Airpods (2nd gen) microphone not working even after troubleshooting

Hi there jesscollinns,

I understand that you're having trouble with your AirPods microphone not working. I'm sorry to hear that!

You've already tried a few troubleshooting steps, which is great. Here are a few more things you can try:

• Make sure your AirPods are fully charged. A low battery can sometimes cause microphone issues.
• Check your AirPods firmware. If there is an update available, install it. The latest firmware update as of now is 5E135. Learn more about the firmware updates here.
• Reset your AirPods. This will erase all of their settings and data, and may fix the microphone issue.
• If you're using AirPods Pro, make sure that the microphone is not blocked by earwax or other debris.
• Try connecting your AirPods to a different device. If the microphone works on the other device, then the problem is likely with your phone or computer.

If you've tried all of these steps and your AirPods microphone is still not working, then you may need to contact Apple Support for further assistance.

Here are some articles that you should refer to also…

• If your left or right AirPod isn't working - Apple Support
• How to clean your AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and EarPods - Apple Support

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

Kyleb_27

I experienced the same issue and tried all the troubleshooting tips without luck. I ended up contacting Apple and got it working! There was in fact a bug with the operating system, so I had to update to the most recent ios on both my iPhone and MacBook. Then I reset my AirPods and it worked again!

Same problem, fixed it by mistake.

Short Story:

• I removed (while trying to clean with a needle) the membrane protection the lower microphone. It fixed the problem. Repeated it with second pair and it was fixed too. Do not know if the membrane protects the electronics, so far no impact on both pairs.

Long:

We have in total 3 pairs.

Pair 1 was the first and after long usage the microphone started to went down from time to time. Though it was bad luck and bought a new pair for me and a new pair for my girlfriend. Pair 1 I further used as music only device for doing sports. Pair 2 lost the mic ability very fast completely and I put on the music only graveyard and decided to buy JBL in future. Now Pair 3 (the ones from my girlfriend) also started to loose mic ability from time to time. Asked ChatGPT about and the AI suggested simple cleaning. So I took Pair 1 as test and started cleaning with Q-Tip and a needle to really get rid of all dirt. Instead of just dirt I damaged the cover fiber mesh. Since they was already not longer in use (as explained) I decided to remove everything also the membrane below the mesh. It worked. Repeated with Pair 2 and it also worked there. Now testing them daily to see if the missing membrane has any downsides but so far nothing.

If you have already applied these troubleshooting steps you mentioned, I can suggest some more like:

• Turn off noise cancellation and see if that fixes the microphone.
• Toggle On and Off the Automatic Ear Detection.
• Update your AirPods firmware and your device software to the latest version.
• Reset Your iPhone’s Network Settings
• Forget your Airpods and Reset them and then reconnect again.

For detailed steps you can check this guide: 11 Steps to Fix Airpods Microphone not Working (skip the steps you already applied). After applying all these steps and are still facing the issue then I guess your airpods microphones have hardware issues.

3 years this has been going on through 3 AirPod Pros and 3 phones! I knew it was a software issue as they worked fine on non iOS devices.

I could not find “Live Listen” under settings (using seadch) - however, here is an article for where to find -

Use Live Listen with AirPods or Beats – Apple Support (UK)

I suspect that, at some point in the past, something had set the mic volume to 0 and turning on “Live Listen” automatically sets it to an appropriate level. Once you turn off “Live Listen” (after you can hear yourself) it remembers the new volume!

Honestly this ruined my phone for the last 3 years! I had to constantly remember to manually switch the audio from AirPods to Speaker/iPhone and it caused loads of embarrassment and stress at the start of every call - and Apple support has been disgustingly useless.

I had all the mics on my Airpods gen 1 and only resetting the network settings helped, reconnected the headphones and everything worked.

Try resetting them by venturing into Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. You'll need to type in your passcode to confirm the action.

Please note that resetting your network settings will instantly disconnect you from your current network, as well as remove previously used Wi-Fi networks and VPN settings, set your device name to "iPhone," and remove any manually trusted certificates.

I had same issue and nothing fixed it. Was messing with the settings and turned on live listen. It’s under the background sounds. I could hear myself and then once I turned it off my mic worked. Hope it works for you

What fixed my issue was turning on live listen and speaking. It heard me, turned off and mics are working again.

What fixed my issue was turning on live listen and speaking. It heard me, turned off and mics are working again.

That was temporary. Update. Turning off automatic ear detection seems to have worked. Tested last 4-5 days and they’ve worked.

That was temporary with live listen. Update. Turning off automatic ear detection seems to have worked. Tested last 4-5 days and they’ve worked.

I think I found a fix.

I also ran into this issue on Apple AirPods 2 (A2031) 6A300 today. Re-pairing didn't work for me off the bat, but after re-pairing, I went into the settings and set and re-set all the different settings such as "double tap on airpod", "Connect to This iPhone", and "Microphone". I'm not sure which settings actually fixed it, but it works for me now!

My AirPods 2nd gen microphones haven’t been working for months and I tried ALL the troubleshooting steps. I just tried connecting them to my Samsung Galaxy S20 instead of my iPhone 13 and they worked PERFECTLY. So the problem is with the connection with iPhone, NOT the AirPod hardware.

Thank goodness I didn’t buy another pair.

Super-frustrating is the word!

My AirPods 2nd generation also lost the use of the microphone around September. Almost certainly due to the 6A300 Release.

I’ve verified this in different applications: keyboard dictation, mobile phone, messenger phone, audio recorder.

I’ve also tried changing the settings to use the left or right microphone instead of automatic, all to no avail.

The odds of both microphones failing due to mechanical reasons at exactly he same time are tiny. It’s a firmware fault.

I’ve also discovered that the microphones on my AirPod version 1 (firmware 6.8.8] no longer work. So despite charging perfectly, ALL 4 microphones stopped working in September. That is NOT a coincidence.

Buying new ones and replacing won’t do anything. They work for a while because I guarantee you they’re on older firmware. Eventually they update to the latest firmware and break again. The last two firmware releases have not helped correct this issue. 6A321 I hoped would correct, it hasn’t. Apple is of no use in this at all. Wish they’d at least admit to an issue which they never ever will.