AirPods disconnects on calls

Ok, I was holding off on posting this but I feel like I need to help some of you who are trying to reset your iP6S+. This will only temporarily fix the problem. I went to the Apple Store on January 2. At the store the tech brought an iP6S and loaded fresh iOS 10.2. Then we connected my AirPods and I made three test calls. All were over 10 min each. No disconnects. Worked perfect. I was sent home to completely wipe my phone and reload my Apple Watch. I did that night. I actually completely started fresh. Reinstalled everything from zero. The AirPods worked great for almost a week. No issues with two pods on really long conference calls. I make a lot of calls every day for work. They worked perfect. I was scheduled today to speak with their engineering department as a follow-up. During my 1.5 hour call with him, my AirPods disconnected a lot. We were running diagnostics throughout the call. Different scenarios - with and without WiFi, with and without my Apple Watch, consistently disconnecting and reconnecting within two seconds of each drop. He collected 1.2Gb worth of logs and I uploaded it to their engineering department. I'm happy to help Apple to figure it out. I don't think it has anything to do with the AirPods hardware. He actually was happy we were able to replicate all the problems while the iPhone and Apple Watch were running in diagnostics. They now have a lot to review. He said he's been calling a lot of customers who had the same complaints but they would not always replicate the problem during his call. So, folks, hang in there! Hopefully, the software guys will be able to figure out the bug and address it in the next release. They're still trying to zero in where the glitch is. IPhone or Apple Watch and most likely be addressed through some update to the AirPods themselves. Hope this long comment would help someone who reads it to not waste your time on iPhones reloads or trips to the Apple Store. All who have this issue, please do go online and keep reporting this bug to Apple. The more complaints they get, the sooner they prioritize their developers to work on it. I love my AirPods. Back to using only one during calls. No issues with streaming video or audio while listening with both pods. Only calls on iPhone 6 S Plus for me. Good luck! Cheers!t

Thanks for posting, lak69. I think we all want Apple to succeed with these AirPods, as they are such a brilliant design. I thought I was losing my mind given the glowing reviews. Sure, we expect some minor teething pains on new products, but how could all these reviewers overlook this kind of major weirdness? If it is an ugly bug limited to a very specific combination of devices that only appears after many days of usage, I can see why now. That it gets increasingly worse gives me some hope it is a software problem that can be fixed. Hope the Apple devs have their "Ah ha!" moment soon!

So just got another call from the Sr. Apple Specialist I've been working with/sending all my documentation to. She said the engineers want me to send my Airpods in. I want to help, but part of me has a problem with this. I paid $159 for these and feel like I'm a beta tester. I'm happy to help but unhappy I won't have my AirPods as they've become an integral part of my daily life. She's going to call me back before 11pm EST. I'll report back.

Has anyone else sent them in for testing/"repair"?

They should be able to reproduce the problem on their own. Do they not have their own AirPods to do their own testing? I don't know how much clearer this problem can be for Apple. This thread is giving them all the info on a silver platter. Obviously this isn't being escalated at Apple properly.

I know how you feel. My return window closes on Friday. The pragmatic part of me says to just cut my losses, return them, and re-purchase later. If I were asked... the engineer in me would say to send them in - anything that helps the team there find the problem, within reason. After all, they're people just like you and me, and they've got to be stumped and worried at this point... perhaps very worried.

I know I've asked my own customers to send equipment in to me for diagnosis when all else fails. I always try to include a thank-you like a gift card with the return, even if results were inconclusive. Debugging hardware is not fun, especially if it's an edge case.

Here's my update:

- I got my AirPods before Christmas, walked into a store and bought it off the shelf. Took it home, found out it had the issue, and went back into the Apple Store the next day to complain about the issue. At that time this thread was minimal and both myself and the Genius Bar people thought it was the phone. Their quote, "The AirPods are so new, there is no way it has an issue!!" I had Apple Care and they replaced my phone. Got a new iPhone 6S +. They suggested I start off with a fresh install Instead of restoring my backup. Most of my info is on the cloud, so I went ahead and did that. It cost me a lot of time to restore everything and download my App's, but I really wanted the AirPods to work.

- Fresh iOS install and AirPods only. It worked in Dual AirPod mode for a while, then subsequently started disconnecting again.

- Later that evening I re-setup my Apple Watch (1st gen) and the disconnects kept continuing. More frequently With the watch paired again.

- Last Friday I got a call from someone from Apple representing the Senior Engineers. She took a full interview about the issue, had me install the diagnostic tool, and capture a couple moments when it actually happened.

- I have to say I was super impressed by their level Of detail. It ended up being a 2 hour call. Extremely friendly and you can tell Apple really wants to figure this out. When you get someone friendly like that, it makes you feel happy to assist Apple and hope it gets fixed soon!! I LOVE using my AirPods (so convenient), especially at the gym. These things never fall out And I love The clarity of the music.

Funny thing is during the call with the Apple rep, the AirPods worked like a charm. Couldn't get it to fail for the life of me. Then, of course, we hang up, and 90 seconds into my next call, it disconnects. I was able to capture the data for Apple and upload it for this and another subsequent call.

- They gave me a case number and sent me to a Senior Engineer. He was not aware of the issue and kept calling them EarPods And suggesting I go into the Genius Bar to see if they can help. That's so embarrassing On their behalf. Totally opposite experince compared to the original tech rep. I asked my original rep for a new Senior Engineer to keep me up To date with the progress. No response yet.

- I saw someone comment that it happens to them on FaceTime Audio. I haven't had it disconnect on FaceTime Audio for me. The only time I have a Dual AirPod disconnect is during a native iOS phone call. FaceTime, FaceTime Audio, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes videoes, iTunes movies, YouTube all work perfect for me on dual AirPod.

There are ways to mitigate the issue (remove Apple Watch pairing, switch the mic to one AirPod only, etc...), but in my experience this only mitigates the issue and does not solve it. I even have disconnects with 1 AirPod in, though much less frequent than 2 AirPods.

I've given a lot of time and data to Apple so I'm hopeful they figure it out! Someone was debating whether to return their AirPods. I love mine for my workouts at the gym, so I'm going to keep it, though it's so frustrating when it disconnects a phone call. If it works like it does for music, it's going to be so great!

Keep submitting a bug report to Apple - they are clearly listening To us. I have no idea what triggered the phone call (this message board or an official bug report). Interestingly they called my home phone line and not my cell phone. I just happened to be home to take the call, so it worked out well.

Thanks so much for sharing that. I was asked if I wanted to swap out my Iphone but that seemed to be a bit much given it was working fine with other bluetooth stuff. Would appreciate any other updates on this one - I live miles from a store so making a trip out for no reason isnt really ideal!

I was having this same issue and i thought the issue was with the AirPods so i took them back and got a new pair. The issue persisted so i thought id check the iPhone. Resetting network settings did not change anything. A bit confused as i purchased my device recently. I backed up all my data and restored the device via iTunes. I decided to set the device as new just to make sure. The issue has been resolved and my AirPods are functioning like they should.

I was having this same issue and i thought the issue was with the AirPods so i took them back and got a new pair. The issue persisted so i thought id check the iPhone. Resetting network settings did not change anything. A bit confused as i purchased my device recently. I backed up all my data and restored the device via iTunes. I decided to set the device as new just to make sure. The issue has been resolved and my AirPods are functioning like they should.

So from what I'm reading, it seems that wiping the phone and setting up as new has resolved the issue for some.

Can anyone comment on whether they wiped their phone -> set up as new -> and the issue returned?

Thanks.

I have AirPods, Apple Watch series 2 and an iPhone 7... no problem at all.

I bought AirPods for my wife this weekend... she has an iPhone 6s Plus and an Apple Watch series 1.

While at the gym, she was listening to music she had in her watch while her iPhone was in the locker room... Music was cutting a lot and Watch rebooted by itself after a few minutes.

I'm wondering if this issue she had is linked in any way to the same problem you had.

She will try again tonight or tomorrow... I will report back.

The issue returned for me. I restored iPhone 6S through iTune on my iMac. Btw, simply wiping the phone through settings > general > reset > erase all content and settings did not do anything for me. Then in the Apple Store I was advised to restore iPhone through iTunes to force the complete iOS reload. I also did not restore my backup, but spent about 3 hours reloading my apps from scratch. My Apple Watch was also completely reloaded new and I did not restore any backup of the Watch. So you can argue the software was all fresh. IOS 10.2 and WatchOS 3.1. AirPods ran great for a week. But failed again. Apple collected over a Gig of logs from my iPhone and Apple Watch yesterday. Hopefully they figure something out soon. Do not waste your time and go through the agony of reloading everything on your phone and Watch. It will not permanently fix the issue until Apple comes up with the solution. So far they have not!

Thanks very much for letting me know this. I don't want to go through the hassle of wiping my phone and setting up as new if I don't need to. I'm scheduled to speak about with a Sr. Specialist today and will let everyone know what she says.

Anyone with the latest iOS beta (public or dev) and/or the Watch OS beta (dev) ? Do you have the same problem?

I have the latest iOS beta on my iPhone 7... but my wife doesn't want me to install it on her iPhone 6s Plus ;-)

On a call with specialist as I am typing this. Apple wants me to send in AirPods to collect logs and troubleshoot them. I told the Sr. Apple Specialist I was more than willing to help, BUT, I'm not ok paying $159 for a product (which clearly has issues) to then have to send them in with no replacement product in hand while the faulty AirPods are being investigated. I told her I either need to be refunded for the AirPods and guaranteed another pair when they are fixed (which I'm happy to pay for) or provided another pair in the interim while mine are being troubleshooted. What I am NOT ok with is being out a product that I paid $159 for while they are working out the issues. I told her I feel like a Beta Tester. She put me on hold and I've been on hold for the past 10 minutes.