AirPods connected but no sound

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.

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.

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

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 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 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.

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'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.

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 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 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 have this same issue. It has occurred on 2 different iphone 7 plus's. The issue occurs regardless of how many factor resets, repairing and reboots occur. It comes and goes. The consistent factor appears to be that an audio application (mostly audible) was playing on the airpods prior to answering the phone call. It could have been paused. It's EXTREMELY frustrating. This one problem has me almost ready to ditch airpods despite how much I love them when they work properly. When I need bluetooth headphones I need them because I can't hold a phone to my head and it's rarely practical to use a speakerphone in such situations or stop to reboot the phone or mess with resetting a bluetooth pair. CLEARLY this is a software bug and needs to be addressed! Happy to provide logs etc.