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After the AirPods launched online and then arrived to the first set of customers earlier in December, some users have begun realizing that the charging case that comes with the headphones isn't holding Apple's advertised 24 hours of charge. In theory, the charging case should only lose noticeable amounts of charge when the AirPods are low on battery and recharging within the case, and when users flip the pack open to check battery levels or otherwise activate Bluetooth with a connected Apple device.

The unlucky set of users facing the battery issues, however, are noticing that the AirPods case drains by upwards of 40 percent in mere hours, with the AirPods at 100 percent inside and minimal Bluetooth activation.

While some feared this is just the way Apple intended the headphones and companion charging case to work, Redditor severinskulls has posted about his experience with the problem, and the replacement AirPods he got that do not have an apparent faulty charging case. In most cases, the AirPods themselves are not facing any shortened battery life issues.

airpods-battery-problems.jpg
AirPods Charging Case dropping nearly 50 percent overnight


The old AirPods Charging Case:
I was having the exact same issue you had. Airpods in case, go to bed with full charge and waking up with 15%-20% of the case charge gone. Thats a full charge cycle for the airpods themselves!

I spoke to apple support online. They had no answer how long the charge of the case should last when the airpods are not in use. They made an appointment for me instore as all diagnostics at the moment are being handled instore they said. Cut to this morning, go in for my appointment. The genius was very friendly. I was his first airpods case. Turns out he also has no info on whether this rate of the battery draining is normal. He said that definitely they are designed to lose charge over time as cycling the charge improves the health of the airpod batteries. However as I pointed out, going from a full charge to empty in two days while they are sitting there unused seems way too fast. To be safe, he placed my airpods. So i got a brand new pair.
The new AirPods Charging Case:
Sooooo I just checked. Airpods and case were 100% at 9pm last night. Checked just now at 9am the next morning and they are STILL at 100%, both the pods and the case. I had bluetooth on my phone on all night too. With the other pair in the same situation, I would have lost 14-20% charge by now.

So there we go, case closed (pun?), there is a battery life problem suffered by the airpods. I'm going to write back feedback to apple now. You should get your airpods replaced because they shouldnt lose as much charge as what youre experiencing.
When the AirPods first came out, the initial impressions of the battery life for both the headphones and the charging case were overall positive. A handful of MacRumors forum members were fans of the speedy charge rate of the AirPods, the granular settings of the iOS battery widget, and the battery life of the charging case as well. Mentions of battery drainage issues with the AirPods case began about a week ago, around the time the first customers had been using the headphones for a few days.

In a teardown last week by iFixit, it was theorized that the Charging Case was the cause of the AirPods' delay from October to December. The root of the problem was a few empty spaces discovered within the solder joints of the case's chip. This is referred to as "voiding," which iFixit said "could be evidence of low quality standards, or a rushed product release."

The exact scope of the affected AirPods user base is unclear. Some users are speculating that the problem could be an initial charge cycle hiccup that irons itself out over time, but a few owners that have had the AirPods since day one are still posting about battery drainage issues with the charging case today. On the other hand, there are many other users who have reported normal experiences with the case and its advertised 24 hours of battery life. Apple hasn't commented on any of the reports.

Article Link: Some AirPods Users Facing Battery Drain Issues With Charging Case
 

teidon

macrumors 6502
Dec 22, 2009
443
213
Couple tips:
- Empty the batteries and charge them to full.
- Give the batteries couple full charge cycles before you send them anywhere.
- When not using the AirPods keep them in the case and do not open the case. Opening the case causes it to waste it's charge.
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,454
21,842
Singapore
Hmm. My AirPod charging case discharges at a rate of roughly 10% per day. Not enough to make it even remotely inconvenience me.
 

KoToNaS

macrumors member
Dec 17, 2016
89
127
Yeah, same issue with mine. Now my AirPods on the way to Apple for replacement.
 

pat500000

Suspended
Jun 3, 2015
8,523
7,515
I'm gonna close my eyes and pretend that this article is fear mongering.

Edit: Meh...who am I kidding.

I gotta thank the 1st batch folks. Hopefully Apple could address the problems sometime in the future. Lol.
 
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tomaustin44

macrumors regular
Oct 26, 2013
185
90
I initially (and perhaps still do) had this problem.... Got my Airpods on Christmas Day and gave the case a bit of a charge (to about 80%). I used them a little bit on Boxing Day and then yesterday noticed that the case was discharging 20-30% every 4 hours, even when Airpods were fully charged.

As the article suggests there are a number of others complaining of similar issues on Reddit and I was about to book a Genius Bar appointment. I thought I'd give it another day and see so last night I made sure everything was charged to 100% before bed. Woke up this morning and the case was still at 100%.

Have used the Airpods for a few hours today and at 3.30pm the case is still at 77%, which I think is alright.

Bottom line.... I'll keep an eye on them over the next couple of days but my experience lends credibility to the theory that there is a problem with the initial charge cycle. Interested to hear other's experiences
 
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Jsameds

Suspended
Apr 22, 2008
3,525
7,987
Are Apple's products failing at a higher rate than usual, or has this kind of thing been happening at the same rate forever but we are now hearing about it much more often because the vocal online Apple community has grown so much in the last few years?
 

mdelvecchio

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2010
3,151
1,149
first to clarify -- by design the pods always charge while in case, from case. this is intended so you always have a full 4 hours of when removed. so the problem isn't really the case battery discharging, its the pods using power while inactive inside case.

mine does it too. to test i let case go down to 0, then put pods in before bed. 88%. in morning they were down to 53%.

def not normal so will get them replaced.
 
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