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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

Reply
83 replies

Nov 27, 2017 8:43 AM in response to Stephen Todd

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.

Dec 6, 2017 7:58 AM in response to Stephen Todd

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.

Dec 12, 2017 7:26 AM in response to Stephen Todd

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.

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.

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.

AirPods connected but no sound

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