AirPods disconnects on calls

I have the same problem. iPhone 6s and a watch. Calls have dropped with both AirPods on longer calls. Very disturbing making the product virtually unusable. I'll try using one airpod and see if that is more stable.

What bothers me most is the amount of collective time everyone is putting into troubleshooting this (sometimes it can be fun at first but frustrating after resets and re-installs).

It's cleary a QA issue for Apple to resolve (of course, with our help if they request it). Apple should be more transparent and communicate they have a problem and that they are working on a fix with an approximate eta. I've been a long time apple user, seller and in the software tech space since the 80s and the amount of personal time

I've wasted troubleshooting Apple issues on my laptop, watch, phone, etc over the past few years is unacceptable - clearly QA resources are low or commercial goals are overriding QA. Apple needs to spend more time on QA (this audio dropping should have easily been identified prior to release) as this issue is easily replicable.

(end of vent)

Watch S2 on 3.1.3

6S now on 10.3B1

- Issues seem to have gone away, no more dropped calls so far

- also noticed today that while the phone is ringing I can put in my AirPods and instantly get a connection (previously this took too long to let the call ring, I had to take on the phone and then tell the caller that I need a second to get my headphones)

- overall very happy so far that this seems to solve itself

some things better, some worse. DROPS do seem to have gotten MUCH less, if at all.

There is on my 6s, much more background noise even when not on a call. There is a BT noise in the airpods.. it comes and goes. There is also more background hiss on calls. But at least they don't drop. I'll be interested to see if the battery life has suffered.

Connecting to the watch (for listening to music on the watch) MUCH faster and easier to connect. Before 10.3b1, I had to turn OFF BT on my 6s phone, before I could even get the airpods to connect to the watch. Now, it's just switches back and forth easily.

I've had calls start dropping over to the phone's speaker and then back to the headset since upgrading to iOS 10.

The thing is, I'm using an iPhone 5 and a non-apple Bluetooth headset.

Seems to me something got broken in iOS10.

This problem occurs not only with AirPods. I noticed regular breaks during a call when using the headset Plantronics Voyager Edge and iPhone 6s plus (using Apple Watch). First I changed the iPhone. I bought a new 7 plus. Then ordered AirPods delivered today. I began to use it, but the problem remains. I have used different versions of the iOS, from 9 to 10.3 beta.

I would like to see the solution.

Updated my watch 2 to 3.1 and it seems worse than ever for me this morning dropped to phone speaker 6-8 times on the same call, when I look at Bluetooth settings it's a spinning wheel like no connection and watch shows same thing and it hasn't before. Been like this for a month. Ow and I haven't swapped them out I think it's something in BT.

So much for my upgrading from 6S and AW0 to 7 Plus and AW2... AirPods were working perfectly for a week, and I was very happy.

Now they are back to failure mode on calls. Music is fine, but I can't get any audio through them now for calls. Not even just random Bluetooth disconnects, but out-and-out no call audio from the start, and even call failures. Switched to my wired Lightning EarPods that came with the phone, and my caller said it sounded like it switched to speakerphone and said my voice became very distant/quiet (phone was in my pocket).

Will try rebooting the phone.

Hoping for a software update soon.

Hi GGGeoff I did find that if I put my apple watch in airplane mode I was able to make and take phone calls without issues. It's pretty frustrating to have to do that but I'm sure its only for a short time till this is addressed by the apple engineers.

May want to upgrade to iOS 10.3 Beta 1. I'm hearing this along with the new AirPod FW and WatchOS Beta may resolve the issue. Now just wondering if Apple is going to release 10.2.2 to implement the fix 10.3 Beta 1 has in it. We will see.

I have an iPhone 6s Plus running iOS 10.2.1 and an Apple Watch (1st gen) running watchOS 3.1.3. Saw this afternoon that my AirPods received the 3.5.1 firmware update. I had a 2-minute phone call, a 5-minute phone call, and a 67-minute phone call today and was able to keep both AirPods in!

Previously, it would only (mostly) work with one AirPod in, and with two AirPods, they would disconnect what seemed like every 10 seconds. Today, no connection dropping issues even with both AirPods in. Keeping my fingers tentatively crossed that the issue is resolved. Hopefully other people find the 3.5.1 firmware update fixes the issue for them too (and that it stays fixed for me).

All the latest updates. Exact same problem. This time it dropped the bluetooth from the AirPod, didn't reconnect and disconnected the call.

Very frustrating.

I thought about posting my hardware but as per my previous post, this is an Apple problem and they should be transparent, recognize it and fix it. Over 2 months is not acceptable on something so fundamental to the use of these.

I read this post and looked and my firmware for my AirPods was 3.3...something. I came home and plugged my AirPods case with the AirPods in it, into a charger and waited for a while and rechecked it. The firmware updated to 3.5.1. I then tried a couple of short phone calls of a few minutes which seemed to work flawlessly. Before I would get disconnected after 20 seconds or so. Hopefully this is the fix we've all been waiting for.

An update now that I'm running iOS 10.3 Beta 1 and AirPods firmware 3.5.1 and no other Bluetooth devices paired to the iPhone 6s Plus. No drops during music, podcasts or phone calls (up to an hour in length).

For those not following my posts on this thread, weeks ago at the recommendation of Apple Support, I wiped my iPhone clean and restored from an encrypted iTunes backup. I did not re-pair my Apple Watch nor pair any other Bluetooth devices.

Seeing that other people are still having problems with multiple BT devices (inc. Apple Watch) and the AirPods on the new firmware and OS, I'll keep this setup for a little while longer. I find my Apple Watch operating under Wi-Fi-only is acceptable for the time being for me.

I was still being disconnected after the firmware update. However, I re-paired the AirPods and it "seems" to be resolved. I was on a call for several minutes and was not disconnected. However, I continue to see bugs. Someone called me and they could not hear me. They had to call me back and then it worked. I was listening to a podcast at the time the call came in. In any case, Apple seems to be making some progress but issues still exists with the AirPods.