AirPods battery drains fast? Causes and fixes.
Wondering whether a quickly emptying set of AirPods is the fault of old age, grime or the wrong settings? Find out why Apple's earbuds run flat so soon, and what you can do to stretch their life.
Why AirPods Battery drains fast is a widespread gripe, and Apple is far from alone in it, because no manufacturer of wireless earbuds manages a full day on a single charge. Each bud and the case house lithium-ion cells that usually stay healthy for around 300 to 500 full charge cycles, after which their capacity starts to fall off visibly. Anyone who wears them daily, as most owners do, will typically hit that point within two or three years.
If your AirPods Battery drains fast and your earbuds are of a more recent vintage, look up the playback time Apple quotes for your exact model. The AirPods 4 with ANC (the noise-blocking feature) offer a useful example: Apple rates them at four hours with ANC switched on, and five with it switched off.
Why your AirPods battery drains fast when left out
Do you often leave your earbuds lying around outside their charging holder? That could be why AirPods Battery drains fast. Each bud keeps drawing power while it is paired with a phone or hunting for one to pair with. So make a routine of returning them to the charging holder once you finish listening.
The holder's own battery ages as well, shedding a little of its capacity each time it is charged, even if your AirPods still report a full 100 per cent. Every extra feature you switch on also puts more load on the cell. Spatial Audio sounds superb, but it eats into the battery.
Check the charging contacts first
Before you start changing anything in Settings, make sure the AirPods are really charging. Tiny deposits of dirt or earwax can collect on the small metal contacts inside the charging case. When this happens, the circuit remains open, so nothing charges even though the AirPods are seated snugly.
Grime, though, seldom builds up evenly on both sides. Place the AirPods in the case, then check the battery percentage for each earbud on your phone. If one contact is blocked, you will probably see an uneven figure, such as one bud showing 22 per cent and the other 65 per cent, rather than a matching charge level.
How to clean your AirPods safely
Keeping your AirPods clean is also a good habit. You do not have to polish them daily, but an occasional wipe using a lint-free cloth goes a long way. Do not force hard objects into the case to dig dirt off the contacts, since these parts are fragile and easily harmed.
According to Apple, the outside of the casing can be cleaned with a lint-free cloth lightly moistened with isopropyl alcohol. Should you try it, follow these points:
- Apply as little liquid as possible.
- Keep liquid away from the Lightning or USB-C port.
- Let everything dry fully before plugging in a cable.
Apple also suggests using a soft toothbrush with a dab of micellar water, mainly on the mesh sections, and then rinsing with distilled water. Throughout, go gently.
Reset your AirPods if the battery still drains fast
Like most gadgets, AirPods can be reset when nothing else helps. The exact steps differ depending on which version you own, but the process is quite simple either way. Place the AirPods in their charging holder, then go to Settings > Bluetooth > More Info > Forget This Device. After that, follow Apple's instructions for your AirPods generation.
Once finished, pair them again as though they were brand new from the packaging. When they are working, test once more how quickly they charge and how long a charge lasts.
Why 100 per cent no longer means what it did
A full charge showing on the screen does not mean the battery is in good shape. The figure tells you how much charge is stored, certainly, but after 368 complete charging rounds a reading of 100 per cent is a very different thing from 100 per cent on day one. Rechargeable cells wear down and hold less over time, so an older set of earbuds will inevitably last for fewer listening hours.
Settings that make the battery last longer
A few tweaks to the features you use can squeeze out a bit more life. When you are playing music or audiobooks somewhere quiet, ANC serves no purpose, and switching it off conserves power. The same goes for disabling Spatial Audio.
How much you gain hinges on your model of AirPods and your present settings, and cutting a handful of features will only earn you a small amount of extra time. If your AirPods date from the dinosaur era, switching off Spatial Audio might add roughly half an hour.
Enable Optimized Battery Charging, or get the earbuds repaired
Experience teaches, and here is a key takeaway. When you buy a fresh pair of AirPods, make sure Optimized Battery Charging is enabled. Bring your AirPods case close to your iPhone, then head to Settings > Your AirPods > Battery.
If the option is off, switch it on (and, on more recent models, enable Charging Notifications to get low-battery warnings too). Your AirPods will then pick up on your charging habits and cut down how long they sit at full charge.
Finally, if nothing above helps and your AirPods battery drains fast even after these fixes, get in touch with Apple. Customers with AppleCare+ cover can have the battery serviced at no additional cost once it retains under 80 per cent of the capacity it had when new.
