Why do AirPods Pro 2 make a quiet chime (recording now in thread) a little while after being put away?

[Makosuke]

I haven't been able to Google up an answer to this, but that may be because the description is very similar to normal behavior that a lot of people seem to ask about.

[Edit: tl;dr: It's a microphone calibration of some kind, and happens about once per week per AirPod when the case is not moving. See post farther down for a recording of the sound, it took several weeks but I finally managed to catch it.]

When I put my AirPods pro back in the case to charge, sometimes maybe 30 seconds later I hear a very quiet, high-pitched 3-tone chime. It's so quiet (I only hear it if they're quite close to me in a silent room), and so high-pitched, that I assume it's the AirPods themselves making the noise, not the case speaker, and I also assume that the user isn't actually supposed to notice it.

I'm curious if others had noticed this and/or have any idea why it does that--since it only does it occasionally, my best guess is some kind of automatic self-calibration of the microphones or speaker, but that's just a guess.

Note that this is not any of the normal case noises, like low battery warnings or the sound it makes when it starts charging. Those are much louder, and a completely different sound. Nor do I consider it an issue--they work perfectly, it's so quiet I doubt most people would even notice, and I assume it's normal. Just curious.

 

[Howard2k]

I’ve never heard that.

 

[raziel101]

This started happening to me two days ago. If I open the case after my AirPods Pro 2 have not been used for awhile it will start chirping. It is the same sound that would be made if I tried to ping them from the Find Me App

 

[LockOn2B]

Mine chirp whenever I shake them around a bit and they’re both inside the case

 

[MasterControlProgram]

I had this happen last night and I thought of this thread. I was able to make it happen again so I was going to record it with the voice memo app but it wouldn't do it after that!

I held the case close to my ear the second time and before the tone sounds there was a hissing sound like white noise. The tone itself reminds me a bit of when you hear police radios end a transmission.

 

[Makosuke]

I had this happen last night and I thought of this thread. I was able to make it happen again so I was going to record it with the voice memo app but it wouldn't do it after that!

I held the case close to my ear the second time and before the tone sounds there was a hissing sound like white noise. The tone itself reminds me a bit of when you hear police radios end a transmission.

Yay, I'm not alone! (Although I suspect this might not be unusual and it's just so quiet people generally don't notice.)

I haven't managed to record it yet, but I have sussed out that it only seems to do it once per... some period of time that's between one day and one week. The case might also have to be charged in between or some other additional trigger. This somewhat backs up my guess that it's some kind of calibration, and only triggers periodically.

I did also inadvertently figure out that it seems to be per-earbud--I put one back in the case alone at one point and it did that, then when I put the other away later it did it again. Again, that seems to point to it being calibration-related.

This started happening to me two days ago. If I open the case after my AirPods Pro 2 have not been used for awhile it will start chirping. It is the same sound that would be made if I tried to ping them from the Find Me App

Pretty sure this is a completely different thing--the "find my" chime is much louder and sounds completely different (less musical).

This may be different from what caused your version, but I have had issues with my case chirping when it was moved, which is the same thing all of my attempts to Google this turned up. In my case, that "chirp when moved" issue turned out to be because Find My had somehow forgotten that those AirPods were mine, so it was doing the "someone else's AirPods are with you" chime every time they were moved after sitting still for a while even though they were attached to my account.

I believe I figured that out because my iPhone also would give me the nonsensical warning "[My own name]'s AirPods were detected near you", which is only supposed to kick in when it's someone else's AirPods. Find My showed some kind of error on them when I checked, and deleting them from my account and re-adding fixed it, although it reoccurred a few times until a software update or something eventually fixed it permanently.

 

[BotchQue]

My iPad chimes very softly every morning, but at different times, and not on the charger. I assumed it was just chinese mind control frequencies.

 

[SebCohen]

I THINK it’s when the battery charge notification pops up on either my iPhone or iPad. It started doing this a couple of days ago when I put them back in the case…

 

[Makosuke]

After many tries, I FINALLY managed to get a recording of it! See attachment.

I did some noise removal and amplified the volume a lot, but it's still pretty quiet. This was made with an iPhone basically touching the AirPods case, which should give an idea of how quiet it is in reality.

Interestingly, I knew it was coming because I took out only one AirPod for a call, and the one left in the case chimed when I put it back down, and indeed when I put the other one away it chimed about 10 seconds later.

I THINK it’s when the battery charge notification pops up on either my iPhone or iPad. It started doing this a couple of days ago when I put them back in the case…

Pretty sure that's a completely different sound (it's also not the kind of "disappointing plunk" sound AirPods make into your ear when their battery is dying). Also much louder.

 

[DukeSilver79]

Mine didn't used to do it, but they for sure do it now. But they don't do it all the time. I have not found an obvious reason.

 

[SebCohen]

After many tries, I FINALLY managed to get a recording of it! See attachment.

I did some noise removal and amplified the volume a lot, but it's still pretty quiet. This was made with an iPhone basically touching the AirPods case, which should give an idea of how quiet it is in reality.

Interestingly, I knew it was coming because I took out only one AirPod for a call, and the one left in the case chimed when I put it back down, and indeed when I put the other one away it chimed about 10 seconds later.


Pretty sure that's a completely different sound (it's also not the kind of "disappointing plunk" sound AirPods make into your ear when their battery is dying). Also much louder.

Have you checked in the Accessibility settings if there’s something chocolate muffins goings ons?

Is te speaker wrecked and it just sounds weird?

Where did you buy them? Are we sure both the AirPods and the case is genuine? Can the case be fake and AirPods genuine¿

I haven’t heard this sound, no.

 

[Makosuke]

Have you checked in the Accessibility settings if there’s something chocolate muffins goings ons?

Is te speaker wrecked and it just sounds weird?

Where did you buy them? Are we sure both the AirPods and the case is genuine? Can the case be fake and AirPods genuine¿

I haven’t heard this sound, no.

No, I don’t have any accessibility features turned on, and yes, they’re authentic; I bought them directly from Apple, and they work absolutely perfectly. If these were knockoffs, then Apple is in trouble because someone got every possible feature including firmware updates working exactly how it’s supposed to.

And I’m not having any problem with them. They work perfectly. The noise isn’t annoying, it’s clearly supposed to do it, and I seriously doubt the vast majority of users even notice it it’s so quiet.

I’m just curious.

I’m operating under the assumption now that it’s a calibration thing, based on the fact that it does it once per earbud once every few days, and I’m pretty sure only one earbud at a time does it. It may also only do it if the room is quiet and the case isn’t moving, but it’s really hard to tell for sure since it’s so quiet.

That would also explain why the tone seems to be stepping through frequencies; it might be doing lower frequencies too and I just can’t hear it.

 

[SebCohen]

No, I don’t have any accessibility features turned on, and yes, they’re authentic; I bought them directly from Apple, and they work absolutely perfectly. If these were knockoffs, then Apple is in trouble because someone got every possible feature including firmware updates working exactly how it’s supposed to.

And I’m not having any problem with them. They work perfectly. The noise isn’t annoying, it’s clearly supposed to do it, and I seriously doubt the vast majority of users even notice it it’s so quiet.

I’m just curious.

I’m operating under the assumption now that it’s a calibration thing, based on the fact that it does it once per earbud once every few days, and I’m pretty sure only one earbud at a time does it. It may also only do it if the room is quiet and the case isn’t moving, but it’s really hard to tell for sure since it’s so quiet.

That would also explain why the tone seems to be stepping through frequencies; it might be doing lower frequencies too and I just can’t hear it.

They are said to roll out some hearing aid functionality soon….if it’s a calibration thing it could be this? Just throwing stuff at the wall here….. are you on any betas on any of your devices? I haven’t set up spatial yet either….could your buds be stuck in some sort of calibration loop? Is it possible to…”turn them on and off”, like a hard reset? I’d let them both run out of juice, leave them until the fluxcapacitors run out of stored juice and then see.

 

[DR3MCLAREN]

Mine started doing this last night and I too thought of this thread. I'm thinking its some sort of new low battery notification from the case. My case was at 34% so I'm throwing it on the charger. Going to see if it still makes the noise on a full charge.

 

[DR3MCLAREN]

The case is fully charged now and no longer making the noise. So it has to be some sort of audible battery alert.

 

[fest1ve]

I haven't been able to Google up an answer to this, but that may be because the description is very similar to normal behavior that a lot of people seem to ask about.

[Edit: See post farther down for a recording of the sound, it took several weeks but I finally managed to catch it.]

When I put my AirPods pro back in the case to charge, sometimes maybe 30 seconds later I hear a very quiet, high-pitched 3-tone chime. It's so quiet (I only hear it if they're quite close to me in a silent room), and so high-pitched, that I assume it's the AirPods themselves making the noise, not the case speaker, and I also assume that the user isn't actually supposed to notice it.

I'm curious if others had noticed this and/or have any idea why it does that--since it only does it occasionally, my best guess is some kind of automatic self-calibration of the microphones or speaker, but that's just a guess.

Note that this is not any of the normal case noises, like low battery warnings or the sound it makes when it starts charging. Those are much louder, and a completely different sound. Nor do I consider it an issue--they work perfectly, it's so quiet I doubt most people would even notice, and I assume it's normal. Just curious.

I noticed this too. Made an account here just so I could reply to this as it’s the only post I could find about this online.

My guess is it’s the earbuds trying to purge themselves of moisture.
Apple watch has a similar feature that you can manually trigger.

I can’t think of anything else other than maybe calibrating the microphones for noise cancellation.

 

[Makosuke]

The case is fully charged now and no longer making the noise. So it has to be some sort of audible battery alert.

I noticed this too. Made an account here just so I could reply to this as it’s the only post I could find about this online.

My guess is it’s the earbuds trying to purge themselves of moisture.
Apple watch has a similar feature that you can manually trigger.

I can’t think of anything else other than maybe calibrating the microphones for noise cancellation.

Things I can virtually guarantee it isn't:

- Low-battery notification - This would make no sense since A) It's clearly not meant to be audible to the user, B) It sounds nothing like the AirPods low-battery sound (which is kind of a sad downbeat series of plunks), C) It does it once for each AirPod even when the AirPod is at 100% charge, and even if you don't remove it from the case at all, and D) It does it whether the case is charged or nearly empty, I've heard both.

The reason you didn't hear it after charging is very likely it only does it once per AirPod every few days. I don't have an exact count on the delay, but it appears to be a week; I didn't get it 5 days after I got that recording but did today, 8 days later, and a week is about what I'd sussed out before.

- Moisture - Aside from the fact that moisture purge would be a feature you'd have read about, the sound it's making would be absolutely useless to do that--it's too high pitched and far to short to have any effect whatsoever on moisture. The Apple Watch feature plays a low(ish) pitched sound so it can push as much air as the tiny speaker can and force water out, and it lasts for several seconds. Besides, it only does it in the case when it's closed, so it'd just be pushing any water into the case where it'd have a high chance of pushing any moisture into the charge well where it could short it out and break it.

- Hardware or software problem - It's consistent and clearly supposed to do whatever it is.

My bet is still very much on calibration of some kind--that would explain why it's the AirPod itself, why it only does it in a closed case, why it's only every week, why it's once per AirPod, why it waits 15 seconds after closing the case, and the sound is what you'd want for calibration--a step from low to high frequencies. I got a better recording today, and it does start at lower pitches, you just can't hear them well because of the tiny speaker muffled through the case. I suspect but haven't yet thoroughly tested that it also doesn't do it if there's background noise and maybe if the case is moving.

One tip if you want to try for yourself: Put one AirPod away, and if that one does it, it will when you put the second one away as well.

 

[Makosuke]

Just a small addition with some experimental but pretty definitive confirmation that this is calibration: If the case is not sitting quietly, it doesn't do it--it waits until you put the earbud in and the case is sitting still.

I put one away after a week delay, it did the calibration. I put the other one in and shook the case. Nothing, including after I let it sit. Took that one out and put it back in, this time didn't shake the case, it did the calibration 15 seconds later.

I can't say with certainty whether it was the case physically moving that did it or the noise caused by shaking it, but I suspect the former, although I also suspect that background noise would delay the calibration. But regardless, it makes perfect sense that it's not going to try to calibrate until conditions are stable, and the sensors to figure that out (microphone and accelerometer) are all present.

 

[pk0]

Mine always happens immediately when placing the airpods in the case. I always thought this was the noise cancellation microphones causing feedback through the speakers.

 

[input_expunged]

Just a small addition with some experimental but pretty definitive confirmation that this is calibration: If the case is not sitting quietly, it doesn't do it--it waits until you put the earbud in and the case is sitting still.

I put one away after a week delay, it did the calibration. I put the other one in and shook the case. Nothing, including after I let it sit. Took that one out and put it back in, this time didn't shake the case, it did the calibration 15 seconds later.

I can't say with certainty whether it was the case physically moving that did it or the noise caused by shaking it, but I suspect the former, although I also suspect that background noise would delay the calibration. But regardless, it makes perfect sense that it's not going to try to calibrate until conditions are stable, and the sensors to figure that out (microphone and accelerometer) are all present.

Also, this sound is very similar to the Apple Diagnostic tone when the iPhone does a speaker self-test. It makes sense that they'd borrow the same test for these too.

Thanks for writing that out, I was curious and found this thread after hearing it on mine!

 

[Tenkaykev]

That's the sound of theAirpods entering " Tamagotchi " mode. 😉

 

[kendo88]

Mine do exactly this shortly after putting them back in the case and closing the lid. Never been able to understand what the noise represents

 

[Makosuke]

Also, this sound is very similar to the Apple Diagnostic tone when the iPhone does a speaker self-test. It makes sense that they'd borrow the same test for these too.

Thanks, that's a very useful tidbit, and I'd say qualifies as definitive confirmation that it's calibration of some kind (although there's really nothing else it could have been).

I think I figured out the last minor data point, which is why it only seemed to do it once if both AirPods got put away at the same time; it actually does do both in quick succession, I just hadn't noticed it.

I am curious if this has always been there and I only noticed in the past few months, or if it was added in a firmware revision.

 

[Emma22]

I haven't been able to Google up an answer to this, but that may be because the description is very similar to normal behavior that a lot of people seem to ask about.

[Edit: tl;dr: It's a microphone calibration of some kind, and happens about once per week per AirPod when the case is not moving. See post farther down for a recording of the sound, it took several weeks but I finally managed to catch it.]

When I put my AirPods pro back in the case to charge, sometimes maybe 30 seconds later I hear a very quiet, high-pitched 3-tone chime. It's so quiet (I only hear it if they're quite close to me in a silent room), and so high-pitched, that I assume it's the AirPods themselves making the noise, not the case speaker, and I also assume that the user isn't actually supposed to notice it.

I'm curious if others had noticed this and/or have any idea why it does that--since it only does it occasionally, my best guess is some kind of automatic self-calibration of the microphones or speaker, but that's just a guess.

Note that this is not any of the normal case noises, like low battery warnings or the sound it makes when it starts charging. Those are much louder, and a completely different sound. Nor do I consider it an issue--they work perfectly, it's so quiet I doubt most people would even notice, and I assume it's normal. Just curious.

I’m glad this isn’t just me and that I was able to pinpoint which device I was hearing. Tonight was about the third time I’ve heard it. Regarding your most recent comment on whether this has always been there or new firmware- I think this got rolled out within the last few months.

Another data point I wanted to add: are your AirPods always on noise-cancellation mode?
I say this because I only noticed this around 3 weeks ago (only on Sunday nights if I recall correctly) which lines up with when I switched my AirPods to noise-cancellation 24/7 as I have been traveling a lot recently.

I can also confirm this has nothing to do with battery, because mine is almost fully charged and just made that noise. You’re right - I have to agree that this must be a calibration thing. I’m just curious now what it’s for and why it’s just once a week (was it confirmed that this only occurs every week?)

 

[JayTay]

There's a recent Reddit thread discussing this and someone posted a link to this thread as a possible explanation. If it is calibration then it would be nice if we had an official Apple support doc or something to answer this definitively.