make sure the case is closing fully, there are magnets that help keep it closed and are also used to sense that it's closed. That can attract metal filings and cause the case to not close completely,
Make sure there's nothing stuck in the wells, the fit is pretty tight and a tiny bit of dirt can prevent them from seating well. usually kinda holding the case upside down, and a quick blow will dislodge anything. or a gentle q-tip.
when both pods in case, and the case closed, go to the main settings app on your phone, if everything is working right, you should not see settings there, those should only appear if the case is open, or one/both of the pods are out of the case. I'm not sure about the 4s, but the pros will always show in the battery widget on your phone, even if the case is closed.
also holding them next to an unlocked iPhone or iPad, the status should pop up on the screen when the case opens, and disappear when it closes, the first time might take a few seconds, but after that it's pretty quick.
make sure they're updated, there's no way to manually do it, but leave the case and phone both charging and close to each other, and they'll update themselves, usually within 30 minutes, probably less. for the AirPods 4 (either version) looks like current version is 7b20, you can see this in the settings app, towards the bottom.
unpair and re-set them
https://support.apple.com/en-us/118531
