What does it mean when AirPods Max blink amber 3 times?

oh my god the freezer trick worked!

So recap my steps:

• AirPods Max were left connected to a charger over night
• put them on in the morning, no connection to any devices worked
• tried reset, got the 3 amber blinks and no white blink
• put them in their case, and put the case into the freezer
• waited about 45 minutes
• took them out, plugged back into power
• click noise cancelling button, green light (indicates 95% charge)
• put them on my head (they are cold remember)
• press and hold both the noise cancelling and digital crown
• watched on iPhone and they came up as an option to pair!

working now! but setting a reminder for a few weeks from now to report back if anything changes

good luck everyone!

Hi guys, I’ve just tried the freezer trick and it didn't work on mine unfortunately. It still blinks amber 3 times but no white.

I have the same issue, no warranty so they guys at Apple store they offered to pay almost 70% of the original price to have a replacement with only 3 months of warranty.

I mean Apple what are you doing? how come you are becoming this bad company which you are not even caring about loyal customers such as me, I mean I bought over 10 iPhones and almost every product you have!!! Talk about loyalty.

I'm so much sad because my Airpods are in perfect condition physically even the band is almost new (shinny connectors at least with no corrode not even dust on them).

Same here. Freezer worked. But had to do it each time I wanted to. Use it . No longer works. Apple knows it’s their fault but they couldn’t care less. I hope the same thing happens to vision pro users that plunked down 4-5k. Apple has the upper hand. Once you are I. Their eco system you are unlikely to leave and that’s what they are counting on. A 3 trillion dollar company certainly has the resources to fix or replace their defective products

This isn’t my video, but is exactly how I’ve fixed the issue. Basically, follow this guide to step 9 for just the left ear cup (at first), then skip to step 17 and confirm that the part in step 17 is broken/affected (you can’t see if your pair has the issue until you remove the part). The part won’t be completely broken, but you’ll see an obvious split that has developed due to the swivel action over time. There’s a prescient comment in the info text (beside the italicized i within a circle) that basically predicts this issue. Remove the part, repair it as per the video, and reassemble. Some notes:

All affected units that I have repaired had three amber LED blinks followed by no white upon reset and no amount of “tricks” could overcome this

All units previously developed sporadic issues over time that became progressively more frequent

Cleaning headband connectors, freezing, and resetting while wearing all worked for a brief period of time

(The temporary fixes make perfect sense when you realize how the issue develops over time)

As I previously mentioned, only the left earcup has been affected in the units I’ve seen - not sure if this is always the case

The repair is almost guaranteed to be temporary if the units continue to be swiveled - although no units have been returned to me so far

Disassembly and repair requires specialized screwdrivers and driver bits (screwdrivers will be too long to properly reach some screws), a microscope (the connections are ~0.2mm wide), temperature-controlled soldering iron with a 0.2mm micro soldering tip, 0.2mm repair wire, X-acto knife, solder paste and/or flux and solder 

My repair uses a far shorter repair wire than in the video as ongoing flexibility is paramount

Some repair shops and individuals will have this equipment and will be able to carry out the repair, which now takes me about an hour from start to finish, with the majority of time spent micro soldering and testing for electrical shorts

Sincerely hope that this information helps; the units are so good when they work that they become endearing, and I’m gutted when perfectly good electronics have to be thrown away

Thanks I sent mine in for repair last week and they claimed corrosion on the headband connectors was the issue. So I had them sent back un-repaired and cleaned them myself. Now I'm having the exact same issue, but they dont connect at all... It's such a shame. I love apple products, but this was a stain and leaves me extremely disappointed with build quality.

Same thing has happened to my airpods starting a month after my applecare warranty died. They constantly keep bricking and I have to constantly resort to the freezer trick. I've learned my lesson with relying on this trash company to do good by the people dropping serious money on their defective high-failure rate products. I will not be buying whatever trash updgrade they make to the Airpod Maxes - Imagine dropping 600USD twice for headphones that stop resetting after a year of use with their cheap, god awful trash case. To anyone who reads this, buy bose headphones. Buy sennheisers. Buy Bang and Olfusens. Buy Sony's incredible xmp lineup. You stand a very high chance of looking like a fool who wasted almost $1000 of garbage technology. If you just MUST throw away your hard earned cash for no reason, get yourself an Airpod Max and make sure to swap it out for a new one before the warranty expires.

A similar issue has also appeared on a specific line of MacBook Pro laptops, with Apple covering many laptops experiencing the issue under a "special" warranty. I just repaired a 2017 MacBook Pro with the issue, since only 2016 models were covered.

Both repairs (MacBook Pro and AirPods Max) require disassembly, which requires specialized screwdrivers (although they are not hard to find); unfortunately, there's no AirPods Max replacement part available from Apple or 3rd parties that I can source, which meant that I had to microsolder to complete repairs. The part at fault is on step 17 of this guide; the failure may occur on the left or right side, although I've only seen the issue on left side to-date.

Microsoldering is out of the question for all but a few people, and I cannot guarantee that the part/repair won't fail in the future - it's likely not a permanent fix if the heaphones are swiveled. If a replacement part was available, then most iPhone service centres and a few individuals would be able to complete the repair. Please note that "as-is" AirPods Max continue to sell for $250+ on eBay, which makes the repair not worthwhile as a commercial venture from a time and materials point of view.

Outside of what I can only describe as a disconcerting design flaw, the AirPods Max are built extremely well and (unlike many reports) are not prone to humidity migration. Apple's lawyers are asking for proof of damage from humidity and thus far, no one has been able to supply proof. In my personal opinion, a large number of AirPods Max are destined to fail under normal use.

To those reading who have a pair that haven't experienced issues, I wouldn't worry about condensation (although the headband connectors do accumulate oxidation and may require an annual cleaning) and recommend limiting how many times you swivel the headphones.

I'm not trying to be a jerk; I know what the issue is but can't/won't say on Apple's own support site, and I've successfully repaired units that have this exact issue (intermittent operation for weeks, works after cleaning for weeks, freezer work for a few days, then three flashes and nothing works after that). The root issue is definitely not "normal" levels of moisture; the inside cups - even the pinholes - are very well sealed. The repair is very involved and requires disassembly, but I will say this - do whatever you can to make your out-of-warranty headphones work again - freezer, charging overnight, reset while wearing, incantations - then never (and I mean never) rotate the cups again.

Keep them straight and charge them straight, hide your case and don't worry about battery drain. If you really want to put them to sleep outside of their case, grab a couple of weak magnets and watch the video where to place them. Did I mention not rotating the cups? I'm sure v2 will not have this issue, but for everyone who currently owns a pair, once you start having this issue, you have a limited number of rotations remaining.

Sincerely hopes this helps.

Look I don't know why it works but I put my APM in the case and in the fridge for about half an hour. They immediately came back to life reset correctly and connected to my phone. Worth a try if you're against a wall. I tried everything else.

missed my 2 week reminder, but to follow up. The freezer trick is very temporary for me, have not managed to get a two day stint from my Maxs so they basically live in the freezer/fridge until I cave and pay the $300 service fee have them fixed 🥶

Hi guys, my headphones are not working as well, is only show 3 time amber. However I fix it, not the fridge tips.

first, the way AirPod Max connect between two ear part. Is use a plug, is looks like small iPhone charger. The 3 time amber is maybe standard for can’t connect to other ear. and there is a little hole, which you can use a SIM card pin to open it, and you can separate ear part from headband. I just give a general clean. It works!!!!!

i have been try multiple way to fix it(over week time), but this is the only way works.

wish u guys all the good luck.