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mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
after reading this post yesterday i checked the battery life..

excersizing, connected to the watch (4), volume was around 50% (watch volume control), they were charged at 100%:
- left one stopped playing music after 1h54min
- right one was still playing music after 2h10min when i came back home and right one was showing that the battery was at 7%

dont know what happened to left one, because it showed 71% right after inside the case while right one showed 7% - a glitch i quess.
 

Jayson A

macrumors 68030
Sep 16, 2014
2,671
1,935
Mine just completely die after about 15-30 minutes. It's usually the left one though. Just bought new Gen 2 AirPods though and gave my old ones to my wife.
 

hufflematt

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2015
1,725
1,782
UK
Was just about to start a thread on this.

I've noticed my AirPods are not lasting long. Took a phone call with them this morning and I got the sad tones after only about half an hour.

If I use them for listening to podcasts, they're lasting maybe an hour and a half. Am I doomed to have to think about replacing them. Do the second generation AirPods add anything? Other than wireless charging.
 

ErikGrim

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 20, 2003
6,461
5,083
Brisbane, Australia
Do the second generation AirPods add anything? Other than wireless charging.
Always on Hey Siri. I never used Siri on AirPods as Play/Pause + Skip track / 30s in podcasts were more useful to me. Now taps are freed up for those and you can use Siri at any time. Also an extra hour talk time.

Those are nice to haves for me, but I'm kind of hoping the battery will hold out until gen 3.
 

Jayson A

macrumors 68030
Sep 16, 2014
2,671
1,935
Just told this to my wife and she can’t stop laughing :)

I didn’t wanna just throw them away and my wife didn’t really want new ones because she didn’t even know if she would like them, so far she hasn’t had any issues with them, but she doesn’t use them for very long each session.
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Was just about to start a thread on this.

I've noticed my AirPods are not lasting long. Took a phone call with them this morning and I got the sad tones after only about half an hour.

If I use them for listening to podcasts, they're lasting maybe an hour and a half. Am I doomed to have to think about replacing them. Do the second generation AirPods add anything? Other than wireless charging.

Not really. The new chip makes switching devices faster, but that’s about it. However, I didn’t get them for the new features, I got them because I loved my old ones but the batteries were shot.
 

tekchic

macrumors 68020
Apr 19, 2010
2,056
1,763
Phoenix, AZ
I was hoping to make mine last until Gen3 but I may have to cave and buy Gen2. I got mine on launch day, and after 1hr of listening they get down to just under 20%. In the car I have them in my ears about 2hrs a day (commute is an hour each way), and when I'm at home in the evenings if I'm gaming on iPhone/iPad, they're in about another hour.

They've been incredible earbuds but the battery life is just not able to hang anymore. Still better than the old $30 bluetooth sets I'd go through every 4 months or so before they broke on me (trail running / workouts). Airpods at least were able to hang with all of that without breaking. :) I've run 3 ultras with them (I run one earbud at a time for safety anyway, and swap them out when they got past about 5hrs/battery beep) and they're still kicking -- albeit with the shortest battery life ever. Not sure I'd try an ultra with my original pair these days.
 
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mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
was exercising and both lasted over 2hours again, playing music from the watch. (50% level) didnt check the levels after exercising because i was more or less thinking about a shower
 

JBGoode

macrumors 65816
Jun 16, 2018
1,357
1,913
For those with severe battery degradation after 3 years, how long do you use them each day?

I’ve had mine for 14 months and think the battery may have degraded only slightly as I still get hours out of a charge but perhaps not quite as new.

I use them daily for less than 1 charge cycle (on average). Just wondering how long I should expect them to last. It probably doesn’t matter as I will replace them sooner rather than later with the new (rumored) ones. I also have my eye on those new Sony buds.
 

rdy0329

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2012
574
238
For those with severe battery degradation after 3 years, how long do you use them each day?

I’ve had mine for 14 months and think the battery may have degraded only slightly as I still get hours out of a charge but perhaps not quite as new.

I use them daily for less than 1 charge cycle (on average). Just wondering how long I should expect them to last. It probably doesn’t matter as I will replace them sooner rather than later with the new (rumored) ones. I also have my eye on those new Sony buds.

June 2017 purchase here, on its first year of usage, I’d use them at work charging them during lunch (no music or anything, just in my ears to answer calls that come in). I then use it for workouts for around 1 hour 5x a week after work.

By Dec 2018, I only used them for workouts since charging them started to be cumbersome (2x during work hours).

March 2019 I got the Gen2 for work, Gen 1 is still for workouts (1 hour battery life).

I’d classify myself as a power user based on my usage pattern so that equates to using it for 18 months as primary device and maybe another 12 months as a backup device Until it dies (2.5years).

I’m ekeing out my Gen1s to save the Gen2s from degrading faster.
 
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caligurl

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,647
1,532
socal
My original ear pods are HORRIBLE!

Not only do they not hold a charge very long... the right one doesn't like to charge half the time! I'll stick them in the charging case and when I go to use them again it's at like 2%.... I have to take it out... put it back in... and THEN it will start charging. Happens constantly!
 

rdy0329

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2012
574
238
My original ear pods are HORRIBLE!

Not only do they not hold a charge very long... the right one doesn't like to charge half the time! I'll stick them in the charging case and when I go to use them again it's at like 2%.... I have to take it out... put it back in... and THEN it will start charging. Happens constantly!

You may want to clean the contact points of your charging case with a dry Q-tip as dust might get in the way of it touching the lower tip of your right AirPod.
[automerge]1569569435[/automerge]
Get about 35-45 minutes per charge. Replaced them and also purchased PowerBeats Pro.

What's your replacement method? Replace two buds for $49 each or buy a new pair?
 
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