AirPods connected but no sound

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’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.

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.

I have this problem and I don't use any Tiles.

I think it's a more general problem with multiple Bluetooth devices. I'm continuing to have this problem under iOS 11.2.1. I haven't tried checking the Apple Music app to see if selecting AirPods there makes any difference.

Glad the Tile app fix has solved the problem for you.

Similar problem. My AirPods work 99.999% of the time when I’m connecting to play audio out of the Music app or the Overcast app. However, when I’m picking up incoming calls or trying to play voicemail audio, I either get no audio even though my AirPods say connected, or my iPhone is unable to connect and plays audio on the iPhone speaker. This has happened off and on since I got them a year ago, over multiple iOS versions, switching from iPhone 7+ to iPhone X, after setting up new pairings, etc.

The only temporary fix I’ve found is restarting the phone, although I’m curious to try the Apple Watch airplane mode trick. VERY FRUSTRATING and limiting bug for an otherwise magical product.

I’ve done the factory reset (on all three pairs I’ve had) so many times I couldn’t begin to count. It’s becoming quite clear that it’s interference from

my Apple Watch and other Bluetooth devices that’s causing the problem. Glad the reset worked for you.

I have an iPhone 7 Plus. I have been using AirPods for over a month. Today it stopped working in which I'm not hearing any sounds from them. To fix this I went to Settings > Bluetooth > turned off Bluetooth > turned on Bluetooth > press on connect for the AirPods to get my AirPods working again.

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.

I believe you are correct because I have both a Series 1 and Series 2 watch.After the iOS 11.3 my Series 1 watch had Bluetooth problems connecting to my iPhone 7.I had to completely unpair and reset my watch.My Series 1 watch and AirPods worked together perfectly now,but my Series 2 watch with same phone and AirPods stops the AirPods from playing.When I look at the media on the phone it is still playing,I then pause and disconnect and reconnect Bluetooth to AirPods,then they work again.I noticed I don’t get the chime with Series 2 but do with the Series 1.Unpairing the AirPods with my phone did nothing,if fact 10 seconds after I did it the problem returned.

I have the exact same issue. Just like karlyBoy described, putting them back to the case fixes the issue.

I don't understand what could be causing the issue. My much cheaper LG BT headset never done that so I don't think it is an interference issue.

I had the same problem, AirPods connect but no sound comes out. Tried “forgetting” and re-pairing, turning Bluetooth off and on, rebooting phone, nothing worked. Then I unpaired the AirPods, put my Apple Watch into airplane mode and paired the AirPods back to the phone and it worked. I then took the watch out of airplane mode, and the AirPods continue to function.

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

Our son has the same issue, connects, but only plays music through the phone speakers, we have tried connecting them to my iPhone 7, but it resulted in the same problem. So the issue must be with the pods themselves. Anyone else found this?

What solved it for me was toggling the EQ and Soundcheck audio setting in Settings > Music. Then I had to go to the AirPods in the playback control, hit play and turn the volume back up from zero. (I had previously checked volume and it wasn’t at zero. Not sure what set it back to zero). Works fine now.