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 Sep 30, 2017 3:43 PM

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

83 replies

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.

Jul 23, 2018 3:29 PM in response to Stephen Todd

Ugh ,no fix in any of the updates so this has been happening for 3 months now.I actually given up a bit and bought Bose Soundsports and they are far superior in sound quality,but have larger case and no cool functionality like turning off when you remove them.The other bad thing about Bose is you do get case battery feedback as much as AirPods.I use AirPods once or twice a week now,the only thing that has been helpful is going back and forth with AirPlay between phone and AirPod quick fix.But sometimes I have to do it every couple of minutes,other times once or twice with hours of play without problems.

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.

Sep 17, 2018 12:46 PM in response to Stephen Todd

Not sure if this help you

but I had the problem with iMac.

1. I had to turn off my iMac Bluetooth and turn back on.

2. Then I turned off and on all other Bluetooth devices those were connected to the Bluetooth

3. After that Airpods started working perfectly fine


I am not expert but I think other devices bluetooth was interfering with airpods and iMac's Bluetooth connection.

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AirPods connected but no sound

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