Airpods flaky bluetooth? where they rushed out?

I reported this also separately but here goes my issue:

I have Apple Watch (original series), AirPods, iPhone 6s with all the latests updates (the ones released on 23rd of Jan). When going running, and using the Strava app on my Watch, i turn on a Podcast on my iPhone 6s via the Apple Podcasts app. The music plays for approx 10 minutes and then the podcast app pauses the music automatically. I have to press the play button to resume. After a 5 minutes or so, this happens again, and then again the next 5 minutes and so on.

When listening to music without Strava and not running, this does not happen. When running, i have my iPhone in my hand, so i have ruled out a possible connection problem by having it deep in a pocket so that the AirPods can't connect. Also, the Strava app keeps talking to the AirPods (with the running time updates), but the music from Podcast automatically stops. Then I switched to Spotify app and repeated the same as described above, and i have the same pausing problem. The Spotify app automatically pauses after 5 minutes when using Apple Watch, AirPods, iPhone 6s and the Strava app.

I have already done an AirPods reset and re-pairing, i am on the latest iOS and watchOS. i have rebooted the iPhone and Watch. Also, i have the auto-pause function in Strava turned off at all time.

Any suggestions from you are very welcome to solve this problem. Currently i have to go back to a wired headphone to solve this problem.

For what it's worth: I had a 6s Plus until this weekend. My airpods dropped calls so frequently that they were unusable for work purposes. On my own, I had completed all of the suggestions on this page and everywhere else I could to no avail. As a next step prior to returning them, I had opened a case with Apple support to take the final step of restoring my phone as new to see if it that helped.

Forward to Saturday morning, I went for a run and smashed my phone beyond repair. I took that as a sign it was time to upgrade to a 7 Plus. Restoring my new phone from my most recent 6S Plus backup and pairing my airpods, I have had no issues whatsoever since then. I truly think there is an issue with the 6S / Plus models and airpods.

I Have the issue with my SE as well, so it *could* be something with the A9 in general, since the 6S/Plus and SE both use that. Or it could be whatever BlueTooth chip they are using since I assume they are the same there too. Although, since 10.2.1, I have had less dropouts (still happens randomly), so maybe it is just software related and presents itself more on phones running the A9 than other devices.

I've been using them for two weeks. Had many problems to have them work properly with my Apple Watch in my iPhone. Went to the Genius Bar to have them checked. They told me it can depend where I am. There's might be a lot of interference.

For the price that I paid this product has to be PERFECT. I seriously think there were rushed out. I had no choice but returning them.

I have been having issues as well. They constantly drop. Scenario is quite simple:

No other Bluetooth devices nearby

Only iPad Air and Airpods

Streaming movie from Netflix or TV app

Constant drops and reconnects.

Removed Airpods and used lightening apple headset and no issues at all. Essentially this rules out my wifi network.

i have had no issues with calls on my 7+ or my mac but then again I am not streaming anything

My perspective is that this has to do with streaming via wifi or lte and wireless Bluetooth audio airpod usage at the same time. Funny enough bringing the ipad closer to me would sometimes restore audio. Odd that a few inches would affect audio drops but its not a consistent enough pattern to say that's the cause. My take it's related to buffering and wireless audio streaming at the same time

Electronic interference? For 175$$? These should work flawlessly! Would you be okay with buying a of the line. car that constantly keeps shutting down on the freeway because of the earths magnetic field? I think not. Actually I know you wouldn't. But we should be okay with an expensive product that doesn't do what it is supposed to do?

Ordered mine on May 8th. Received them yesterday. Completely unusable on my Macbook Pro and my iPhone 6.

The phone calls sound like someone is talking to me through a compression effects guitar pedal with a mouth full of pop-rocks. I'm heartbroken. I've tried resetting the pairing instance, but it's still a popping, cracking mess. The audio seems to "bounce" between left & right channel and the cracking popping sound precedes any activation of Siri or talking from the other parties on a phone call. People I'm talking to also report shady audio compared to my wired EarPods.

I called Apple Support & they've asked me to take them to my local Apple Store. I'm gutted.

Had both ear buds replaced at the Apple Store. Immediately took a call to test them and asked my friend to read something long. About 40 seconds into him reading I heard a sound that could only be described as "emotive robot meets it demise by eviscerated while being sucked into a black hole.

The lovely young man who was helping me said it might be a defective CASE, causing some interference? They've ordered me a new case and it will be here next week. I can't imagine how the case would be the thing causing interference. As a test, I've left the case in my car and come up to the 4th floor offices to see if I could isolate myself from it's apparent interference and have a clear call. But no: still sounds like someone's f*cking with a guitar pedal and scrunching aluminum foil next to a condenser mic.

I'm starting to think my iPhone 6 is just too old and ****** to keep up the connection. I've got a first gen Apple Watch, Macbook, and iPad. And none of them can give me a clear signal on these ****** AirPods.

I'm having bad dropouts with my AirPods while connected to my iMac. I do sometimes get them from my 6s, but I listen to music on my iMac during the evenings with my AirPods and it's pretty awful to be honest.

This is playing any audio from YouTube, Spotify etc. The iMac isn't doing much intensive work (I'm coding) so can't see how it's anything other than interference, but thought I'd mention it as everyone seems to have the issues on their phones.

1. Make sure that you have the latest version of iOS on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
2. On your iOS device, go to Settings > Bluetooth and make sure that Bluetooth is on. If you can’t turn on Bluetooth or you see a spinning gear, restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
3. Unpair the Bluetooth accessory, put it back in discovery mode, then pair and connect it again.

Get help connecting a Bluetooth accessory with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Potential sources of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference
Take care.

Hey have you noticed any improvement with your AirPods? I am also experiencing a high number of dropouts and stutters. I have tried with three different devices but see the same thing on each. I'm starting to wonder if this is abnormal? I though the W1 chip was supposed to work magic and avoid these issues that have plagued Bluetooth devices. I have a pair of the original wireless bose headphones and they don't suffer from the same amount of drops and stutters. Hope we both find a fix! Happy holidays!

I have an iPhone SE and also a 2nd gen Apple Watch SS and have very frequent audio dropouts/skipping with my AirPods. I have unpaired/re-paired them numerous times, and yes all of my devices are up to date. It seems to happen more frequently when I start a workout on the watch. Haven't tried them without the watch but I doubt that could be interfering. Not sure if it's a problem with the SE or if my AirPods are just bunk.

I have also noticed this. For me it's the most noticeable when I am doing other tasks on my phone or when switching apps, there is sometimes a stutter. I have a 7plus 128

Hey guys, really surprising yes !

It has been work fine for 2 weeks, and today sitting in a cafe, using my phone, browsing internet, it kept glitching and the music kept dropping out ! I was really irritating, pretty weird as it never happened before, even when the WIFI is off it still flicks and drops, which is really awkward...

Hope Apple will do something about this other I'm returning them

Dropouts are always possible if the signal is blocked or interfered with. If it is doing it all the time it is most likely going to be a hardware problem with your AirPods and you need to use your warranty. If you have had them longer than 14 days you are past the return period.