Airpods connected once, now won't connect, keep flashing amber. Definitely charged! Any suggestions?

Received the airpods today. They worked for a couple hours, switched from iPhone 7 to Mac and back and then took a break. Now trying to use them and they apparently unpaired and won't pair again. The case and airpods are definitely charged and currently sitting on a charger. Have tried restarting phone, turning bluetooth on/off. I'm running the latest version of iOS and macOS. Any suggestions or time to make an genius appointment?

Posted on Dec 19, 2016 1:23 PM

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Posted on May 22, 2017 8:20 AM

For anyone still having issues, the fix for me was to close the AirPods case (with the ear buds inside) and wait 15 seconds. Then reopen them. If the white light is still pulsing after re-opening, then you may not have left the lid closed long enough. After doing this, when my phone prompted me to hold the button on the case down, the AirPods connected within a matter of seconds.

43 replies

Sep 1, 2017 6:20 AM in response to sir dir

If the case led stays white fixed while pressing the button, then most likely than not the AirPods are still paired to one of your devices. Make sure you unpair them on all your devices. You can also check via "find my iPhone" application on iOS devices or via iCloud.com on a computer if the AirPods are still paired to your iCloud account. Another thing you might try is check which one of the two doesn't get paired, and then put only that one in the case and keep pressing the pair button on the case while having your iPhone unlocked and nearby. This latter method helped me having back the left AirPod paired.

Sep 1, 2017 3:19 PM in response to Rayced

Yes I'll try to reset them out in the garden next 😉 ... I just realised they probably can't play a sound when in the case, so I took them out and only the left one started playing. So either this time the right one didn't get 'revived' or it had already died again. For sure no other device starts playing instead of the airpods.

Dec 20, 2016 9:13 AM in response to @Chris

Hi @Chris,

I understand that you are wanting to use the AirPods, but they won't pair again to your iPhone. You did great troubleshooting steps thus far. I'll be happy to provide some additional information.

Use your AirPods​

If you can't set up your AirPods

If you don't see the setup animation when you try to set up your AirPods with your iPhone, follow these steps. After each step, try to set up your AirPods again.

  1. Make sure that your AirPods are charged.
  2. Close the lid, wait 15 seconds, then open the lid. The status light should flash white.
  3. If the status light doesn't flash white, press and hold the setup button on the back of the case until you see the status light flash white.
  4. Still can't set up your AirPods? Press and hold the setup button for at least 15 seconds, until you see the status light flash amber a few times and then flash white.
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Airpods connected once, now won't connect, keep flashing amber. Definitely charged! Any suggestions?

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