why do my Airpods cut out when I'm using them?

Hi Guys,

After the AirPods being out for a long time and still no solution to this problem I believe I have found the solution to this annoying problem. If you are here for the solution jump to paragraph 4 where the solution will be.

Background -

At the moment I have a IPhone 6 and bought AirPods. Being very excited to use them and see how they work I was very disappointed to find that they continuously kept cutting out when being moved more than a few feet away from phone. I tried a couple of things to try and fix this. In which none of these worked. I connected it with my other devices including my Macbook Pro and IPad which the Airpods worked perfectly. This left me very confused.

What I did -

First off I called Apple to see if they could give me any support with my problem. I ran through many things with support. I turned of all bluetooth emitting devices in my house, turned of Wi-Fi and stood in the middle of Park to reduce anything which may be interfering with the connection. With none of this working I factory reset my IPhone 6 and restored it from a backup. Again not working. So I factory reset my IPhone 6 without restoring and set it up as a new phone. This didn't work and left me sat with AirPods that didn't work and an IPhone 6 which was completely clear.

Last Step -

With this getting me frustrated and the phone lines for Apple's technical support closed I started a live chat with another Apple Employ to try and still find the root problem. The Apple Employ ran some diagnostic tests on my phone which came out clean and then they Apple Employ was even confused about what is going on with my phone so resorted to the "Can I book you an appointment to see a Apple 'Genius' at an apple store." I reluctantly agreed to this as if there is one thing that I hate more than my AirPods not working it is waiting for hours in an Apple store to get told that your phone would be sent away for 7-10 Business Days. Although I did get an appointment and we eventually found an answer after 30 minutes.

Solution -

I call this section the solution however the solution is not what most people would have been thinking. I thought I would be apple to pay to replace something or get given some new AirPods. At this point I break the disappointing truth. In your phone there is chips that provide services such as Location Services, Wi-Fi Services and Bluetooth to name the most common ones. After wear and tear and myself keeping my phone in excellent condition the told me the chips by themselves 'burn away' this results in them not being able to perform this actions in the same way they did before. If you still have your 2 year guarantee on your IPhone you can swap it for a new one and the problem is fixed. Easy? No. This problem is most common in an IPhone 6 which was issued in September 2014. 4 years ago which meant that moot of the guarantee have run out. The two options I had (two reasonable options) was to pay £300 + my IPhone 6 for a new IPhone 6 which would fix the problem, which in my mind was not worth it, or get a new phone.

Conclusion -

AirPod connection cannot be fixed by fixing the phone or AirPods. All you can do is by a new phone.

Thanks,

Cameron ***

IPhone 6 Owner

<Personal Information Edited by Host>

Not interference guys. Before iOS update to 11.3.1, both my AirPods and my new Bose QC35 BlueTooth headphones worked fine... both at work and at home. AitPods worked fine everywhere else too. Now after the update, they both cut out for a few seconds. I've done everything from disconnecting, removing, restarting, rebooting and adding other devices... no luck.

Apple: You might want to check into this.

Thanks all for any answers, solutions or ideas you may bring to the table.

J

Hi

The issue may be due to interference:

Potential sources of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference - Apple Support

Same issue here with my bluetooth audio devices. They both previously worked flawlessly in quiet or busy locations but not I'm having issues with my setup too with either my Bose QC35II or Bose Soundsport headphones connected to my iphone 6. The problem is intermittent audio for phone calls or video/music, the connection seems solid but the audio keeps dropping in and out. As for the versions the devices are running:

• iOS: 11.4.1
• Bose Connect App: 6.1.1
• Bose QC 35II Firmware: 2.5.1
• Bose Soundsport Firmware: 1.0.9 & then upgraded to 2.5.3

Unfortunately none of the following actions seem to resolve this:

• Switching the phone to airplane mode leaving only bluetooth on
• Disabling noise cancellation on the QC35IIs
• Muting the microphone on the QC35IIs
• Clearing the bluetooth pairing from both the phone and the headphones and re-pairing
• Re-installing the Bose Connect App
• Resetting iphone network settings
• Upgrading headphone firmware on the Soundsport (QC35II already up to date)

Any further tips welcome.

I've had more or less this same problem since the iPhone 5, through two iPhone 6Plus (one a warranty replacement because they could not solve the Bluetooth problem and the replacement did exactly the asme thing as I walked out of the store) and an iPhone X. Also with about three different Parrot BB-FIT headsets and two sets of Apple air pods. And my Garmin bicycle computer constantly loses connection and then regains it.

In my opinion, Bluetooth is an ancient Norse word that means "it doesn't work very well".

I just got the X too and the bluetooth doesn't work with my car or my airpods. Don't know what to do?! I set an Apple appointment for Saturday. Hopefully they can help troubleshoot the problem. If anyone on here has any suggestions I am open to them. Thanks!

Yup...Same thing here.

I have the iPhone X and after the update, my airpods drop all the time. So damned frustrating because up to that point there was no issue.

To be clear, it ONLY happens when I use them to talk to people. When I listen to music with them, there's never an issue for me.

This needs to be fixed ASAP!!!

I'm with you, samupward. I have a iPhone X, and am having the same problem. I've tried rebooting the phone, re-launching the blootooth after re-booting the phone, and I still have the same problem. I have the first generation Air Pods, if there's any difference.

Me too! Only since the update. I also get a weird distortion when they cut out on calls. Before the update, I loved them. Now they are more of a hassle than chords. Got them for Christmas and they are already basically worthless because they are so unreliable.

I also have this question, I tend to go om runs and use my airpods and my iwatch series 3 with cellular, I have switched out my airpods and still run into te same problem either running in my neighborhood, or on base, when I utilize the gym, is there a quick fix; if so what?

airborne 1208

I'm with you, Sam. I have an iPhone X and was having the same problem. Hooked up with an Apple specialist (via phone) who determined there was a problem with the Airpods. They sent me new ones, and I returned the old ones (1st generation) to them and the problem was solved. 🙂 Thats why we buy 'Apple'!

Same issues here. Also, once connected to my Macbook Pro or to my iPad Pro, 50% of the time I cant get airpods to connect back to iPhone 7sPlus. Only way is to ‘forget device’ in settings and repair with phone. Only been happining since last update as well.

I'm having the same problem. I purchased 2 pairs for Christmas for me and my wife, and they just indiscriminately cut out. Apple, if you're out there listening or reading this, please help with this.

I have the iphone 8 and am having the exact same issue with my airpods....I don't think your phone is the issue 🙂

Same problem. I have to change the input from AirPods to iPhone and back to AirPods just to get it working again. So irrit