AirPods disconnects on calls

fullfacejosh - Did you try using the AirPods with your restored version of iOS before re-pairing your Apple Watch with your iPhone? And, do you have other Bluetooth devices paired/connected to your iPhone? Last week, I wiped my iPhone too but removed all other Bluetooth devices and have not re-paired my Apple Watch. So far, the AirPods have been working much better than before. There have been a couple of pauses/dropouts during podcasts, but no dropouts so far while talking on the phone (one instance where the audio was garbled and in slow motion).

Been using the Apple Watch under Wi-Fi in this scenario. Not ideal, but workable until Apple fixes this problem. Also running iOS 10.2.1 Beta 4.

I was hoping to not find this issue posted, but I guess a group of incidents may get better results or action from Apple. Here goes...

iPhone 7 Plus 10.2.1 14D27

Sport Watch 3.1.3 14S959

AirPods

Intermittent dropping on phone calls. No issues with music playback.

Quick update on my situation.

I've spent a ton of time with Apple on the disconnect issue both on the phone and in emails detailing my woes. They sent me a brand new pair of Jaybird Freedom's to use while my AirPods are being inspected and I'm currently waiting on the information as to where to send them. I mention the Jaybird's because while they are nice, work properly (they switch automatically between iPhone and iPad depending on which device has audio playing), and wow do they get loud . . . they make me miss my AirPods tremendously. Having to deal with the wired connection between the two buds seems medieval after using the AirPods for just a few weeks. I've mentioned before I'm no audiophile and that the single most important thing for me with the AirPods is the truly wireless nature of them.

I hope Apple gets this worked out soon so I can go back to my AirPods ASAP.

Had talked to Apple support on this 2-3 weeks ago... listening to music, no problem... telephoning, almost instant crashes and no reconnect. They said, they did not know anything about this. Should be a seldom problem.

In a later call, I got the advise to completely reset my phone and use iCloud backup... this improved the situation, now the disconnects are more infrequent and after 1-2 seconds the reconnect is successful.

iPhone 6s plus, AppleWatch1

This really *****. I will wait for you guys to give feedback on 10.3 Beta when it's release and then cancel my order if still happening. Does anyone know if these things have software/firmware that's user upgrade-able?

Same problem. On iPhone 6s and my AirPods drop frequently during calls with ear-detection enabled or disabled. Phone also becomes unresponsive. Also, pairing with iMac takes a long time and sometimes takes several tries. Toggling bluetooth on/off seems to work.

Using iOS 10.2 6s+ with watch OS 3.1.1 Apple Watch S2, having same issues.

Even worse, there is a new issue recently. The music doesn't stop playing when I take off one AirPod from my ear, and the AirPods get disconnected right after. I had to request for replacement, which means I need to wait for a few days until the new one arrives since I ordered AirPods on Apple.com. It really *****.

Same issue here (Iphone 6s, IOS10.2, Apple watch series 1). I did try just using one airpod trick for phone calls all yesterday and it work flawlessly. Today however, it dropped a call. Still, I am going to just use one for calls until a fix comes.

I've also been able to successfully handle phone calls without drops by using one airpod. There was one exception when I was using the right airpod and a call dropped momentarily but it's not happened when only the left one was being used. However, my sample sizes are not adequate to be conclusive.

Also, I updated to iOS 10.2.1 on my iPhone 6s last night and this morning tried a call with both airpods - the same momentary dropping issue occurred after about 30 seconds into the call.

I am having similar issues. Using an iPhone 7 (VZW) with Air Pods. Frequently my calls drop b/n them. Occasionally, it is my left Air Pod that fails. They are fully charged. I am on iOS 10.2 (14C92).

For a product at this price, I am incredibly disappointed.

Another update from my case.

I was supposed to get return labels to send in my AirPods and the labels never came. The Customer Relations specialist called me about an hour ago and engineering told her they were not collecting any more logs. Given this information it is my hope that they've resolved the issue and hopefully a software update will fix it. If it's deemed to be a hardware issue hopefully they will let us know so we can swap them out.

I have same issue with my AirPods, and have had the same issue in my car with my 6s Plus for months.

The AirPod disconnection is irritating.

The car issue is quite dangerous, as once the bluetooth connection drops, the phone freezes, you cannot speak to the person on the other end of the line. If you don't want to get in an accident, you just have to let the iphone sit for 5 minutes until it can recover from the bluetooth disconnect.

Something I noticed this morning in addition to the problem of dropping calls is that I cannot pair my airpods with the watch. It shows the airpods as an option in the watch but everytime I try switch airplay to them, I get an error that says "make sure airpods are turned on or in range."

I tried repairing the airpods directly to the watch with no success. Repairing them to my phone left me with the same issue.

Anyone else experiencing this?

I am! Usually putting the Watch in Airplane mode for a moment and than turning Airplane mode off allows me to connect.

Noticed though that after the 3.1.3 update they connected without any fiddling around.

(iPhone 6s plus, watch 2)

I have found that the phone is holding any bluetooth connection with the airpods HARD and I have to turn off BT on the phone for a second (notification center works) and then they will connect instantly to the WATCH and then you can use them with the watch and then you can turn BT back on on the phone and it won't interfere.

It's not RIGHT, but that's how you can make it work without a re-pairing or other work arounds. This could be in the area of the interference that is occurring, various devices have a stronghold over the airpods and other devices are secondary - but somehow become primary for a minute - taking connection AWAY from a primary.