Apple Investigating Issue With AirPods Randomly Disconnecting During Calls

[Robert.Walter]

I suffered random disconnections all the time. This, however, was due to the AirPods constantly falling out of my ears. Although I love the AirPods when they were in my ears, I got tired of picking them up off the floor, and sent them back within the two-week return period.

I hope the Apple looks into this for the next gen and tweaks the design for those of us who are just on the borderline of being able to use these.

 

[Iconoclysm]

So lets see you can't use the airpods while on wifi, so you can eat up your data allocation, you can't charge and use headphones at the same time. Gee what courageous new innovations will Apple give us. Let's see you can't use the phone while the screen is lit up.

Can't use them on wifi? What are you talking about? Where in the world are you getting this? It's a bluetooth headset...they share the same 2.4 GHz frequency but it ends there. You can actually charge one while the other is in your ear, AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
[doublepost=1485177644][/doublepost]

I suffered random disconnections all the time. This, however, was due to the AirPods constantly falling out of my ears. Although I love the AirPods when they were in my ears, I got tired of picking them up off the floor, and sent them back within the two-week return period.

I hope the Apple looks into this for the next gen and tweaks the design for those of us who are just on the borderline of being able to use these.

Sounds like an opportunity for a third party to make a silicone sleeve

 

[TurboPGT!]

This has happened to me about 5 times total in the month I've had them, all during the same week.

Probably due to one of the iterations of 10.2.x beta.

Or, it means rebooting the phone occasionally will simply clear up the issue.
[doublepost=1485177987][/doublepost]

I suffered random disconnections all the time. This, however, was due to the AirPods constantly falling out of my ears. Although I love the AirPods when they were in my ears, I got tired of picking them up off the floor, and sent them back within the two-week return period.

I hope the Apple looks into this for the next gen and tweaks the design for those of us who are just on the borderline of being able to use these.

Unlikely, this shape works for the overwhelming majority of ears.

 

[allenvanhellen]

I wish these used wifi and AirPlay instead of Bluetooth... but I guess that would cost too much battery power.

 

[Ries]

Can't use them on wifi? What are you talking about? Where in the world are you getting this? It's a bluetooth headset...they share the same 2.4 GHz frequency but it ends there. You can actually charge one while the other is in your ear, AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
[doublepost=1485177644][/doublepost]

Sounds like an opportunity for a third party to make a silicone sleeve

They share the same 2.4 GHz frequency area and therefore can cause interference on each other. It's trying to send bluetooth data while the wifi antenna is yelling "HEY WIFI ACCESS POINT, I'VE GOT SOME DATA FOR YOU HERE!" on the same "channel".

Hope that it is just a software bug or you're ****ed using AirPod (properly because they have bad reception due to bad antenna/chip/RF design).

 

[Iconoclysm]

It happens occasionally for me. I expect a software update will resolve it. I also expect hyperventilation from this forum on this issue.

I had the case charging issue myself, they're replacing it for me...and it took quite a bit of testing and multiple phone calls with an engineer who is specializing in this problem who wanted to note the behavior. Hopefully, they'll figure that one out too.

Overall, it was as decent an experience as one can have when you've got an issue.
[doublepost=1485178294][/doublepost]

They share the same 2.4 GHz frequency area and therefore can cause interference on each other. It's trying to send bluetooth data while the wifi antenna is yelling "HEY WIFI ACCESS POINT, I'VE GOT SOME DATA FOR YOU HERE!" on the same "channel".

Hope that it is just a software bug or you're ****ed using AirPod (properly because they have bad reception due to bad antenna/chip/RF design).

They aren't on the same channel, at all. It's more likely that the problem is with the radios themselves since it doesn't affect the newer phone but a software fix might be able to handle it.

This does not happen with mine and believe me, I have more RF interference here than probably anyone on these forums.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I wouldn't call it "inferior". Maybe something is interfering. Try shutting off wifi and see if that improves the situation. It did for me. I only need to do this in one place. I have had this issue on an iPhone 6 with PowerBeats headphones, so it's clearly not just an AirPod and iPhone 7 problem. Knee jerk reactions don't help anyone.

It most definitely is an inferior experience. It's also frustrating and inexcusable. I've got the same two Plantronics BT headsets I've had for years. They were flawless before iOS 10. Now, nothing but issue with connecting and disconnecting and getting worse. From just disconnecting during a call (with no tone, so I'm talking away to nobody as the iPhone has switched to the internal speaker/mic), to being connected when I answer (and actually answer from the headset), and start talking, only to discover the iPhone has switch back to the internal speaker/mic and I have to fumble to switch back to headset, all the time alerting the caller to "hold on"! VERY UNPROFESSIONAL.

Think it's just me? Think again. A colleague with multiple brands of BT headsets has the same problem with his iPhone 6s.

So, this issue with the Airpods isn't unique to the Airpods. It's just that the limelight is on the issue now that Apple actually sells it's own product now that is affected by this flaw.

 

[Return Zero]

I've never had this issue, using them for phone calls every day. The only issue I've ever had is occasionally when I first pull them out of the case and put them in, they don't connect right away. Other than that they have been flawless.

 

[Ferc Kast]

I still haven't managed to see them in-stock to get a pair yet

 

[stanman64]

This has happened to me. Seems to only happen after being on the phone for a while (>30min) in my case. Not a huge deal, but mildly annoying. Hope they can get it fixed.

edit: For those using this as an opportunity to trash talk AirPods - these things have been absolutely fantastic otherwise. This is such a tiny issue.

 

[Iconoclysm]

This has happened to me. Seems to only happen after being on the phone for a while (>30min) in my case. Not a huge deal, but mildly annoying. Hope they can get it fixed.

edit: For those using this as an opportunity to trash talk AirPods - these things have been absolutely fantastic otherwise. This is such a tiny issue.

They're great but I don't know if I'd call the issue tiny. Some of us bought these as a replacement for a standard bluetooth headset, primarily. If it can't do that well and ends up embarrassing the user, that's pretty huge.

 

[imaginex20]

I have a 7 Plus and had this happen a few times with my AirPods.

 

[Mildredop]

you can't use the airpods while on wifi

Is this true? Why on Earth not?

 

[Ries]

I had the case charging issue myself, they're replacing it for me...and it took quite a bit of testing and multiple phone calls with an engineer who is specializing in this problem who wanted to note the behavior. Hopefully, they'll figure that one out too.

Overall, it was as decent an experience as one can have when you've got an issue.
[doublepost=1485178294][/doublepost]

They aren't on the same channel, at all. It's more likely that the problem is with the radios themselves since it doesn't affect the newer phone but a software fix might be able to handle it.

This does not happen with mine and believe me, I have more RF interference here than probably anyone on these forums.

The use the same frequency area. They do frequency hopping to avoid it, but if you have the "wrong" wifi channel in use they nuke each other (or more likely the wifi nukes bluetooth).

http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...i-interfering-with-one-another-since-yosemite

Same with the Macbook Pro:

"Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11/b/g/n (WIFI) use almost the same frequency bands:

• Bluetooth: 2.402 - 2.480 GHz (79 channels)
• WIFI 2.4 GHz (IEEE 802.11/b/g/n): 2.4 – 2.4835 GHz (11, 13 or 14 channels depending on the country)

Usually Bluetooth uses frequency hopping and changes the possible 79 x 1 MHz bands 1600 times a second to avoid disturbances while WIFI uses fixed channels.

Obviously something went wrong developing the latest Bluetooth- or WIFI-drivers.

The only workaround until Apple gets their drivers fixed is using dual band wireless access points. Those devices use two different frequency bands: 2.4 – 2.4835 GHz and 5.18 - 5.825 GHz (with some gaps). Connecting to WIFI 5 GHz (IEEE 802.11a/h/n) will not interfere with Bluetooth.

BTW: Not only typical RF-based devices (like wireless phones, etc) but also bad-shielded USB3-devices and cables interfere with WIFI (2.4 GHz) and Bluetooth."

 

[TurboPGT!]

I wish these used wifi and AirPlay instead of Bluetooth... but I guess that would cost too much battery power.

The only reason Bluetooth is even still relevant is because of its low power state.
[doublepost=1485180882][/doublepost]

So lets see you can't use the airpods while on wifi, so you can eat up your data allocation, you can't charge and use headphones at the same time. Gee what courageous new innovations will Apple give us. Let's see you can't use the phone while the screen is lit up.

And herein lies the majority of Macrumors today.

Unbelievable.

 

[Gorms]

Wait, my iPhone can take phone calls? That's a function I've not used in 6-8 years.

I jest. Not had this bug on my 6 yet though. There is a slight issue with swapping to my S0 Apple Watch which I would also like resolving though.

Still love my AirPods like they are my child though.

 

[Juicy Box]

Apple is investigating multiple reports from iPhone owners of AirPods randomly disconnecting and reconnecting during calls, MacRumors has learned.

I am glad I passed on these.

I was going to get a pair to replace my damaged EarPods, but after learning that you could not adjust the volume from the AirPods or AW during a phone call, I decided to wait for future versions. They do look a little silly, but that didn't bother me.

Now with these disconnection issues, it sounds like the bugs are not quite worked out yet.

 

[Tony_YYZ]

This is an iOS issue. The feedback on beta builds has largely been ignored about this. Ever since 10.1.1 I believe, Bluetooth functionality has been degraded.

Also, it seems to impact people differently. It's such a sporadic issue.

 

[merkinmuffley]

Oh no...disconnectgate!

 

[djeeyore25]

I've had an issue with my AirPods cutting out while listening to music. It seems to happen more often when I'm using my Apple Watch to select songs. It's become worse over the last week or so. Listening to movies or podcasts on my iPhone 6s doesn't cause the same issue.
[doublepost=1485183460][/doublepost]

I still haven't managed to see them in-stock to get a pair yet

Have you tried istocknow.com? I found a pair by keeping an eye on that site between 10am and 1pm. A local Apple Store got a shipment in and it popped up. Target is starting to carry AirPods as well.

 

[Larry The L]

Magic!

Very helpful. So much hate so early in the morning.

Form over function as usual lol

Very helpful. So much hate so early in the morning.

Airpods. iPhone 7. Two failures. Sitting side by side.

My airpods and iphone 7 function perfectly. How come so many of you have so much hate ready to spill out as soon as ANY article is posted here? How do you folks express your hatred when you aren't reading this forum?

 

[nt5672]

Think these issues can be ironed out. Surprised this wasn't flagged up in field testing.

What field testing? They are only now in field testing since Apple makes more money by not paying its field testers (buying customers).

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

[doublepost=1485180882][/doublepost]
And herein lies the majority of Macrumors today.

Unbelievable.

What's unbelievable is people who pay TOP DOLLAR for these devices and are happy to put up with these ridiculous compromises. Apple deserves all the "trash talk" it gets until it can make basic functions like BT work reliably.

 

[djeeyore25]

I noticed soon after getting my AirPods that when I would listen to music in a nearby park, I would get frequent drops in connectivity. It wasn't that the AirPods completely disconnected from my iPhone, it was an issue that sounded more like something was intereferring. I contacted AppleCare, and they created a case that got forwarded up to engineering. Someone from there contacted me and gave me a series of steps to try. What we found out was that if I shut off wifi while in the area where I was experiencing the problem, the issue goes away. Perhaps this a good thing to try for these users. One thing to note is I had exactly the same issue with some Power Beats 2 headphones on my iPhone 6. I have an iPhone 7 now. Apple's support communities are great, but I suggest contacting AppleCare. The more cases the engineers have to investigate, the better. I don't mind shutting off wifi when I'm out walking in the park listening to music.

There's a spot I walk by frequently where I have the same issue. It doesn't matter which bluetooth headphones I'm using or what device I'm connected to (iPod Nano, iPhone, Apple Watch), I get interference. I'd like to know what is in that location that causes the frequent cutouts, just to satisfy my own curiosity.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Hmmm odd. I've never had call audio drop out on my wired Apple Earbuds.