AirPods Max Wired connection does not work

so got my airpods max back from service center and again it does not work. Then went to apple store just to try the apple cable and it worked. So conclusion is that only apple cable works for the airpods, also the apple support mentioned that the only third party cable brand that works for the airpods pro max is Belkin.

same exact problem and set of toubleshooting I did with my airpod max's. My daughter and her headset same issue. I went to two Apple stores - no one knows. What's up with that. Biggest issue is on long flights wanting to hook up to plane audio - no can do.

yes and no! I bought the apple brand product and it only works randomly. I bought this for my husband who needs it to work every times he plugged it in. And guess what? It only works sometimes when he plugs it in, which is extremely frustrating for me because I promise him it would work but it doesn’t work all the time. You tell me if it works 100% of the time.

Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable https://a.co/d/0zoLfsU

no! It doesn’t work all the time! The cable I got is an apple brand MR2C2AM/A !! See the link! Please. It doesn’t work 100% of the times!

Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable https://a.co/d/iKg0YkC

I have the exact same problem. GarageBand is useless via Bluetooth as there is a delay. Yet, you can't use a wired connection. I had to purchase two external cables to connect them up, and despite the convoluted steps necessary to make it work, there's no sound. I rue the day Apple got rid of the audio jacks.

I have the exact same problem. using the Belkin 3.5mm to lightning cable (which apple normally also sell belkin in their shops) and the **** thing doesn't work. super frustrating on the plane when I realised I couldn't use my headphones for the whole flight. Crap!

For those who need a solution, like a user above, I needed to buy the Apple cable not a 3rd party one. Whilst mine was a Belkin cable, and MFI certified, you have to look very carefully at what is needed!

The Belkin cable provides device>lightning>3.5mm>headphone connection - this works from iphone to speakers etc but is NOT what is needed for the airpods max headphones sadly. :( This is why the headphones don't work on the plane or attached to any other device sending audio out of a 3.5mm connection. :( :( :(

If you look carefully, the apple cable is a 2 way cable so it can transmit audio this way - device>3.5mm>lightning>headphones which is what you need (and it has a DAC built in). I found the cable $17 cheaper on Amazon here in Singapore so that was a blessing instead of the $49 Apple price!

The cable interestingly is made of such thin wire as to be very susceptible to breaking I would assume (causing you to buy another cable I bet.....). I also bought a 12south airfly pro to avoid needing the cable in case of issues.

Anyhow. Problem fixed for me. For those still with a problem after getting the Apple cable I think you need repair/return/refund at Apple sadly. Hope this helps.

You know what this forum really needs? An "Unhelpful" button. You guys are beyond useless. If there is no response from Apple it's generally because they are aware of the issue and have no fix for it lol.

Reading the above threads and dates, I am amazed that Apple engineers haven't fixed this very real problem by now! If I can't connect the AirPods Max to the airplane audio, and take advantage of the phenomenal noise cancellation, then I am very unhappy I bought it. I am also concerned about the head rest for the device: without any protection, I think the little "hammock" will break down sooner or later. This problem of lack of wired connectivity to an audio outlet is serious since so many of us travel. Apple has really let us down. Resetting my AirPods Max corrected the lack of audio connection using the USB C to Lightning cable between my iPad Pro and the AirPods Max, but resetting did NOT fix the audio connection with the the 3.5 mm audio to Lightning to AirPads Pro. And I agree, I was very disappointed in the frailness of the Apple 35$ cable. This whole situation is way below Apple's reputation and what I had a right to expect for $550, and $35. Is anybody from Apple listening???? We should all write all the reviewers and let them know the problem we have all had. I guess I am going to need to buy a Blue Tooth adapter for audio for when I fly in order to use my AirPods Max on a plane. When I spoke to Apple support and explained how bad this was, they refunded my $35 for the cable without my having to take all the trouble of sending the cable back. Initially I wasn't going to mention the refund, but I think Apple owes it to all of us who bought their malfunctioning and falsely advertised cable.

So I went to the Apple Store to test everything. We proved $35 cable I got from Apple didn't work. They opened another $35 connector (bidirectional, 3.5 mm audio jack to Lightning connector) and tried it on a display AirPods Max, by connecting audio from a Mac laptop. We reset the AirPods Max, and the audio from the Mac laptop came through to the AirPods Max. We unplugged the audio connector and the audio stopped. The Blue Tooth on the Mac laptop was turned off. The fellow helping me said his AirPods Max worked just fine with the bidirectional cable, so now we had experience with two AirPods Max that work the way they should. So then we connected my AirPods Max up to the new cable and the Mac laptop, reset my AirPods Max, but no sound came through. I have Mac Mini with the latest software, and my AirPods Max did not work on it either. The rep at the Apple store admitted my AirPods Max was defective and Apple should replace it. Since I bought it online, he said I would need to contact Apple and send it back. I am afraid I am going to run into a lot of resistance, because the two people I contacted at Apple gave me misinformation. One said the specs for the AirPods Max state connectivity is only by Blue Tooth, which the specs do say, but that spec is not consistent with Apple offering a bidirectional cable and with what we demonstrated in the store. The other Apple rep said the AirPods Max have to be connected to devices with the latest IOS software, which doesn't make sense that audio out from a 3.5 mm jack would be affected by IOS. If that were somehow possible, then Apple really blew it selling a $550 headphones that can't be connected to airplane audio output or any other audio output, including all the apple devices with 3.5 mm jacks. Apple is so well integrated with everything else, why can't they integrate the actual engineering specs with the published specs and all the customer service reps. Is Apple even listening to this? Judging by all the comments on the blog, this is a major, common problem with their entry into the headphone market. Apple should be enormously embarrassed and needs to make it up to their customers.

Has this been addressed yet? I purchased these for video conferencing and editing to be my all-around headphones across both of my MacBook Pros and iPad Pro. I can switch seamlessly across (yay) but when I toggle from meetings to editing this just won’t work for me unwired and hate having to switch to my old Sonys.

Just finished talking by phone to Apple support and they agreed to send me a new AirPods Max with instructions to return mine within 10 days. Apple put a hold on my credit card for the retail price to be removed when they receive my AirPods Max shipped back. It takes a lot of convincing to get them to understand what the problem is, but with patience I was finally successful. I spoke with Byron who seemed the most knowledgable of the lot. He said the engineers are aware of what happens on the support communities. Another prior helper, Jasmine, said an Apple store should take the AirPods Max back if demonstrated to be defective even if I purchased mine online from Apple. Good luck, Ryan, but I think the problem can be resolved with patience. I just hope the new pair work with audio input from an audio source.

I thought I had this issue, turns out I wasn't using the right cord.

The offical Apple lightning to 3.5mm cable is bi-directional for sound that AirPod Max requires. I was using a Belkin cable that was made for iPhones that wasn't bi-directional. Get the offical Apple cable and hopefully this will work for you, it did for me.

It seems like this is something that Apple did not consider when making these expensive behind headphones! It would be amazing if they could put out an update to the firmware so that we can get the most use out of the $500 headphones we purchased from them.

Back to my Bose 700 I go!

Unless the newer models do, it does NOT. I have a pair from when they were first released and I have tried the cable as well as an adapter with an aux cord and neither work.

It’s really unfortunate that we have these expensive headphones and not use them wired.