AirPods are connected but cannot hear for phone calls.

I FINALLY figured out how to solve this issue...if you happen to also have an Apple Watch. I could not get my AirPods to work on a phone call. The call was obviously going through, but I did not have sound through the Air Pods. I read that you can turn your Apple Watch into airplane mode and the problem would be fixed, and it was true with me. BUT, I have all of this technology and I want to work together! I connected the AirPods to my Apple Watch and made a call. After I made one call using my Apple Watch, all was fixed. I also tested taking my Apple Watch off and making the call directly with my iPhone. The air pods worked again, and again. I guess you have to make sure they all talk to each other to get the kinks out. I hope this helps you, because I was at my wits end after spending the money for these things!

I'm guessing you no longer have the question, but if you have an Apple Watch, you have to make sure to "forget the device on your Apple Watch, RESET your watch, as it will remember it anyway. Given that Apple Watch works with the phone via bluetooth, the AirPods wants to be connected to both at the same time...and they will....but it does not work with phone calls. I finally did the above (made sure to never connect the air pods to the watch) and it works fine with phone calls (via the phone).

1. Make sure that your AirPods are charged.
2. Close the lid, wait 15 seconds, then open the lid. The status light should flash white.
3. If the status light doesn't flash white, press and hold the setup button on the back of the case until you see the status light flash white.
4. Still can't set up your AirPods? Press and hold the setup button for at least 15 seconds, until you see the status light flash amber a few times and then flash white.

I've had an ongoing exchange with Apple engineering on this issue for about a month. I think the problem is between the AirPods, Apple Watch and other Bluetooth devices (in my case, specifically Tiles) the number of simultaneous Bluetooth connections supported by iPhone hardware is being exceeded. My reasoning is thus:

• AirPod earpieces are separate, so each one needs its own connection - thus, 2 connections
• Phone calls (and Siri, BTW) use a different Bluetooth profile - 2 more connections
• Tile app uses 1 connection for each Tile in range - In my case, in some locations, 5 connections
• Apple Watch uses 1 control connection plus the audio connections for AirPods - 3 more connections
• Fitbit ONE uses a connection - 1 more connection

You can see how this adds up.

If I delete the Tile app the problem resolves. Likewise, if I put the watch into Airplane mode it resolves. Both of these actions reduce the number of BT connections. In addition to Apple engineering, I also spoke to Tile's support centre. They were the ones who first suggested this.

If I move away from my cluster of Tiles, the problem seems to go away.

I have an X. It has not been resolved.

The problem seems to have been fixed with the TileApp update, v. 2.23.5 (2511) of mid-December. I had a lot of trouble with lack of sound when making calls before, but now everything works without issues.

I am having the same issue. Extremely annoying.

Update to this! I'm guessing you no longer have the question, but if you have an Apple Watch, you have to make sure to "forget the device on your Apple Watch, RESET your watch, as it will remember it anyway. Given that Apple Watch works with the phone via bluetooth, the AirPods wants to be connected to both at the same time...and they will....but it does not work with phone calls. I finally did the above (made sure to never connect the air pods to the watch) and it works fine with phone calls (via the phone). I spent a ton of time with a Genius...was not happy to hear they "never heard of this problem." But after a ton of troubleshooting with them, and more when I got home, I did the above and have not had an issue...other than I can't pair the things with my Watch!

At the moment there is appears to be a conflict between AirPods, Apple Watch and Tiles. One thing that helps, but doesn't fix it, is to go into the Tile app, Settings and turn off Show Phone in Tile List.

After that, it seems to be related to the number of tiles in range of the phone. If it's only one or two it works most of the time.

If you have an updated version of the Tile app, you can go to the settings, and under options there is a switch for Use Bluetooth. By switching it off, it turns off bluetooth connections to all your tiles only. Connections to your other bluetooth devices will remain connected. I tend to leave this setting off. When I need to find a Tile item, I just switch it back on and it will instantly connect to all tiles within distance. This is a good alternative to putting your watch in airplane mode.

Ferdinandperry wrote:

Thank you for bringing this up, I have the same issues. Does anybody knows the max number of Bluetooth connection to iPhone ?

Good question. I would guess at 8 active connections (as opposed to paired and inactive), as it's a power of 2, and I'm sure it's not 16. I think the AirPods use 2 for audio and another 2 for Siri/phone audio. Watch uses 1. And I have 5 tiles in range sometimes. So I have 8 without Siri audio when Siri/phone fails. I don't know if Apple can change the limit in software; hopefully my open case with engineering will answer that.

The simplest solution is to go to the Tile app and turn off Bluetooth. If you need to find a Tile just turn it back on. By leaving it off you will reduce battery drain (the Tile app is a heavy user of power when connected to multiple Tiles). The downside is the crowdsourcing feature that lets you track other Tile user's devices won't work.

Good advice.

Side note: Have you ever had a tile discovered by a crowdsource user? I was trying to find a piece of luggage this weekend and thought for sure someone would have walked passed it at some point. Nada...

KG from Jersey wrote:

Side note: Have you ever had a tile discovered by a crowdsource user? I was trying to find a piece of luggage this weekend and thought for sure someone would have walked passed it at some point. Nada...

Yes, recently. Yesterday, and the day before. I think if your Tile app knows where the lost Tile is you don't get notified. But since turning off Bluetooth I've gotten several.

I bet that you have a recording program turned on (voice memos, Olympus, or something like that) in the background.

Mine always does that if such a program is running in the background, but as soon as I turn it off, Siri, phone calls, etc. work through the AirPods once again.

LT