Airpods constantly cutting out with mac, help!?

I had the same problem. Was driving me nuts. Audio dropped frequently when listening to music on mac but fine for iPhone 7 Plus, Apple Watch and iPad.

Here is how I solved the issue.

1. Hold down Shift+Option and click on the Bluetooth icon in the menubar.

2. An hidden menu is visible called "Debug" in that menu choose "Reset the Bluetooth module".

- a warning will appear asking you to confirm the action. Keep in mind this will disconnect any bluetooth devices. So if your using a desktop with BT keyboard and mouse you may want to have a usb option available. I did it on my MacBook Pro so it wasn't a problem.

3. Restart the computer.

After restart the bluetooth was fine my accessories all connected without issue and most importantly my AirPods are working great now!!

I just received my AirPods a few days ago. Hadn't had a single issue for two days. Today I updated my MacOS to 10.12.3. Immediately after restarting, the AirPods are cutting in and out on my MacPro. No issue with iPads, nor iPhone.

Not sure if this will help anyone, but last night I was able to get mine to work flawless. At my office they work on my Mac with no problem (and on iPhone and Tablets, etc.).. at home they continued to cut out constantly. I tried a pair of Bose QC30 that I have and sure enough.. they were cutting out as well. I began trouble shooting by making sure monitor cables, drive cables, power cables, etc. were all behind the Mac and not between the headphones and the CPU, etc. Small difference but not enough to say it solved my problem. So I began considering what was different about my office and home set up. The only difference is that I have a high power wireless Airport in the same room at home, and in my office the wireless router is a few doors down in the ceiling. Even though my MacPro is connected by cable, I also had the wi-fi turned on. I went into my router utility (Airport) and restarted the routers around the house. Once restored, I turned off wi-fi on the Mac and like magic all cutting out, and problems with the AirPods vanished. They respond promptly when putting on and taking off, connect quickly to iTunes again, etc.

So, anyone having consistent issues, may want to consider sources of interference in the room, around you, etc. Worked all evening and into the night last night with not a single issue.

Perfect solution, Pacific707! Thanks for providing this.

I was having the same issue of cutting out on a late-2014 Mac Mini running El Capitan (10.11.6). I followed your steps and luckily, I didn't lose BT connectivity with my Apple KB and Trackpad.

I've had this problem as well, same exact description of the problem. Notice it only with my iPhone 7 Plus. Music from Apple Watch/iPad is fine. Happens with other apps like Spotify and YouTube, as well as FaceTime Audio. No variables that can be easily replicated because it happens in all sorts of different situations. Sitting on my desk, in my pocket while walking, while phone is charging/not charging. Have tried pairing/unpairing, toggling bluetooth on/off, force restarting, turning phone off/on. Other bluetooth devices connected are Apple Watch and Tile location tracking beacons. Don't believe this is an AirPods issue anymore - may be related to iPhone 7 Plus bluetooth chip? Apple Store ran a quick bluetooth diagnostic but nothing came up as abnormal. Waiting for Apple Store to receive more shipment of AirPods in to get them replaced.

Thanks so much for this answer. It fixed the problem the first time, then it fixed it the second time, and the third time...

See the new problem? 😟

I have this exact same issue. I've ruled out different apps (iTunes, Spotify, browsers) and toggling Bluetooth on/off on my MBP doesn't resolve. No problems at all on my iPhone 7plus.

I was also thinking about other bluetooth device interference, but my only other BT devices nearby are my Apple Watch. I didn't have this issue with my MBP at my office, stood up in MBP Hengedock, though it's been a few days since I've been to the office now.

Hey Selfring, I had a call from an Apple AirPods engineer and we figured it out it was my login items that were causing my problem. The first thing he did was turn them all off. That immediately fixed the problem I then added some of my login items back but not all of them, only the ones that were important to me. Hope that helps you out.

Same here. Perfect on iPhone 7+ and iPad Pro 12.9", garbage on my 2012 MbP and iMac. Every minute or so, while using Spotify especially, the audio cuts out, the AirPods go out of sync with each other, and then all the audio that was jumped over abruptly plays in a fast, garbled mess. Very frustrating, as I still get a solid connection with my old $50 BT headphones...

from hikerpa this worked for me: ............we figured it out it was my login items that were causing my problem. The first thing he did was turn them all off. That immediately fixed the problem I then added some of my login items back but not all of them, only the ones that were important to me. Hope that helps you out.

@Pacific707 this solved my problem. Thank you for sharing this.

I was having issues tonight with my AirPod's audio cutting out on youtube (chrome or safari). Audio worked fine in all other applications. After following your steps youtube audio does not cut out while playing. Thank you again.

Pacific707 fix works then the issue comes back. Sometimes right away sometimes later. I keep using Pacific707 fix but clearly it is not permanent. Apple support needs to make things permanent. $80 bucks is a lot to pay for ear buds.

I spoke too soon. The issue has returned...

I have nothing listed in my "Login items" section...so, nothing to disable there.

Call AppleCare, or contact them via Web or Twitter, and report the situation.

Same happens to me. Both left and right pods go out of sync, resync quickly and play all the missed audio very fast to catch up.

Very weird and unusable on mac. Works fine on iPhone though.