iPhone Air AirPods disconnecting during calls

[Gregintosh]

I am on an iPhone Air with the latest iOS 26 version (stable, not beta).

I noticed over the last few weeks that when I use my AirPods at home for calls, the AirPods disconnect during the call and I have to continue the call over the phones speaker. Or re-connect and then see it disconnect again a few minutes later.

This happens with my AirPod 4 w/ANC and AirPods Pro 2's.

Here's the kicker: When I am outside this happens only extremely rarely or not at all. This lead me to believe that its the automatic switching feature. I set it on all my devices to automatically connect only if it was the last device it was connected to. Does not help.

Also pretty sure the AirPods aren't both faulty as they work 100% fine as expected with my laptop. To the point that I been using my laptop for Whatsapp/Messenger calls while at home. But would like to not have to do that just to stay connected.

I have also already tried doing a hard reset of the AirPods (unpairing to factory settings and re-pairing with my iCloud/Phone).

Any help or insights would be welcome!

 

[MarkX]

Do you have WiFi calling active on your phone? If so try switching it off and see if that helps.

Also, try resetting network settings on your phone.

 

[Gregintosh]

I should also probably mention it happens when I make calls off my iPad also... only my MacBook Air works flawlessly.