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kazz063

macrumors regular
Jul 5, 2016
117
68
Melbourne, Australia
I've had my Waterfield case (batch 12) for a couple of weeks now and have had no issues with the APM's not waking, even after 4 days in the case.
I'm very happy with this case it feels and looks awesome.
 
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mpetrides

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2007
590
524
All this is very interesting but I wonder what will happen if I store the APM in the Waterfield case— that will be arriving soon—with the APM plugged in to the wall. I have always plugged in my headphones, regardless of brand, to charge overnight and continue to do that with my APMs. It’s my intention to leave the Waterfield case open and simply set the plugged-in APMs on the plush interior of the case. I guess the big question will be whether to do this with magnets up or magnets down. Does it make any difference one way or the other so long as the APMs are plugged in overnight? Thoughts from anyone who has already received their Waterfield case would be appreciated.
 

mpetrides

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2007
590
524
Well, it happened to me two nights ago. Had the APM in the Waterfield case with the butterfly up on both sides and the APM plugged into the wall overnight. The next morning, could not get my iPhone to recognize the APM, even after a reset of the APM. Finally plugged the APM back into the wall for a second (literally) and all was back to normal. I’d had the case for several days (?3) but that was the first time I had a problem. FWIW, my magnets feel solid—no donut hole in the center that I can feel.

Last night I stored the APM in the Waterfield case with the butterfly down and the APM plugged into the wall. No problem.
 
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Mac... nificent

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
943
498
Its two totally different cases. gagee is referring to the case made by Geekria.
Yes, my case was from Geekria.

 

Fatboy71

macrumors 68000
Dec 21, 2010
1,539
484
UK
Yes, my case was from Geekria.


Sorry, I must have misunderstood you. It was just with you saying in your earlier post about leather, I assumed you were referring to the Waterfield case, as the Geekria case I seen in the earlier posts where people were complaining about the smell, where just fabric.
 

NewZealandMatt

macrumors member
Dec 3, 2007
73
94
My Geekria case is doing this ... put the AirPods in overnight, took them out this morning and they wouldn't connect to any of my devices until I'd plugged them into my Mac to wake them up. The magnet on the Geekria case is actually connected using velcro so if it's not in the right spot I can move it. But of course - no idea what the right spot actually is ...
 

quagmire

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2004
6,985
2,492
I just had my APM's be unresponsive after sitting 2-3 days in the Apple Bra. This now seems to be an APM issue than Waterfield case issue.
 

mpetrides

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2007
590
524
Any updates? My Waterfield case did this to me yesterday.
Still working on sorting this out—and actively communicating with Gary. The only consistency I have found is inconsistency. I’ve made extensive notes and one of these days I’ll sit down and transcribe them—and then try again to make sense of what’s going on. Once I’ve transcribed my notes I’ll post a summary here.

So far, it doesn’t seem to be related to the duration of storage on the magnetic butterfly (one time it happened after the APMs had been on the butterfly for a very short time—as in an hour or less, if memory serves), nor does it appear to have a relationship to charge level. For a while, I thought it might have to do with putting the APMs to sleep while they were paired with another device and then taking them off the next morning and attempting to connect with my iPhone; but that postulate did not pan out either. Right now, I’m trying to verify that it does not happen with the butterfly is down. It’s still not clear whether the problem is with the case or with my particular pair of APMs.
 

Cashmonee

macrumors 65832
May 27, 2006
1,504
1,245
It happened to me again overnight last night. The AirPods wouldn’t wake until they were plugged in. Interestingly, it seems like they drained a significant amount of battery as well overnight. I think I will be returning the case unfortunately.

Also, this is exactly why Apple should have given these a power button. A power button makes this a total non-issue.
 

mpetrides

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2007
590
524
It happened to me again overnight last night. The AirPods wouldn’t wake until they were plugged in. Interestingly, it seems like they drained a significant amount of battery as well overnight. I think I will be returning the case unfortunately.

Also, this is exactly why Apple should have given these a power button. A power button makes this a total non-issue.
Well, you could do what I am doing which is leaving the APMs in the case with the butterfly down and plugged in to get topped off by morning. That has been working well for me. I will need to use the butterfly when traveling with the case but that ain't happenin' for a while. Thank you COVID- NOT!
 

mpetrides

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2007
590
524
As promised here are the observations I have made over the last week or so, as sent to Gary at Waterfield just now.

My summary of the observations below is:

1. I had initially postulated that the problem might be conflicts between connected devices if the APMs were put into the case (butterfly up) when I had not manually verified that only the iPhone (and no other device) was connected to the APMs. But that doesn’t appear to be the case—and it shouldn’t be because AFIK the magnets should force the APMs to disconnect from all devices anyway.

2. Duration of storage with the butterfly up does not seem to correlate with having problems connecting. See incident on 4/27 where the problem occurred after only brief storage in the case with butterfly up.

3. Happens whether charge on APM is at 100% or not.

4. No problems encountered when the APMs are stored in the case with the butterfly down.

--------------------

4/25
In case overnight with butterfly down. No problem

Didn’t use (100% charge) but put back in case (failed to note position of butterfly-shame on me!—while walking using Beats headphones to listen to Audible. When tried to use APMs they allegedly connected but I got no sound. Actively disconnected Beats from iPhone but still no sound—even though allegedly still connected. Disconnected APM, reconnected-No sound. Plugged into power caused APM to disconnect. Reconnect attempt- connection unsuccessful. Plugged in then attempted to reconnect. Finally successful

Ran APM connected to Gym iPad for 2 hrs then switched to iPhone without problem. 92% charged. Placed in case with butterfly up and plugged in. Idea was to leave APMs this way all night and then be sure nothing else is connected to iPhone before pairing in AM

4/26

Left APMs overnight in case w butterfly up and APM plugged into power. Checked to see that no other headset was connected to iPhone, then unplugged APMs and connected without issue to iPhone.

1PM Put in case w butterfly up but not charging
4:50 PM Connected immediately w iPhone

6:50 PM Put back in case w butterfly up (power at 79%) and plugged APMs in.

4/27
Unplugged and APM immediately connected to iPhone.
Transiently placed back on butterfly at 8:15 while connected to iPad in gym

9AM took off butterfly and CLAIMED it connected fine. However, when I tried to switch APMs to iPad, I got no sound despite the iPad saying the APMs were connected. Had to plug the APMs back in to power briefly in order to get proper connection.

10:10 switched to iPhone. After verifying that APM not connected to iPad, put APM onto butterfly (at 93% power)

11AM Appeared to connect to iPhone in that battery widget gave proper battery reading. However there was no sound. (YES, I checked that proper output was selected for audio). Tried reconnecting to power—no joy. Finally had to reboot APM

The point here was that the butterfly was up and the APMs were not at 100% and were not plugged into power. Also duration of contact with magnets was very short—not overnight as others had reported. Also there was no issue of conflict between iPad and iPhone for connection with APMs as I had postulated on 4/25.

Used APM for an hour or so (listening to Gov Scott’s presser) then put them down in case with butterfly down while I ran errands, was out and about.

9 PM Put APM on and they connected just fine. Battery at 81%

At this point I decided to test whether there were problems if I simply did not use the butterfly. If there was, then that would suggest a problem with the APMs and not the magnets in the case. These are the results of that testing:

9 PM Put APM in case with butterfly down and plugged into power, starting at 81%

4/28 - 5/2

Basically there were no problems connecting when the APMs were stored long- or short-term in the case with the butterfly down. Details follow

4/28

Connected immediately w iPhone the next morning after being stored overnight with butterfly down and APM plugged in. Charge went from 81% to 100%

Put APMs in case with butterfly down several times during the day without problem connecting once taken out of case

9:30 PM Plugged in overnight with butterfly down, starting with charge of 74%

4/29

Connected immediately. Charge at 100% after overnight storage w butterfly down and plugged in

10:50 Back in case with butterfly down

12:10 PM switched to Beats, APMs in case w butterfly down

4/30

730 AM Connected immediately. Charge 88%

Switched back and forth between iPhone and iPad (Gym) without incident

2:50 PM Put APMs in case with butterfly down, plugged in for the night

5/1

Paired fine with iPhone and Gym iPad. Switched back and forth and even to MacBook Pro, then back to iPhone - all without problems

8:45 PM Put into case with butterfly down and plugged in, starting at 79%

5/2

Connected fine, used for 1-2 hours with iPhone. When went to use with iPad had to actively disconnect iPhone from APM before iPad could connect with APMs (usually switches when APM selected in Settings on iPad and system automatically switches from iPhone to iPad without requiring manual disconnect of APMs from iPhone).
Listened on iPad for 1-2 hrs
Switched to iPhone, verified iPad not connected to APM then put APM in case with butterfly UP and APMs plugged in, starting at 91% charge/

At this point, having seen for 3-4 days that there are no problems when the magnets are not engaged by the APMs, I am going back to testing the case with the butterfly up.
 

Cashmonee

macrumors 65832
May 27, 2006
1,504
1,245
Too much hassle for a case

I agree.

For me, if I keep this, I will use it in conjunction with the original case and not use the magnets. At that point though, this case gets really expensive for what it is.
 

Htsi

macrumors 65816
Oct 14, 2020
1,398
1,267
I agree.

For me, if I keep this, I will use it in conjunction with the original case and not use the magnets. At that point though, this case gets really expensive for what it is.
Got apple care and I use the smart case when I feel like it. Easy peasy. If it breaks, it gets replaced. That’s it
 
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mpetrides

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2007
590
524
Too much hassle for a case
I'd agree except for the fact that at this point my curiosity is piqued, so I'm going to keep working on it for a while longer.

I REALLY like the case and don't really want to return it. If I return it, I might just ask them to replace it with a model that doesn't have magnets in the butterfly because the protection the butterfly offers in keeping the cans from clanking is really nice. And I simply detest the Apple case and don't want to have to use it when I finally get back to carrying my APMs around.
 

Cashmonee

macrumors 65832
May 27, 2006
1,504
1,245
Got apple care and I use the smart case when I feel like it. Easy peasy. If it breaks, it gets replaced. That’s it

I also have AppleCare and I think this is probably what I will end up doing.

Unfortunately, for those looking, I cannot recommend the Waterfield case. It is far too expensive for what is ultimately a non-functioning product. Without the magnets, it just is not compelling.
 

quagmire

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2004
6,985
2,492
It happens so infrequently for me, the case is still worth it for me and will recommend it for those willing to spend the price of it.

And again considering it occurred for me when my Max's were just in the Apple supplied case for 3 days and not in the waterfield case, I do not think it is a case-specific issue.

A lot of mountain building out of a mole hill going on, IMHO when saying not going to recommend the waterfield case.
 
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