, regional, or usage pattern differences contributing to this issue.

 

[er-minio]

Hey Dave, yes I am having disconnections on FaceTime too, so it's back in Apple's court.
I'm not paying additional Apple Care for them to solve a basic connectivity issue

I requested the call's transcript from Apple.

I'll try again with another customer support representative.

I have to set up another iphone (7) on my Apple ID. Let's see if that experiences issues too.

In my case, changing Apple IDs is not an option.

 

[er-minio]

I'm abroad again, way less frequent disconnections. Still present but way less severe.

 

[Iyad]

I'm abroad again, way less frequent disconnections. Still present but way less severe.

This has all been very useful and glad to know that I’m not the only one.. it’s such an infuriating bug. I’ve bought 2 different AirPods and considering buying a new phone… glad I didn’t. I currently have the 15 pro max with AirPod pro 2s. I had these issues for ages when I figured out it’s cause I had a watch connected(not Apple Watch) so I got rid of the watch but now the issue has been happening again. I did own a pair of AirPod 4s at one point without ANC and I must say I didn’t have the issue at all I believe but I sold them because I wanted to upgrade and now the issue is happening again. Would be great if you could keep updating on any progress that you have🙌🏽