AirPods Pro keep randomly connecting to my iPhone while they are still in its case

It's nice to know I'm not alone with this bug of the AirPods pro randomly connecting while in their case - it's been a journey.

• Cleaned the airpods pro - continued to happen
• Got the airpods pro headphones only replaced - continued to happen
• Got the airpods pro case only replaced - continued to happen
• Got a brand new - off the shelf - pair of airpods pro + case - continued to happen
• Restored my iphone - still happening

Not to mention resetting the AirPods Pro themselves multiple times. Using iPhone 12 mini with latest ios + firmware, automatic ear detection off. Never experienced this issue until a few months ago.

Adding a +1 to this in hopes it helps get the attention of the powers that be.

Send help.

YES! Apple this is insane. Im tryna listen to my car radio and these stupid airpods keep automatically connecting while in case , silencing my car radio! now i ushaully just leave my airpods in my room and use my cheap cvs wireless headphones. I in no way see one feature of those airpods that makes it worth cutting out my radio while driving. ill just keep buyin 35$ cvs airpods that do same stuff but stay off my car radio!

I'm also having the same issue. Its frustrating that the pods lose much of their charge because of this annoying bug.

Apple any plans to fix this soon. Is it covered under warranty?

This has been happening to me for awhile and it's only getting more and more frustrating. Especially annoying when I'm in a video call meeting and the audio input and output will randomly connect to my airpods while I'm speaking, so I suddenly appear muted to everyone else on the call -_-

I've resorted to just turning Bluetooth off when this happens, but this cannot be the best option....

henrus,

Thank you for this information. If resetting the AirPods hasn't resolved the issue, you will want to speak to Contact Apple Support directly for more specific assistance.

Contact - Official Apple Support

Cheers.

Release a firmware fix already!! All that money being dumped into audio and you can't fix a core feature?

I am also having this issue (* along with a seemingly related issue). I bought the AirPods Pro when they first came out and experienced relatively few issues of this kind. However, a few months ago I got another pair of AirPods Pro to tag-team the workday, switching between the pairs when batteries drain on the pair I am using.

While the majority of the time the tag-team approach works, I figured my atypical use-case incited the issue described by this thread as I began to experience it on occasion. Over time, it seems like the issue has become more frequent, perhaps with the current firmware. It is harder to find more technical solutions for issues concerning AirPods dual-wielders like myself and it seems as though the Apple ecosystem is generally expecting users to have single pair associated with their account, not really expecting to juggle between two.

For the most part, my AirPods Pro are connected to my 2019 MacBook Pro but I certainly switch to my iPhone or iPad as needed, and I have had this issue across each of these host devices. The media I am listening to or watching would seemingly-randomly pause or sometimes (in the case of video) continue without producing any audio. When this occurs, I have caught the sound output settings in the menu bar displaying that it has briefly connected to the other pair in their case before disconnected (usually causing the pause to initiate).

(*) Other times, however, it does not look like the other device has connected. If I am watching a video in Safari, the whole tab seems to lock up in these cases. This makes me wonder if it is some deeper Core Audio or Bluetooth controller issue.

The issues occur enough these days that I was able to capture logs from Console.app streams as the issue occurs. There were a few points of interest worth following up on but have not had the time to investigate further.

I have tried the typical solutions:

• Forgetting the Bluetooth device
• Factory resetting the devices
• Cleaning the copper contacts on the AirPods and inside the case

I am now trying to enable "Automatic Ear Detection" but even if it helps I refuse to consider setting-dependent bug detours to be solutions for any product that does not function as advertised.

In general, I wish Apple devices had finer-grain audio routing rules. I had to remove the Bluetooth pairing with my car since merely connecting to a newly detected device implies automatic audio rerouting to that device, when it is not always desired.

Hello henrus,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

We understand that your AirPods Pro will randomly connect to your iPhone and then disconnect. Unpairing and repairing the AirPods is a good first step to try. We would suggest taking a look at these articles and making sure that the AirPods and case are clean. If they are dirty, it is possible that they are making intermittent connection when in the case.

If your AirPods won't connect

How to clean your AirPods and EarPods

Best regards.

I have the same issue, my airpods keep randomly connection to my MBP while they are still in the case.

I noticed that this started happening since i have deactivated "Automatic Ear Detection" in Airpods settings on the iPhone. Perhaps if I activate it again, it will not happen anymore as someone suggested above, so if you guys are having this issue, maybe you can try this temporary solution until a further fix by Apple.

For me it doesn't happen so often so i will leave the "Automatic Ear Detection" off for now, as i usually remove one airpod while listening to something and i dislike the automatic pause.

omg me too. its crazy because itd be 2am or something and my phone randomly connects to my airpods which would be 30ft away from me and in their case.

Just chiming in to say I am experiencing the same issue with my AirPods Pro and MacBook Pro. Tried the usual suggestions, just getting very frustrated with how often it seems to be happening now - and disabling Bluetooth isn't an option as I use wireless keyboard + trackpad.

Model Number A2084

Version 4C165

EXACTLY! I wasted 2 hours talking to 2 different "tech support" only to hear that this is "expected behaviour"!

I tried several times to disconnect, remove, change settings to not automatically connect, but nothing works permanently.

She told me my only 2 options were :

1 - To NOT to use the same apple ID (Umm.. no! it's my Mac and I want it connected to my iCloud!)

2 - Turn OFF Bluetooth on the MAC ! (I use a Bluetooth mouse! So no!)

I asked her if this could be escalated to the programmers/ designers so that they can change this annoying feature. She said there was no option to do that either!

I am so surprised that Apple doesn't care about this obvious glitch!

I have the same issue, new airpods pro model a2084 version 4c165 conects to iphone just sitting here at desk with music playing over speaker of iphone, goes silent for a few then back to music

i too have tried cleaning, forgetting, turn off bluetooth and back on, reset phone. only way i can keep from happening is to "forget this device" untill i use them again

looks like they blew you off to contact them?

No Context can Be Provided. This Answer can't be Undone. Sorry.

I am having this same exact issue (this has been going on for weeks).

While at my desk I listen to music over external speakers (or the laptop built-in ones) and I occasionally plug in my AirPods to jump into meetings and then put them back into their case.

While in their case they would randomly reconnect to my Macbook and "steal" the output audio for a few seconds and then disconnect.. this happens most days several times a day, my only solution is to disable Bluetooth on the Mac :/

BTW I have my AirPods set to connect "when last connected to this Mac".

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I notice that the hinge part of the AirPods case has collected quite a bit of dust over time, I will try and clean it really well and see if that fixes it.