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mainelyme

macrumors member
Oct 14, 2017
72
70
It happens to me every once in a while. But more often I'll put them on and they'll take an unusually long time to connect, maybe twenty seconds. The unpredictability makes me angry and I'll switch to wired earphones, and then the first time the wire gets caught on something and the earbuds are yanked out of my ears I'll switch back.
 

Htsi

macrumors 65816
Oct 14, 2020
1,398
1,267
I have accepted this as part of the ownership experience. Mine will do this and much more annoyingly not have any audio during phone calls. HIGHLY OFTEN.
AirPods Pro & AirPods Max both on 12Pro. Funnily enough don’t recall this happening last year with my 11P
 

Htsi

macrumors 65816
Oct 14, 2020
1,398
1,267
Exact same thing happens to me sometimes — just today when I took my dog out to walk the left one wasn’t working until I put it back in the case. It happens maybe once a week for me, although I do not use my AirPods Pro often.

I also have issues sometimes with charging the left one. It will be inserted in the charger correctly and then stop charging after a minute or two. I have to remove the tip and rotate it which seems to fix it for the time being. Apple said they would replace it but for the amount I use them, I figured I’d just keep them with their issues until they completely die or I upgrade to whatever comes next.

edit: I use them across multiple devices too, but the issue of the left not working only seems to happen on my iPhone 12 mini.
Get it swapped for free, if nothing else you’ll get fresh batteries and ear was free grills
 

Pilot Jones

macrumors 6502a
Oct 2, 2020
891
1,675
I don't think it's the #1 issue, since it definitely isn't widespread. I am, however, one of the unfortunate few to whom this happens quite frequently.

My 2nd Gen Airpods worked perfectly out the box for a long time. It's been over a year of solid usage now. They only started displaying these quirks 2-3 months ago and are now gradually increasing in frequency.
 

MacUse-R

macrumors regular
Dec 24, 2017
185
21
Oh yes, this happens to me sometimes as well, that only one earbud works, especially when connected to my MacBook Pro, one solution is to put them back in the case, close the lid and then take them out again....it also works by disconnecting the AirPods in the Bluetooth list and then connecting them again.

This has nothing to do with the battery percentage, happens when fully charged as well. Its pretty annoying.
 
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TheMixam

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2021
54
22
I also have this issue with my AirPods Pro, I’d say about 5-10% of the time I get them out or the case. These are my first wireless earbuds so I thought it was normal because bluetooth sucks anyway.
 

MacUse-R

macrumors regular
Dec 24, 2017
185
21
Get it swapped for free, if nothing else you’ll get fresh batteries and ear was free grills
Where do you get Apple products which are out of warranty swapped out for free....which most AirPods is at this point?
 

TheMixam

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2021
54
22
Where do you get Apple products which are out of warranty swapped out for free....which most AirPods is at this point?
I don’t see where he says his AirPods Pro are out of warranty.
Exact same thing happens to me sometimes — just today when I took my dog out to walk the left one wasn’t working until I put it back in the case. It happens maybe once a week for me, although I do not use my AirPods Pro often.

I also have issues sometimes with charging the left one. It will be inserted in the charger correctly and then stop charging after a minute or two. I have to remove the tip and rotate it which seems to fix it for the time being. Apple said they would replace it but for the amount I use them, I figured I’d just keep them with their issues until they completely die or I upgrade to whatever comes next.

edit: I use them across multiple devices too, but the issue of the left not working only seems to happen on my iPhone 12 mini.
 

MacUse-R

macrumors regular
Dec 24, 2017
185
21
I don’t see where he says his AirPods Pro are out of warranty.
Yeah maybe they are still in warranty....I assumed that Apple wanted him to pay for the replacement since he decided not to go ahead with getting them replaced. I was more curious if people have gotten out of warranty goodwill replacements from Apple, because thats not my experience with Apple?
 

druPPa23

macrumors newbie
Dec 22, 2020
12
14
It happens on my APP but then only one pod has been charged.
Even when the case is reasonable full.
 

mj_

macrumors 68000
May 18, 2017
1,618
1,281
Austin, TX
This happens to me all the time and almost daily. I've learned to live with it and have made it a habit to test audio first before I leave the house as the only remedy is to put the non-working AirPod back in the charging case and take it out back out again.
 

imlovinit

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2012
703
479
I’ve had the same issues with the pros that I never had with the regular pods. I use the pros every day while working and it doesnt always happen but when it has its annoying. However, I’ve found what helps is turning off automatic ear detection in your Bluetooth settings.
 

BugeyeSTI

macrumors 604
Aug 19, 2017
7,238
9,084
Arizona/Illinois
I've had this happen every once and awhile but not often enough to bother me.. I also had the only one Airpod charges but that was fixed by cleaning the bottom of the AirPod charging case wells with a q-tip soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Hasn't happened since.
 

wilberforce

macrumors 68030
Aug 15, 2020
2,932
3,207
SF Bay Area
I have three pairs of AirPods and have used them on a handful of iPhones now, I always have the same issue. That is when you take them out, one will work and the other will not, you have to put it back in the case for it to work. So many times I've left the house to walk the dogs, left the case at home and then put on music to discover it isn't working. Now I've asked so many people in real life who own them and they've all said it happens to them too. I've asked around on the internet and I get lots of people saying it happens to them.

Seems to be a major flaw that no one ever talks about.
I also occasionally have only one work, but I would be happy if all it took was putting them back in the case for them to work.

I have had to repeatedly put in case, take out of case, curse, reboot my iPhone, reboot my Apple Watch, restart the bluetooth connection, put in case, out of case, curse, reboot iPhone, reboot Apple Watch, restart the music, put in case, take out of case,,,,,, etc etc etc, you get the picture.

20 minutes later it is working again and I can't figure out what was the magic sequence that got it working again.
Fortunately this only happens every few months, but is completely unpredictable and unrepeatable
 
Last edited:

bigshot

macrumors 6502
May 7, 2021
285
149
I saw a similar complaint in a review of Jabra ear buds. It appears that it is a connectivity problem with the phone, not necessarily the ear buds.
 

Prakashpumps

macrumors newbie
Jul 25, 2021
1
0
I have three pairs of AirPods and have used them on a handful of iPhones now, I always have the same issue. That is when you take them out, one will work and the other will not, you have to put it back in the case for it to work. So many times I've left the house to walk the dogs, left the case at home and then put on music to discover it isn't working. Now I've asked so many people in real life who own them and they've all said it happens to them too. I've asked around on the internet and I get lots of people saying it happens to them.

Seems to be a major flaw that no one ever talks about.
I've had a similar issue with my Airpods once in a while. Pretty much the solution is to put it back on the case and not use it for quite sometime. This works for me.
 
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