AirPods connected but no sound

Hi everyone,



I've had AirPods for about a week and love them, but they're not without glitches...


Recently I went to go for a run. I put the AirPods in my ears, but did not hear a "tone" like I normally do (ear detection?).


Anyway, my iPhone displayed a headset icon at the top of the screen, so I proceeded to play Apple Music, but nothing was played over AirPods. The headset icon disappeared and music was played over iPhone speakers instead.


The headphone icon icon came back, I tried to play to AirPods, but the scenario above repeated - no sound, icon disappeared, music over iPhone speakers.


Has as anyone else experienced this ? I've search (Google) but find no similar issue.

Posted on Sep 13, 2017 8:55 AM

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Posted on Feb 16, 2019 11:48 AM

the same thing happened to me literally like fifteen minutes ago. i was pretty worried because a few days ago i left them on the side when i had a bath (they didn’t get wet but i was worried the condensation had done something to them). i searched up what to do and nothing worked: disconnecting my airpods, charging them, turning my bluetooth off and on etc. so decided to just restart my iphone and it worked straight away. i still don’t know why it happened (i’m due an update on my phone so maybe that’s why) but i’m glad i fixed it

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Feb 16, 2019 11:48 AM in response to Stephen Todd

the same thing happened to me literally like fifteen minutes ago. i was pretty worried because a few days ago i left them on the side when i had a bath (they didn’t get wet but i was worried the condensation had done something to them). i searched up what to do and nothing worked: disconnecting my airpods, charging them, turning my bluetooth off and on etc. so decided to just restart my iphone and it worked straight away. i still don’t know why it happened (i’m due an update on my phone so maybe that’s why) but i’m glad i fixed it

Sep 16, 2018 4:34 PM in response to qq410219243(OMGitsFirestar)

I have had my AirPods for awhile now and seemingly had no issues. The no audio thing popped up tonight, they would not make the ear detection noise, but they would show the connected symbol in the status bar. I’d then play something, no sound would come out of the AirPods, and after 5 secs or so they would disconnect and re connect.


It is to be noted that this issue only arouse, for the first time, when I connected to my AirPods in the music app, through the switch audio button. I had also been listening through them with my MacBook and had not disconnected before.


Hard resetting the AirPods, forgetting them and reconnecting, restarting my iPhone, and switching off automatic ear-detection did not fix the problem but for some reason this method did.


Opening the control centre, long holding the music tab and using the switch audio device output button to switch to my iPhone and back to the AirPods. It worked, they played sound, and I have no idea why. I did have the automatic ear-detection off though at the same time.


After that however, I switched the auto-detection back on but the AirPods would not pause/play when I took one out and put it back in. Again I toggled a few things to no avail. Tried the control centre audio switch again and it seemed to fix it! We’ll see how long it works though.


I hope this helps others. Also I do not have an Apple Watch so no interference there.

May 2, 2018 6:55 AM in response to Stephen Todd

My ipod case would sync and it showed “connected” in the bluetooth settings but would only play music in the phone not the ipods. What I did to fix;

1. Go to settings; blutooth; forget device

2. Turn off bluetooth

3. Soft reset phone ( hold right button until phone shuts off)

4. Wait 1 or 2 minutes

5. Turn phone back on

6. Go to settings and turn blutooth back on

7. Resync ipod case by opening case lid and pushing button on back of ipod case

8. It should resync and ipods should work again

Sep 18, 2017 5:10 AM in response to Stephen Todd

I have had this same problem and the only way I can get the Airpods to start working again is to turn bluetooth off and back on. At first I thought it was just the Airpods, however, I also have a Plantronic bluetooth device and have had the same problem. I've reset my iphone 7plus to factory (via iTunes) per Apple help and still have the problem. I'm scheduled for an Apple Store repair now.

Dec 20, 2017 11:30 PM in response to KG from Jersey

Definitely. I have 4 tiles, and another 4 shared from my wife, and vice versa. We both have Apple Watches. Me and wife had the same trouble with our AirPods.

Both have had no issues after last TileApp update.

I had lengthy dialogues with senior Tile technicians for the last months. At last they admitted that Tiles were the source of Bluetooth interference, causing AirPods not to work properly. This was part of - but not officially - the reason for the last update.

Apr 6, 2018 8:09 AM in response to Nick Warino

After flawless performance for a month and a half I started seeing this issue this morning. I have an iPhoneX, Apple Watch Series 2, and the AirPods.


To troubleshoot I tried umpiring and repairing my AirPods, but I still didn’t have sounds and no chime when placing the earbuds in my ears.


I didn’t restart my phone, but what worked for me was putting my Apple Watch into airplane mode. The AirPods started working again immediately. There must be some sort of interference between the watch and the AirPods.

Dec 20, 2017 9:31 AM in response to Stephen Todd

I’ve found that apps including Apple Music and Spotify can “hijack” the audio output preference. Even if the AirPods are connected, if they’re not selected as the playback device in Apple Music and/or Spotify, they won’t work for ANY other purpose either. This includes YouTube, your browser, etc. It’s frustrating. For now, try heading into your Apple Music or Spotify App (even if you never use them) and making sure the AirPods are the selected output device.

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AirPods connected but no sound

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