Charge AirPods (or Even an iPhone) With Your iPhone

[imamacperson]

You plug the cable in. That’s how it works. It’s the cable. You plug it in. That’s it. That’s how it works. It’s a cable guys.

Any questions?

I think the point it they don't charge wirelessly like putting them on the back of th iPhone. But yes its very simple.

 

[dominiongamma]

Just another reason I love standardizing everything on USB-C. One cable. One charger or power bank.

Why were hardcore people on here against it then ?

 

[JohnC1959]

Just another reason I love standardizing everything on USB-C. One cable. One charger or power bank.

Why were hardcore people on here against it then ?

Hard to know without knowing them better. Either they have some situation that's beyond my simple needs or they just like to complain. Hard to know.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I already have to charge my 15 Pro twice a day without trying to have it charge other items.

I had the same since 18.5, but I turned off AOD and that really helps a lot.

 

[ultratiem]

ah!! yeah, works way better than my putting my phone, AirPods and a cable in a bag and shaking well.

Your mistake is the shaking. They won’t mate that way! It just stresses them out. Lay down an Apple Cloth and let them be. Soon you’ll see the magic!

 

[ultratiem]

Does it matter what color the cable is... or no?

Bro we are in 2025. The colour of one’s cable no longer matters! We are all one cable now!!

 

[kirky29]

The Galaxy's reverse charging works well for me with my iPhone.

 

[Sami13496]

You plug the cable in. That’s how it works. It’s the cable. You plug it in. That’s it. That’s how it works. It’s a cable guys.

Any questions?

Is it the cable? Do I plug it in?

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Does it work with third party earphones ?

And do android phones have a similar feature ?

 

[gumbyhw]

Since I usually have my laptop with me I just use it for this purpose.

 

[gumbyhw]

Is it the cable? Do I plug it in?

Just point your front camera at your Mac or iPad and that device will automatically airdrop power to your phone. Doesn’t work with AirPods, unfortunately, but this is why the AirPods Pro 4 will have cameras in them.

 

[ultratiem]

Is it the cable? Do I plug it in?

Yes. And yes. Yes to both, is what I’m saying, not yes twice. It’s the cable.

 

[johnnytravels]

I wish this could be turned off.
My phone is charging my OP1 field when I try to sample from it and my usbc record player with battery, when using the djay pro app. Drains the battery like hell…

 

[JohnC1959]

I wish this could be turned off.
My phone is charging my OP1 field when I try to sample from it and my usbc record player with battery, when using the djay pro app. Drains the battery like hell…

If there's any hope it would probably be an option not for the phone but for the device that's getting charged. Just a thought.....
edit: another interesting idea may be to use a USB-C hub whenever using that device with your phone which may allow you to connect both the phone and device to a power source via an additional USB cable.

 

[Dr McKay]

Does it matter what color the cable is... or no?

Not if you use the new Beats™ Woven charge cables, available on the Apple website.

 

[GrassShark]

...and one universally bad cable and connector interface for a mobile device!

How so? I've never had any issues with either lightning or USB C, but USB C is more universal and capable.

What's happened with your cables or connectors that makes them bad?

 

[GrassShark]

Does it work with third party earphones ?

And do android phones have a similar feature ?

It should work with any USB C device. It's part of the USB C spec, it's not specific to any single manufacturer or brand. I used to charge my earbuds from my Nexus 6P back in 2015, the iPhone was only late to the game because it took Apple soooo long to upgrade the iPhone to USB C.

 

[cyanite]

I liked it to until I realized different cables have different specs and not everything works with the same cable

So you’d rather have that cables and connectors change every time a new feature is added to USB or the maximum speed is increased? That’s just what we had before USB.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Hear me out: what if we could charge dead iPhones through our AirPods case? Game changer. Steve Jobs would approve of this idea.

 

[CarlJ]

You plug the cable in. That’s how it works. It’s the cable. You plug it in. That’s it. That’s how it works. It’s a cable guys.

Instructions unclear. Now my AirPods are getting channel 39.

 

[techfreak23]

I'm surprised iPad charging an iPhone/Apple Watch/AirPods was not mentioned since you have also been able to do that since the switch to USB-C.

 

[sdz]

Just another reason I love standardizing everything on USB-C. One cable. One charger or power bank.

thank you Brussels

 

[AppliedMicro]

Mildly useful from iPhone to iPhone - but I’ve charged my iPhone from my iPad’s (much bigger) battery a couple of times.

 

[rymdgreven]

ah!! yeah, works way better than my putting my phone, AirPods and a cable in a bag and shaking well.

I bet Craig Federighi can charging it by connecting it to his hair plugs!

 

[rjp1]

reverse wireless charging is absolutely useless when compared to just using a wire.
there is a reason that, despite android phones implementing it, it hasn’t really caught on.
One of those things that when you hear about it or you read it in a specification sheet, it looks cool and useful.
in practice, though, real life factors make it practically terrible.
The phone being used as the wireless charger now has to be faced down, so you can’t really use it with something attached to its back.
wireless charging itself has about a 20-30% energy loss, so you are, no exaggeration, just burning through battery for a good portion of the time you are using it to wirelessly charge.
Plus, it’s just weird. different phones aredifferent sizes and we’ve got huge camera bumps so they will never fit together just right, it’s just a constant clashing of uneven phone backs.
Plus if you even dare to try to use this in hot weather, both phones immediately are going to get too overheated to properly charge.

it takes all of the negatives of regular wireless charging, the heat it generates, the lack of efficiency, the awkwardness with alignment at times, and amplify them. Plus, you don’t even get any of the convenience that regular wireless charging has.
you are much better off, just connecting the phones via a cable, or buying a battery bank.

PS: the hardware for reverse wireless charging has actually existed in the iPhones since the 12. Apple has just limited its usage to the MagSafe battery pack, and only when you are plugging the phone directly into a power source already.
and guess what? Whenever I’ve used my iPhone to wirelessly charge up the MagSafe battery pack, it’s slow, it gets hot, it likely eventually gives me the overheat warning or it just takes hours and hours. even if Apple enabled it to work between iPhones or to AirPods, which they probably could do with a software update, it would still be an awful experience and you would still be much better off just using a cable or a battery bank.

It would be great for Airpods and Apple Watch. There has been plenty of times where my phone had plenty of power, but I forgot to charge Airpods/Watch. The awkwardness of having my phone down, slow charge time, etc. would all be worth it to be able to get my airpods/watch charged versus them being dead.