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Airpods Max drain to 1% while in their "Smart Case" (Not Smart).

Can anyone explain why when I put my Airpods Max back in their case at 60% battery life and the next morning they we're at 1% battery life? This has happend to me multiple times with the magnetic flap closed. So I know I'm putting them in the case correctly. Feels like this needs to be a software fix. Apple please give us the ability to turn these headphones off.

Posted on Dec 22, 2020 9:55 AM

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Posted on Jan 9, 2021 3:03 PM

Yup, same exact problem here. I fully charge my Airpods Max, place them carefully in the Apple case (which is supposed to put them in "low power mode"), and then when I go to use them a few hours later or the next day, they make the "death sound" indicating the battery is low and I see the battery has dropped down to 1%. Not the behavior I expect in a $549 pair of headphones.


Apple, you have a serious bug here, exacerbated by the fact that you refused to include a simple physical on/off button on a $549 pair of headphones. I see dozens of other customers complaining about the same exact issue on the MacRumors forums, so this seems to be a common problem. Hopefully it can be fixed in a firmware update.

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19 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 9, 2021 3:03 PM in response to Sam Shulman

Yup, same exact problem here. I fully charge my Airpods Max, place them carefully in the Apple case (which is supposed to put them in "low power mode"), and then when I go to use them a few hours later or the next day, they make the "death sound" indicating the battery is low and I see the battery has dropped down to 1%. Not the behavior I expect in a $549 pair of headphones.


Apple, you have a serious bug here, exacerbated by the fact that you refused to include a simple physical on/off button on a $549 pair of headphones. I see dozens of other customers complaining about the same exact issue on the MacRumors forums, so this seems to be a common problem. Hopefully it can be fixed in a firmware update.

Jan 11, 2021 5:52 PM in response to MrFling

Just to be clear, the AirPods Max battery goes down to 1% from 90+% in just few hours, overnight. Just like several other people. I’m sure that they’re placed correctly in their original case.

Is there any official reply from Apple about this? If this doesn’t get fixed soon, I’ll seriously consider returning them back.


Dec 24, 2020 1:12 PM in response to MrFling

Hi there MrFling,


Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. It sounds like when you put your AirPods Max in to the case at night the battery is drained by morning. When your AirPods Max are in the case, they should be going in to a low power mode and not draining much battery. See more here: How to charge your AirPods Max and learn about battery life.


Reach out to Apple directly for help here: Get Support.


We hope this helps!

Feb 17, 2021 5:03 AM in response to MrFling

AppleCare repaired them and completely resolved the issue by doing just that. It was nothing in Software.


I've had the same issue, exactly as described. I found my new AirPods Max empty completely or down to 1% after only few hours NOT using them, idle.


After contacting AppleCare, they opened a repair case. The AirPods were returned "successfully repaired" from Apple and don't feature any battery drain ever since. The headset now seems to keep the charge virtually forever - no matter if they are in the smart case of not, it seems. It also charges notably slower than before (looks like it retains a lot more energy now), and using them only discharges them very slowly.

Jan 20, 2021 7:43 AM in response to MrFling

I had the same problem with the Airpod Max I bought late December.

Went to bed with 65% battery and put them into the case. Next day < 10% battery.

I found it very disappointing and I absolutely disliked to always use the case.

Because of this I sold them even if sound quality was good.


If I put on the headphones in one room and end up on another room, I have to walk around the house just to find the case.

To me this is a real no go in real life.

Feb 8, 2021 10:48 AM in response to Mark-Mingyu

Hey guys just to say something useful. I Reset the AirPods max to factory settings and that fixed the problem... At least for me, I did it like 3 weeks ago and they last as advertised. Hope this can help.

You only need to keep pushed both buttons (The Crown and the noise canceling button) until the LED blink orange or amber. Then you connect them as new and you should be fine.


Hope this help. Cheers!

Feb 23, 2021 12:36 PM in response to MrFling

i noticed that on my AirPods too, although I have noticed that everytime it does happen I leave my AirPods on a surface made of metal. I also noticed that the case has a somewhat magnetic attraction to the metal. This might be causing the metal to become slightly magnetic (magnetized) and in turn draining the battery.

Airpods Max drain to 1% while in their "Smart Case" (Not Smart).

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