Airpods case battery drain

Should be getting a replacement unit on Monday so can comment after some testing.

I can however say I tried discharging fully and it made a mild improvement but not much. I'd say the battery meter was only calibrated a little better. Discharge still occurred.

When connected I saw a discharge rate of 1.6-2% her hour. Unpaired then dropped to 0.16% so was a factor or 10 better.

To the person saying does it really matter I guess it's how chuffed you are with having to pay for a replacements due to battery failure after 13 months instead of 24-36 month. Like all batteries so far they're only going to be good for so many cycles and this fault is only going reduce the overall lifespan of the battery. So does it matter, that's up to you. For me I begrudge paying money for a product if they can't sort out the quality and aren't prepared to make do. Heavens knows they charge a premium. Don't get me wrong I love the product I just want it to work faultlessly and don't think as consumers you should settle for anything less.

I have tried to discharge the battery. Then I disconnected them and left without using for 5 hours. The battery wasn't discharging at all. After 5 hours AirPods and case were on 100%. I thought that it solved this problem. But then, after paring, problem was back. As somebody mentioned the situation was slightly better, but still pretty bad.

Isn't an issue when you use them every day. But just think about situation when you're going on a trip. You charge them at home like your every device and leave them in your backpack. Two days later you pop them open and find out that battery is dead. Simply said I want my devices to be ready to work if I prepared them before.

I did some pretty extensive logging, and think I narrowed the bug down to the action of opening and closing the case, without removing the AirPods to use them.

Basically, when I was opening and closing the case maybe 4 or 5 times a day to check the battery level at various times, I had a case discharge rate of about 0.8-1.0% per hour while the AirPods were not in use sitting in the case.

When I only opened the case to remove the AirPods to use them (and used them at least 30 min - not sure if that's important or not) and then returned to the case, the discharge rate while not in use plummeted to about 0.1% per hour.

Here's the detailed logging in case anyone is interested.....

(also, I've never tried to unpair or reset the AirPods)

Log 3 (auto ear detection on, double tab Siri. only opened case to remove AirPods and use them, and to return them after use)

Fri 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 100

Sat 0930 - AirPods 100 / case 100

(used 120 min music)

Sat 1130 - AirPods 55 / case 99

Sun 1230 - AirPods 100 / case 88

(Used 20 min music, 6 min talk)

Sun 1300 - AirPods 89 / case 88

Mon 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 82

(Used 30 min music)

Mon 0630 - AirPods 92 / case 82

Mon 1200 - AirPods 100 / case 75

(used 30 min music)

Mon 1230 - AirPods 92 / case 75

Tues 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 69

(used 120 min music)

Tues 0800 - AirPods 61 / case 69

Log 2 (auto ear detection: off. double tap: off)

Mon 1300 - AirPods 100 / case 100

Tues 0700 - AirPods 100 / case 100

(60 min use, music)

Tues 0800 - AirPods 82 / case 100

Tues 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 92

Tues 1400 - AirPods 100 / case 84

Tues 1600 - AirPods 100 / case 83

(30 min use, music)

Tues 1630 - AirPods 93 / case 82

Wed 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 70

(120 min use, music)

Wed 0800 - AirPods 63 / case 70

Wed 1530 - AirPods 100 / case 60

(30 min use, music)

Wed 1600 - AirPods 91 / case 60

Wed 1900 - AirPods 100 / case 54

Thurs 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 48

(120 min use, music)

Thurs 0800 - AirPods 62 / case 48

Thurs 0900 - AirPods 100 / case 37

Thurs 1300 - AirPods 100 / case 30

Thurs 1600 - AirPods 100 / case 20

Thurs 2000 - AirPods 100 / case 18

Fri 0600 - AirPods 95 / case 4

Fri 0610 - AirPods 93 / case 3

Fri 0800 - AirPods 88 / case dead

Log 1 (auto ear detection: on. double tap: siri)

Thurs 1330 - AirPods 98 / case 100

Fri 0500 - AirPods 100 / case 97

Fri 0600 - AirPods 97 / case 97

(used for 30 min, music)

Fri 0630 - AirPods 89 / case 96

Fri 0800 - AirPods 100 / case 87

Fri 1200 - AirPods 100 / case 81

Fri 1600 - AirPods 100 / case 75

Sat 0700 - AirPods 100 / case 72

Sat 0930 - AirPods 100 / case 65

(used for 140 min music, 10 min talk)

Sat 1200 - AirPods 47 / case 64

Sat 1330 - AirPods 100 / case 44

Sat 1830 - AirPods 100 / case 38

Sun 0900 - AirPods 100 / case 34

Sun 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 29

(used for 120 min music)

Sun 1300 - AirPods 63 / case 27

Sun 1430 - AirPods 100 / case 5

Sun 1530 - AirPods 95 / case 2

Sun 1630 - AirPods 94 / case 0

Sun 2030 - AirPods 72 / case dead

Sun 2130 - AirPods 63 / case dead

Sun 2230 - AirPods 55/68 / case dead

Mon 0200 - AirPods 33/52 / case dead

Mon 0600 - AirPods 11/36 / case dead

Tues 0800 - AirPods 61 / case 69

My experience as well. In the morning, after taking off the charger, both the AirPods and case will be at 100%. If I leave the AirPods in the case and don't use them, when I check a few hours later, the AirPods will be at 95-100% and the case around 70%. For some reason, the AirPods are draining battery (100% to 95%) while unused and in the case which keeps topping them off.

I'm in the queue for them to be replaced at my local Apple Store but they don't have any AirPods in the service queue at this point so I'm in the waiting game.

Reset my AirPods (by holding the button on the back down for about 20 seconds until the light turns amber) and reconnected to my iPhone 7 Plus. This definitely seemed to help but didn't fix it entirely.

My first pair I tried not touching the lid and it made no difference but I've just tried this with the replacement pair I got on Monday and yeah there does seem to be a difference. On Tuesday morning having lifted the Monday night it lost charge. Having seen your post I topped them up again and only opened the lid this morning and the case was still fully charged. Ill experiment with this further to try and confirm as well. Seems my first pair was definitely faulty as that lost 50% over 24 hrs regardless of what you did with them.

I've only had the replacement since Monday. Fiddling with the lid to check throughout the day I got a constant discharge. But have been experimenting with DanYVR's finding of leaving the lid alone. I've seen less of a discharge. They held their charge overnight (which was a first) and while at work I've only lost 8% off the case to recharge the pods after an hours use while I've been at work for 8 hrs. I'm leaving them alone now after another hours use. So if the morning I've only lost another 8 or 9% it would seem this new pair holds charge as long as you don't open the lid and not use the pods.

My old pair just eat battery no matter what you did. I'd be down to 50% left in the case by now. So the replacement is better and not opening the lid between uses could very well be the key.

Yup this morning only 6% case charge gone to recharge the 20% I'd used from the pods as expected. No additional drain from having been left for nearly 12 hrs. So this replacement pair is stable as you'd expect them to work as long as you don't lift the lid and not use the AirPods as DanYVR has shown with their logs.

hello everyone

i had to get an exchange for the airpods case but i still got the same drain.

so maybe i was out of luck and get a faulty replacement case or the drain comes from the pods and not the case.

i am verry dissapointed by apple tech because they don't seem that much worried about the drain.

even if i tell them that i can lost up to 10 % overnight without doing anything. 😟

Have you read the tail end of the thread. Was in a similar state but found the same as Dan that with my replacement if you leave the lid alone after charge or usages it is holding charge properly. If you open the lid and don't use then they just sit and drain the case.

Although I need further testing, I can confirm what DanYVR and ingybing stated: It definitely seems to be opening the lid to check the case's battery status, that causes the battery drain.

Yesterday I paired my AirPods to my girlfriend's iPhone SE just to be sure that it isn't just my iPhone or my iCloud settings/environment/whatever. So 2 hours after pairing it and without using the AirPods, the case discharged another 5%. I repaired them with my iPhone afterwards but let them in the case until now (and, very important: I didn't even once open the lid to check the battery status of the case!). Voilà: the case didn't lose anything in 20 hours – not even one percent (although I'm pretty sure that it won't last forever^^)

I will observe this within the coming days and have a look if it stays that way 🙂

But the thing is: This really is kind of a software issue that Apple should address (if possible). Maybe it's a faulty standby-time setting or something similar. Maybe it's an issue with the W1, but I honestly believe that it is just a firmware problem.

Here's some more info.

I think it might not just be the opening and closing of the lid without taking them out that is the problem....

Since I had gone almost an entire week of no abnormal battery drain while not in use, I thought I'd try a test... take them out and use them for a very short period of time (previously I had been using them for at least 30 min). So I tried using them for 1 min. The battery drain problem came back. I tried using them for 7 min, and the battery drain problem still remained.

Here's the log - in bold is where the battery drain problem showed up after I tried that test.

Log 3 (auto ear detection on, double tab Siri)

Fri 1100 - AirPods 100 / case 100

Sat 0930 - AirPods 100 / case 100

(used 120 min music)

Sat 1130 - AirPods 55 / case 99

Sun 1230 - AirPods 100 / case 88

(Used 20 min music, 6 min talk)

Sun 1300 - AirPods 89 / case 88

Mon 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 82

(Used 30 min music)

Mon 0630 - AirPods 92 / case 82

Mon 1200 - AirPods 100 / case 75

(used 30 min music)

Mon 1230 - AirPods 92 / case 75

Tues 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 69

(used 120 min music)

Tues 0800 - AirPods 61 / case 69

Wed 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 57

(used 120 min music)

Wed 0800 - AirPods 55 / case 57

Thurs 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 47

(used 100 min music)

Thurs 0740 - AirPods 65 / case 47

Thurs 1617 - AirPods 100 / case 37

(used for 1 min music)

Thurs 1618 - AirPods 100 / case 37

Thurs 2100 - AirPods 100 / case 27

(used for 7 min music)

Thurs 2107 - AirPods 98 / case 27

Fri 0600 - AirPods 100 / case 20

# end of log - recharging #

I'm going to GUESS that there's a software bug that shows up if you return the AirPods to the charging case with 95% charge or more. When you do that, I think that results in them not going into their intended deep sleep or standby mode when they are fully charged and the problem will persist until you either charge the case or reset/repair.

There's still a lot more testing and evidence needed to prove that, but that's my best guess at this point with the observations I have.

Maybe it's not the charging status of >95% of the AirPods that causes them not going into sleep mode properly. Maybe it's rather (and that's just my theory) a certain amount of time the AirPods are in kind of pairing mode or something like that. If I'm opening the lid when my AirPods are charged for example like 45%, the case will drain as well. Maybe it even does when I use the AirPods (at 45% charge) for a few minutes and I put them back into the case. That would need some testing though, I'm just trying to develop your theory a little further (:

So my theory is, that Apple needs to improve the timeframe where the AirPods are in pairing mode. Or really send them into sleep mode immediately when the lid is closed. I'm pretty sure that all this is a software issue – it's just a question whether AirPods are updatable or not.

I have the same problem. got my AirPods 2 days ago. battery from the case was at 100% when i went to bed and the AirPods themselves were also at 100%. When i got up in the morning the AirPods themselves were still at 100%. But the charging case was at 40%!

100% to 40% is NOT normal- 60% lost Overnight . APPLE PLEASE ADDRESS THIS KNOWN PROBLEM!!!!

with software updates or replacements

Sounds like my first pair. Organise a replacement with Apple... they turned mine round super quick... there was a 6 week lead time ordering in the UK.. phoned late last Thursday, dropped at UPS pickup point that was collected Friday... they bumped my replacement up to the front of the queue had it Monday... can't fault their support... use it... Replacement units hold their charge as we've discussed at the end of this thread. Yeah Apple need to do a software fix.. but the replacements no where near as bad.. been using a week now and case charge is still at 65%