AirPods connected but no sound

Stephen, I had this issue, to fix it I had to do a reset, open the AirPod case and press the small button on the back of the case for 3-5 seconds, til it blinks Amber 3 times, close lid, then go onto Bluetooth Settings, ‘forget your AirPods’, then just allow them to pair again. They should work fine theb

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

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.

Fixed this problem by putting airpods back to the charging case. Wait and open the case cover to see both case and airpods are showing battery percentage. Then remove the airpods and put on ears, worked again.

I have had this problem too! After about half a day of trying to figure it out, I got mine working again by adjusting Volume Limit to an audible level. I think I have inadvertently set my Volume Limit setting to a low level.

Settings -> Music-> Volume Limit->

I just experienced this problem for the first time, and one of the comments below got it on the nose (for me, at least...). I just had to "forget" the Airpods from my phone, then re-pair them using the button on the case. Worked right away.

I had the same problem. Fixed it turning off the automatic ear detection. Apple seems to have a problem with auto detection with all of their products. I had a problem with my new Apple Watch not getting notifications and fixed it by turning off wrist detection. Hope this helps.

I've been plagued by this problem, and it's become steadily worse over the last few months. Today everything was playing fine until a timer went off. After that, playback didn't resume and nothing I can do will get them to work again. The phone says it is playing to the Air Pods, but no sound is coming out. Then after about 10 seconds, the icon showing connection to the Air Pods disappears. Rebooting phone doesn't work, killing apps doesn't work, etc. I just "forgot" the Air Pods and tried to re-pair them; total failure. I tried a second time and now it's working.

This is clearly a software problem.

I have been having this issue for several weeks, although mine usually does play the ear sound initially. Mine gets particularly bad when I'm running errands and switching back and forth between car speakers through the dock connector and the AirPods. Unfortunately, bluetooth off/on and airplay on/off do not work, and I don't usually take the case with me when I'm out. I end up having to switch my phone off and start it back up, sometimes 4-5 times in a couple hours. Other days, it has no problems. Mine will show the AirPods as connected and show them as an option for sound output in iTunes or other audio apps, but when I tap on them to select, I just get the spinning wheel and the sound continues to play through the phone's speakers. I suspect it's phone-related, because I also have a few other odd sound things, such as the phone briefly playing through the speakers even when connected via dock connector to my car stereo (then it switches if I do anything with the screen), or not being recognized by my car stereo after ending a phone call unless I unplug and re-plug the dock connector. I was hoping an update would fix, but it didn't and I'm loathe to do an erase and set up as new due to losing all my old Health data.

ETA: I thought the reset button fix had worked, but the problem returned after a day or two.

I have had a similar issue. It says it is playing through my AirPods, but there is no sound coming from my phone or my AirPods. This happens every so often but is not a major issue, as refreshing the music app solves the problem.

With AirPods connected to your phone, on the phone go to Settings, Bluetooth. Find where AirPods are connected. Next to the connected text there is a small blue i in a circle. Select that and it will take you to the screen which has ear detection.

I am encountering the exact same scenario. I have an iPhone 6S.

This is just a guess on my part, but I believe this situation has something to do with a problem introduced by one of the recent iOS 11 point releases as my AirPods worked absolutely flawlessly for months prior to iOS 11.x.

The problem started for me somewhere around the 11.1.1 / 11.1.2 update...

Putting them in the charger and opening closing the lid seems to temporarily resolve it but it has reoccured.. always when starting a run (of course!).

I read that resetting the AirPods using the button on the charging case and re-pairing to the iPhone can fix it. I'll try that if it happens again.

Thank you for your courage.

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 just got my AirPods on Tuesday and ran into this issue today.

I can see that the AirPods are connected and selected as the output device; volume is turned up on the phone but there is no audio coming through the AirPods.