AirPods disconnects on calls

I'll add my complaint to this blog. I'll listen to music without a problem but when a call comes in it automatically reverts to the iPhone (non AirPods connection) after only a few minutes. Must be a firmware upgrade that's necessary

Same problem here: AirPods randomly disconnect from phone during calls when using both AirPods, but works fine when using just one AirPod.

This happens on cellular (T-Mobile) calls, WiFi calling, FaceTime Audio calls, but was fine during a 45 minute FaveTime Video call. Happens with and without Apple Watch connected.

Also experiencing random pauses listening to podcast app while on my daily 3 mi walk. Pauses don't happen if I disable cellular (airplane mode, then re-enable Bluetooth and wifi). I suspect the pauses are related to poor cell coverage in some areas of my walking route.

Despite these nits, I really like the AirPods. Hope for a solution.

Same issue here... This is only an issue on 6s plus for me. My wife has the 7 and that works perfectly. Also, I have a Blackberry and calls work fine with no dropping. Apple support called me back and claim the issue is with the strength of bluetooth from my iphone.. They are investigating this weekend and have promised an update by Tuesday. Whilst its annoying, I am relieved its not just me having the issue.

Good info, thanks for reporting! I am also on a 6S. Seems to be a common link noted on other forums. This might explain why my AirPods stay connected to my 2013 MacBook Pro, as well as my fourth generation Apple TV.

Hi.

Same issue here.

iPhone 6s 128GB, Airpods, latest iOS (10.2).

Frequent drops when listening to music

And calls disconnecting.

I had my iPhone 6s replaces under AppleCare+ but the issue remains.

One thing I have just read is that this happend with iPhone 6s or 6s+, Airpods ...and Apple Watch.

http://appletoolbox.com/2016/12/airpods-disconnecting-calls-sound-issues/

I happen to have an Apple Watch (the original one) and am about to test unpairing it.

For those experiencing the issue, do you have an Apple Watch? Which version?

Thanks in advance and have a great day,

Jérôme.

I have the original Apple Watch, and I'm DudeMan from the article 🙂

Just to clarify for others, I solved my issues by totally Unpairing the apple watch. It didn't matter if the watch was disconnected or shutdown, the problem still happened until the watch was completely removed from the phone.

Then I still had it rarely disconnect from the phone and get connected to my Macbook, but turning off bluetooth on the Macbook fixed that as well.

Since I bought them for phone calls, I've kept it in this configuration for a while now and it's been rock solid.

It seems the problem is the Airpods switching to other apple devices on your iCloud account (whether they are there or not!)

I spent almost 2 hours on the phone yesterday with a senior specialist at Apple. They actually contacted me after I had tried to resolve the AirPods issues described here through a support chat a few days ago. Yesterday they had me gather all kinds of logs from all of my Apple devices that are connected with the AirPods, and I was able to easily recreate the issues that it seems we are all having for them while on the call. I am hoping that this will make sure that the issue is escalated to engineering, and that it will be fixed soon.

If for nothing else, let apple support know you are having the problem too. The more people they know about, and the more data they can gather, the faster they may be able to figure it out and fix it. Clearly, these were let out of Cupertino before they were ready 😟

Hi Gordiusdude and thanks for your help.

I will file a report on bugreport.apple.com (I have an Apple developer membership).

Before this gets solved, I can use my Apple Watch, or my Airpods.

But not both.

I would happily send the Airpods back to Apple, but since they are a christmas gift, that is not an option.

Thanks for this. Has anyone else unpaired Apple Watch and the issue has gone away?

If this is the case it would really suck to have to disable one Apple Product in order for another to work properly.

SMH.

I will definitely not unpair the Apple Watch to use the Airpods.. luckily us people with the 6s still have a headphone jack... just in case.

I get by using only one airpod for calls and swictching them the old-fashioned way between devices when needed. It's definitely not working as advertised but at least until Apple fixes this...

OK... so here is my latest update after my 3rd visit to the Apple Store and having several phone calls with Apple Engineering.

First, I should point out that Apple Engineering contacted me and had me run several tests while they collected logs. I was able to replicate all the issues and was told that Apple was aware of the issue and working on it. The only down side was I was told that I wouldn't necessarily be notified of the status of the issue.

So, already having had AppleCare setup a Genius Bar Appointment for me on this issue... I decided to go anyway. As was the case the previous 2 times, the Genius Bar employee apologized for it being such a new product and the Geniuses not having much experience with them yet. I related to him my calls with AppleCare, as well as, Apple Engineering. At that point he kind'a looked at me like, "well, what the heck do you want me to do then?" So, I took a stab in the dark and said, "since my watch and phone are both covered under AppleCare... why don't you bring out a new one of each and we try to get them to work... if they do, I walk out with the replacements, if not... you can put them back into inventory." He said he had no problem doing that for the phone, but they don't carry a replacement inventory for the watch... so, off he went and grabbed a phone.

Now, for the first time in my testing, I didn't apply my backup. I setup the phone as a new iPhone and didn't let it pair with my watch. I connected my AirPods and they worked BEAUTIFULLY for hours!! I mean I talked on the phone for over 3 hours and never had single connection issue. The AirPods never dropped connection either on a call or when they were silent. Siri was constantly responsive and it seemed like they sounded better than before.

So, I decided to try and pair my watch (still without applying my backup). That is when I started to see the connection drop. The first time was right after a phone call, I saw the headphone icon vanish and Siri was gone from the double-tap.

I'll be sending this experience on to Apple Engineering... but I sure wish there was a way we could track their progress on this.

I just received My replacement pair from Apple after 2.5 hours on the phone with them and waiting a week for replacement to arrive. I haven't made a call yet but the popping/clickin sound on al audio is abundantly clear. It's obviously not faulty hardware as Apple told me. I'll prob make a trip to the Apple Store tomorrow and see what can be done. AirPods experience is extremely frustrating to say the least with iPhone 6s Plus and watch series 2.

Thanks to all who are sending info into Apple on this. I love these AirPods, but the connectivity issue with my iPhone 6S is disappointing. I hope it's just a software issue, and not a problem with the Bluetooth chipset in the phone and/or Apple Watch.

Took a six mile hike yesterday, and decided to listen to some downloaded Apple Music on the AirPods. As expected, I started having issues not even a half mile in - my music kept inexplicably pausing all by itself. I checked to make sure the phone was waking up and somehow hitting pause buttons. I tried turning off Automatic Ear Detection on the AirPods. Nothing helped until I disabled cellular (T-Mobile) by using Airplane mode and then re-enabling Bluetooth and WiFi. Interestingly, the iOS reported it couldn't put my watch into Airplane mode... turned out my AirPods had jumped ship to the Watch. Eventually I got it sorted out and was able to enjoy some contemplative music on my wanderings with only a couple incidents of uncommanded pauses.

This morning, listening to more downloaded music, this time with cellular enabled but at home on WiFi. Just the occasional left-right burble, and then about 15 minutes in, the music paused. I looked at my watch (original 38mm Sport), and it was displaying the red "No Connection" icon at the top. Swiped up to see the AirPlay icon was Blue; tapped on that and saw my AirPods had jumped ship again to my Watch. After a few seconds, the watch reconnected to my iPhone, which was sitting right in front of me (I was reading web forum in Safari), the AirPods then reconnected on their own to the phone, and the music remained in a paused state. This is probably what was happening on my hike yesterday. Also happens when listening to Podcasts.

I was able to have an hour-long FaceTime Audio call today by using only one AirPod. If I use both, chances are they'll disconnect from the phone randomly switching all audio to the handset, and I have to re-select them as audio source (or wait long enough and they might resume on their own).

I'm starting to think both are related to the AirPods jumping ship (i.e. via continuity) to my Watch. What's weird is it still happens even with my watch powered off (but not un-paired). Hesitant to un-pair my watch as it means I'll have to re-enter my ApplePay cards again.

So, there's a huge hint. I'll see if I can report this to Apple.

So I un-paired my Apple Watch and hoped it would cure the issue, but it didn't. Two disconnects, re-connects during a call. Only thing I have not tried is a wipe of my 6s plus and set up as new. I'm not willing to do that.

Chatted with Apple online tech support this morning. At least I have a case #. Gave them all the info I had figured out so far. They asked that I factory-reset the phone and use "as new" for a while to see if the problem manifests out-of-the-box like that. I dislike doing that, but willing to help. I'm in the same position supporting my own software and sometimes end up asking customers to do clean installs to help troubleshoot. Pain in the rear, but that's technology in a complex world.

For all we know, at this point, the 6S is having trouble maintaining multiple Bluetooth connections on top of demands of cellular and wifi. I also have a bunch of Tiles, which may be exacerbating the situation as well, since they connect via Bluetooth.

So far, just unpairing my Watch has virtually eliminated the recurring brief left-right hiccups in Apple Music listening. Hmm. Will try a call before I wipe the phone. Couldn't hurt.