[helipad]

I left my AirPods Pro at a school sports field an hour away, and I didn't realize until the next morning after it been raining heavily. I gave them up for lost and needed headphones for work – so ordered some from Apple with same day delivery.

A week later, I got a Find My notification that they had been spotted – at the same sports field. I figured what the hell, put on a podcast and drove the hour to see if I could find them. Worst case scenario, a couple of hours of driving.

Using Find My and the directional feature points you in the right direction to within feet, I found them in the tall grass.

The case had been perfectly watertight, and they'd barely lost a percent of power in a week. Remarkable really all round.

[hilux]

Mine lose 20-30% sitting in their case overnight. It's very annoying. You ARE lucky!

[gandalfgreybeer]

That definitely isn’t normal. My guess is you need to clean the contacts in the AirPods. They might be in the case but it’s still pairing or trying to pair. Shouldn’t drain that much, especially overnight.

[csomar]

It's an iOS bug. It happens now and then for me, and when it happens it drains all the battery juice. Still no fix to this date.

[jmaker]

My Apple Watch regularly gets burning hot and drains the battery. Sometimes overnight, sometimes during the day. Very annoying. Reset several times, Apple Care was of no help, no fix to this date either. Only way to alleviate is to reboot the Watch.

[szundi]

This is since the existence of software and is going to stay with us until most people is ok to have 1/3rd of the features for the same kind of money. This will never happen, so bugs are here to stay.

[pessimizer]

The fact that software is buggy is not the customer's fault any more than food poisoning is the fault of people who eat too much.

[KennyBlanken]

It's defective. They need to fix it or replace it.

[reiichiroh]

I get this if I use a usb c extension

[bratwurst3000]

could you link the bugreport or sth pls. apple has such weird bugs. on my iphone if i set an alarm and late at night i decide to tell siri to put another alarm she deletes the first one. did miss some flights because of that. and sometimes it doesnt ring at all. have a analog alarm for that now.

[cromka]

Apple doesn’t do public bug reports

[jsjohnst]

Apple officially doesn’t, but the community does…

http://www.openradar.me/

[ornornor]

Apple doesn’t really care about bugs. They’ll get fixed if and when they feel like it.

[mouse_]

It'll get fixed if they think it'll result in a lost sale. As they are effectively a vendor monopoly, this probably won't happen.

[DavideNL]

> "It's an iOS bug"

How did you determine it's an iOS bug?

[asveikau]

Maybe the battery is failing?

[SllX]

Could be either/or. I long ago lost the brassiere that came with my AirPods Max (not really lost, I just can’t be arsed to dig it out of where I think it is) and they’ll drain themselves fairly quickly just trying to throw out stray connections to any of the five or so devices they can connect to unless I make a point of disconnecting them. AirPods Pro exhibit the same exact symptoms when the contact inside the case needs to be cleaned.

[nxicvyvy]

My airpods need a small piece of tissue in the top on one side or they don't charge. Could be a tolerance issue.

[lostlogin]

I can’t work this out. Is this an autocorrect?

[card_zero]

Nope.

https://cdn0.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2021/05...

[jsjohnst]

There’s a magnetic contact that the “bra” case engages that turns off the headphones so the battery doesn’t needlessly drain. Bunch of companies make after market cases/covers, you should get one of them at least.

[SllX]

I am aware of how it works, that's why I front-loaded the part about the brassiere being MIA at the moment. I just don't care, and I don't take it outside except on the airplane. Next flight I have, I'll probably dig out the brassiere.

Also in my experience, the brassiere was never perfect about guaranteeing the AirPods Max were put perfectly into a sleep state. The same exact issue could sometimes occur, maybe an alignment issue. The AirPods Max sound fantastic, but there's a lot of little details about them where Apple just kind of dropped the ball.

[talldatethrow]

If Person A loses 1% over a week in standby, and person B loses 20% overnight, it's probably not the battery..

Unless Person B also tells you that in general their air pods only last 30 minutes playing music.

As stated, their percentage of power level fall vs person A is 2000% more being generous (person A said a week, not a night). If it was because of the battery, the air pods would also last way way way less playing music.

[asveikau]

Except when lithium batteries get old they start to lose double digit percentages in a couple hours. My experience anyway.

[talldatethrow]

Yet when you actually use them, they retain basic the same energy capacity???

[samstave]

You're right. Its definitely the Person.

[Uptrenda]

I love the airpods but ah... they dont play well with any kind of metal work. If you do metal work with a file the shavings get everywhere and once they stick to the magnet its almost impossible to get them out. I guess this is a very unusual edge case though but thought id post it. lmao.

[tlb]

Iron age problems. Wasn’t a problem in the good ‘ol bronze age.

[eszed]

I use tape, or bluetack. Bluetack is easiest for the external connectors, but a wodge of tape, properly manipulated, can get the internal ones. Can be a bit of a pain, but it's never not worked.

[justinclift]

Do you reckon a high psi stream of compressed air would remove the shavings? ie from an air compressor or similar

[xnzakg]

Probably would need to be careful not to damage the microphones.

[jsjohnst]

Might I recommend something like IsoTunes? Far better product to use in a work environment where you might need to hear something going wrong.

[foundddit]

Just chiming in to say I had the same problem and found a solution.

For some reason, my AirPods silently connect to my iPhone while they're in their case and both devices are asleep. Why they do this, I have no clue. Just quality 2020s Apple programming.

Anyways, there's an easy solution: go into the settings app (not the drop down menu) and turn off Bluetooth on your phone/ipad when you don't need it. Your AirPods will no longer randomly drain at night. Neither will your Apple Pencil, if you have one of those.

You'll find a lot of comments on Apple support forums/reddit/etc saying it's impossible for it to be Bluetooth and that you should never turn it off for any reason because it's crazy. People for some reason are very assertive about that. But they're wrong. I now make a habit of only turning Bluetooth on precisely when I need it and immediately turn it off afterwards and now nothing gets drained needlessly.

Now the only AirPods bug that drives me insane is the volume randomly shooting up halfway to max randomly sometimes when I connect to my computer, but I made a script to somewhat fix it.

[deeth_starr_v]

Can’t you just turn off Bluetooth easily via Control Center? Top left Bluetooth symbol

[foundddit]

That doesn't turn Bluetooth off. It's deceptive. It simply "disconnects" it, but it'll still connect at a random point in the future. It also doesn't really disconnect it since it'll still detect devices and burn away your battery life. And I experimented with it countless times over a couple years.

That's why I said you need to do it through settings directly. Otherwise it won't do anything.

[iwontberude]

Yes it does. Once you tap that button Bluetooth will remain off.

[foundddit]

It absolutely does not. I've tried it countless times and my AirPods still drain overnight if I use the drop down disable. I've also disabled it that way and seen an "AirPods detected" message minutes later.

Apple themselves even says if you want to turn off Bluetooth, you need to do it through settings: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102412

[jq-r]

Yes, but only until the next day.

[iwontberude]

This is accurate.

[foundddit]

It is not. Apple themselves say you need to go to settings to turn it off: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102412

Otherwise it's merely a temporary disconnect.

[maronato]

That is a lot, but I wonder if GP’s only decreased by 1% because their phone wasn’t close by. AirPods and their iPhones probably keep pinging each other to maintain the Bluetooth connection, which must have an effect on the battery.

[SllX]

Only when you pull them out of the case. Otherwise they just stay asleep. When I replaced my Powerbeats Pro (same fundamental tech as any AirPods) with AirPods Pro, I went about a year or so without touching the Powerbeats Pro and they just sat in one spot not too far from anything they could connect to since I never unpaired them from anything. I pulled them out a year later, and the Beats themselves were still fully charged and I think the case was still about 70%. Couldn’t tell you what I had left the case at though.

[gcanyon]

Mine sometimes don't charge in the case, and can either end up with the case fully charged and the airpods fully drained, or if they charge/discharge through the night with the airpods at a random charge and the case somewhat drained.

I seem to be the only person this happens to, but the won't-charge-in-the-case problem was so bad with my original airpods pro that Apple ended up replacing the case, then the airpods pro and the case, over a very frustrating several months of back and forth. My new airpods pro were fine for maybe eight months, but the problem has started again. So far it's only once every few weeks, which I can live with.

[matwood]

If you don’t know, make sure the light blinks when you drop each AirPod in. That will show it hit the contacts correctly. My APP 1s also had this issue way more often than my second gens.

[gcanyon]

Thanks! In my case (pun intended) the AirPods will sometimes just refuse to charge. I have spent several hours holding the case open and wedging one AirPod up… slightly… to get it to charge, and another several hours trying to replicate that delicate configuration with small shims of various design.

[okdood64]

Yours are broken somehow. That's insane.

[stingraycharles]

Not normal. Case takes months to deplete without usage for me.

[scellus]

Same here, occasionally I find both the case and the ear pieces with empty batteries while they haven’t been nowhere near empty when I left them, usually previous day or evening.

[dyauspitr]

I find it funny that you consider a drastic difference like that a matter of luck. Clearly something isn’t right with your pods.

[jb1991]

That is very strange and defective.

[inopinatus]

Try leaving them on the bedpost, c.f. Donegan, L (1959)

[mckn1ght]

Something is wrong with them. I can use mine repeatedly over several days before finally needing to plug them in again. You should reach out to support.

[hilux]

I've googled it and tried all the recommended fixes.

This is a frequent problem - only for some people.

[eek2121]

The left earbud dying is a frequent problem. Sometimes I sometimes hear about the right, but usually the left. Even more rarely, both die frequently, which isn’t the real issue…they drain the case, right? (if not ignore the rest of this)

Want me to blow your mind? The REASON for this is the case. Everyone always suggests cleaning, but that won’t help for the long term. I know because I have tried.

I took a pair of tweezers and bent the metal contacts in the case outward. That was a year ago. I have not had a single issue since. Not one. I am willing to bet Apple brushed a manufacturing defect under the rug. YMMV and if your airpods are under warranty, consider that first, but after having the issue with first gen and second gen, I wasn’t about to deal with nonsense.

[j_bum]

Going to give this a try tomorrow… fingers crossed.

[ornornor]

Please remember to come back and update us after a couple of weeks!

[fragmede]

> I am willing to bet Apple brushed a manufacturing defect under the rug.

What? that doesn't sound like Apple at all. They would never do that. I get butterflies just thinking that.

[samatman]

The butterfly keyboard was a _design_ defect, and these are very different things. Apple went to great lengths (because telling Jony Ive 'no' was not an option) to try and tweak the design to function correctly in the real world, and failed.

But they came out of the box functioning perfectly, and stayed that way until tiny specks of dust inevitably entered the picture. The entire saga was extremely boneheaded and after I took mine in for a replacement (which, I must say, was out of warranty and only cost me time) I vowed to never buy another MacBook which had that absurd keyboard. Fortunately I didn't have to, they went back to the proven design which is a true beast and just keeps chugging along for years without a single missed or repeated keystroke.

But this is very different from shipping products with known _manufacturing_ defects, and then 'brushing it under the rug', presumably by not issuing a recall. I can't recall even the former happening with post-iPod era Apple products, let alone the latter.

In this particular case, the most likely culprit is pushing the AirPod into the charging slot with enough force to bend down the contact. There isn't a way to manufacture a spring contact which isn't vulnerable to this, and the fix is easy if you have thin enough tweezers. If Apple shipped an edition of AirPods cases with bad contacts, which didn't charge out of the box, it's a safe bet that there would be press about it. Maybe there was, but if so, I missed the 635 comment HN thread about it.

[ornornor]

> butterflies

I see what you did there.

[jbverschoor]

Mine last not even 10 minutes after one year of use. Apple did nothing. So no more AirPods ever for me anymore

[mckn1ght]

Have you actually talked to Apple? They might just replace them. Is this the only pair that’s demonstrated this behavior, or has it been multiple units?

[furyofantares]

I lost two sets in the snow at my mom's house. Where she lives the snow sticks around for 4 or 5 months. They would have been near the top of a few feet of snow where we were making snow angels and generally frolicking, and then covered up by additional snowfall. We found them once it melted. They both work fine.

[thekevan]

I accidentally put mine through the washing machine. The aftermarket case I had them in died but the Airpods themselves survived just fine. That was 2 years ago and I still use them every day.

[iaabtpbtpnn]

My AirPods went thru the washer and dryer in their case. No damage whatsoever!

[eek2121]

My first gen pros didn’t survive. They still work, but have a high pitched wine. They were already out of warranty so I had to buy a new pair.

I did not and will not complain. I have owned over a hundred pairs of headphones/earbuds in my lifetime and these things are the best, by FAR.

However, don’t wash them.

[petre]

> They were already out of warranty so I had to buy a new pair.

You realize that this is not a warranty issue, right?

[FreezingKeeper]

They may have meant AppleCare+ which covers accidental damage

https://www.apple.com/support/products/headphones/

[ThatMedicIsASpy]

And petre may have meant that them being unrepairable isn't a warranty issue.

[xp84]

Maybe by warranty he meant the insurance that Apple now sells (“AppleCare with…”)

[oxym0ron]

I get that AppleCare is technically insurance, but it's kinda a rip-off IMHO.

[loloquwowndueo]

Holy crap, hundreds of pairs? What do you do with them? Run them through the washer just for fun? :)

[vel0city]

I probably haven't had hundreds yet, but probably more than one hundred.

So many things used to come with cheap earbuds or headphones. A pocket radio. A portable CD player. A cheap MP3 player. A laptop. I've even had some small TVs come with headphones out of the box. So there's like 40+ sets I didn't even ask for over the years. Pretty much all immediate trash.

Then there are the ones I bought in a pinch. Go on a trip, realize I didn't bring my headphones, swing by the store and get a cheap pair. Being a cheap pair, they often didn't last long. There's another dozen sets.

Now the ones I actually wanted. Not all have replaceable cups or pads, so they'd often wear out after a few years. Or they were USB, and the circuitry started freaking out after a few years. On top of that I probably have different sets for different use cases. A pair for on the go. A pair for the computer. A pair for the HiFi system. A pair for the office.

[mshroyer]

Same here. They sounded "off" for a while, but returned to normal after a day of drying outside of the case. (I'm guessing that perhaps some water was blocking the microphones used for noise cancellation.)

[ravenstine]

I sometimes wear my airpods in the shower. Have gotten water in them often, but this never caused them to fail or be permanently damaged.

[pcf]

Out of curiosity – why do you wear them in the shower? Are they meant to withstand that?

[ravenstine]

The first few times were by accident, but once I realized they are durable enough I started wearing them sometimes while showering if I've got a good audiobook or YT video that I don't want to put down.

I think they're supposed to withstand some degree of moisture, but I don't believe they're designed specifically to be submerged. However, one of mine (gen 2 airpods) got fully submerged for maybe 3 seconds in the bathtub but it managed to start working again when I let it dry out.

I'm not saying I recommend others treat their AirPods as if they're water resistant but, in my experience, all the generations of AirPods can take a bit of a water beating. The only ones I've never done this with are any of the Pro models.

[mrbungie]

My airpods pro were totally destroyed in the washer/dryer, no idea why.

Maybe it was because it was quite a lengthy washing cycle?

[adtac]

You forgot to set the washing machine to "Whites"

[WWLink]

Yea my brother has ruined 2 pairs of airpods in the washing machine.

[LeonB]

I wonder what the difference is? One (admittedly uninformed) hypothesis is that there might have been more detergent, and the failure was caused by detergent residue. If this was true, they could be (possibly) repaired by rinsing with fresh water to remove said residue and leaving to dry. (Lots of other possible hypotheses and confounding factors)

[wodenokoto]

Mine too. I tried them on and they played a loud, high pitch noise and haven’t dared touch them since.

[cqqxo4zV46cp]

Heh. I wasn’t so lucky, and it was the morning of a flight. Never had more of a reason to pull the forget on the $15 2-hour delivery Apple offers in my area.

[johnwalkr]

Find my is really a killer feature. When AirTags were first released, there was a bunch of media on potential use by stalkers and it seems like Apple hasn’t advertised how airtags (and findmy with devices) work at all since then. Most people think they just work locally until I show them an AirTag halfway around the world that just updated its location.

I bought one for my luggage, and when boarding a train in Paris, I was informed that I left my luggage behind. Went back to grab my luggage, boarded my train and then bought more AirTags at the first opportunity. I’ve used them multiple times to prove my lost luggage is in the airport, countless times to track shipping of high-value goods and countless times to find my keys.

[conradev]

I used to bike from SF to Apple in Cupertino once a week. One week, I dropped my AirPods case on the ride and only when I got to work did I realize I was missing an AirPod. The next week, I stopped right around where I dropped the case and I found it, working just fine.

I love that when you drop the case, the AirPods scatter into the farthest reaches of wherever you are – favorite feature

[ja27]

I saw someone on Twitter that left hers in a seatback on a flight. They'd show up on Find My every day for almost two months before they died. She talked to the airline multiple times about someone checking her seatback and several times they insisted they weren't there. Doubtful they ever checked at all but impressive battery life.

[teekert]

Wow 1 percent in a week. I use mine every couple of days but they drain much faster. Perhaps yours decided, he, see no iPhone for a couple of hours let’s do some deep sleep.

I’d love to have more control over then charge cycle like that.

[WanderPanda]

I washed my Airpods in a washing machine once and they continued working normally for 6 months until the noise cancelling started to fail on one side.

[agumonkey]

What would happen if you lost only one?

[wafflemaker]

Slight chance of finding it if you notice it's missing fast enough. FindMy only finds the charger, not the headphones out of charger, but you can make it play a sound.

You can buy a replacement for about 50% of the price of a new set (complete with charger case).

[Eric_WVGG]

That’s not correct.

One night I dropped my case as I crossed the street to my building. I grabbed it off the ground without paying attention, both buds had fallen out.

In the morning, I picked up the case and noticed that it felt light. Find My reported both buds as having been seen outside on the sidewalk, one last seen four hours ago, the other six. I ran downstairs and outside to find them both smashed by car traffic.

Another time a bud popped out of the case while passing through the TSA X-rays (yes, I have lousy luck with these). I was able to pinpoint the direction with the app and make it plays sounds, but the agents were unable to dig under the rollers and get it out.

[agumonkey]

In my case I only own cheap aukey earbuds and so far I couldn't find any information about buying a single earbud

[ErigmolCt]

It’s rare to hear (for my ears) such a perfect outcome when it comes to lost tech

[carstenhag]

(in germany) Friend took multiple trains, Ubahn, Bus. 5 Seconds after leaving the bus, he realized he had forgotten his backpack with id, laptop, etc.

We were "hunting" busses for 2h but couldn't find it. He didn't have Find My set up on the mac. Filed police report etc. A week later he got mail saying the bag was found in a train in Augsburg. Which was the 2nd of 4 legs of the trips or something, and he was completely off where he lost it :D