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Community service announcement: AirPods Pro sudden battery drain is a SOFTWARE bug šŸ›

Ralfi

Ralfi

macrumors 601
Original poster
Dec 22, 2016
4,382
3,104
Australia
This is just to put peopleā€™s minds at ease & to not panic.

So, there are at least 5 threads about the battery levels suddenly dropping on one or both AirPods.

& every few days someone posts that theyā€™re concerned somethingā€™s wrong, hardware-wise & many people attempt to return them, hoping a new pair will arrive, sans issue.

Thatā€™s false hope, as many here have proven, that itā€™s not a hardware flaw, but one related to software.

Either the main AirPods pop-up battery indicator or the widget will incorrectly display a discrepancy in battery levels after a short use time. This can happen on the device youā€™re currently using, or when opening the case on another IOS device whilst still connected to your original device.

Do not trust the lower battery level of the two. The higher battery level is the accurate one. Just keep using your AirPods & the levels will correct themselves over time.

Below is a video I showed an Apple Store Genius who then proceeded to do their own testing, only to conclude software was to blame. My AirPods werenā€™t exchanged, but I was told to keep an eye on whether firmware updates would fix it. They havenā€™t as yet, & I donā€™t mind, as I know theyā€™re false readings...


 
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Yeah, except itā€™s not. My right Air Pod Pro consistently drains while in the case. If i use it, it shuts down after a short time due to low battery level. Iā€™ve called Apple support twice. I have a new case coming in the mail (under warranty). I hope this fixes the issue
 
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Yester5 said:
Yeah, except itā€™s not. My right Air Pod Pro consistently drains while in the case. If i use it, it shuts down after a short time due to low battery level. Iā€™ve called Apple support twice. I have a new case coming in the mail (under warranty). I hope this fixes the issue
Click to expand...
You seem to be experiencing a different issue.

Most people who this thread applies to donā€™t have a continual drain whilst in the case.

Yours appears to be hardware related, but the false readings without continual draining in the case are software related.
 
I see a sudden battery drain when putting my AirPods Pro back in the charging case--the widget on the phone may show something like 2/3 charged, but when I open the case and put them in to recharge, the popup will say they were actually down to 20%. Is this related?
 
Another thing I have noticed, and this would be helped if Apple implemented optimized charging better than they presently do, but I frequently use the AirPods Pro for a few minutes at a time and then put them back into the case. They are typically 95-97% charged when I put them back in the case. I don't think it makes sense for the case to top up the AirPods in this instance, but it does anyway, and it seems like it burns through a disproportionate amount of charge on the case when it does this (like losing 2% of charge on the case to charge the AirPods 3%).
 
Is this resolved yet because I'm getting a strange battery drain issue on my AirPods V2 that I didn't have on my old pair and I've already exchanged them once.
 
I got my AirPods Pro yesterday, and Iā€™ve noticed when Iā€™ve used it for a while, eg if itā€™s at 55% and I put it in the case the battery shown in the widget on my phone will suddenly drop to 8%.

After that I can still use it and the percentage doesnā€™t decrease which leads me to believe itā€™s a bug with the battery level shown rather than the actual battery, does anyone else have this problem, and is there a way to fix it?
 
I'm having the same issue and had the bad idea to chat/call with Apple, bad regarding the solution offered by them

The suggestion to fix my AirPods Pro loosing the charge after I updated to the latest firmware , would be to send them to Apple and pay 350$!!!?

This is simply insane. I bought the extended coverage too. The advisor told me that I could have extended when it was going to expire. No-one ever told me that
At the Apple store they just told me I could buy the extended coverage once not for ever.

Is it possible to extend the coverage every time it expires?
 
olivermartin0721 said:
I got my AirPods Pro yesterday, and Iā€™ve noticed when Iā€™ve used it for a while, eg if itā€™s at 55% and I put it in the case the battery shown in the widget on my phone will suddenly drop to 8%.

After that I can still use it and the percentage doesnā€™t decrease which leads me to believe itā€™s a bug with the battery level shown rather than the actual battery, does anyone else have this problem, and is there a way to fix it?
Click to expand...

katbel said:
The suggestion to fix my AirPods Pro loosing the charge after I updated to the latest firmware , would be to send them to Apple and pay 350$!!!?
Click to expand...

This is all detailed in the opening post, with video proving it's a software bug & that they're false readings.

Don't replace them, & certainly don't pay any money to have them replaced!
 
Ralfi said:
This is all detailed in the opening post, with video proving it's a software bug & that they're false readings.

Don't replace them, & certainly don't pay any money to have them replaced!
Click to expand...
Be reassured I'm not going to give Apple 360$$$ more
And I figured it out how to fix it:
I turned off both optimizations charge for the AirPods and no more
Find my AirPods
Since almost 3 full days , my AirPods pro+ case are at 100% charge every morning ? and didn't use them just for the sake of testing their batteries.
I don't need to know where they are..my brain still remember it
and in case I get some memory issue I can always attach a Tile or airtag to the case : more convenient in case of loss
and they don't cost an arm and a leg like the AirPods
 
I'm looking to purchase my first pair Air Pods. Not sure if I would get the standard model Airpods or the "Pro" version.

I came to the forums today to find out if the "Rattle" issue was still plaguing either of them? I thought it was only an issue with the Pro version or AirPods when I researched over a year ago.

Now I see there is a "battery drain" issue. I've tried to read through the posts, but can't figure out if I bought a pair today at a big box store, if they'd stil have either either issue?

Can some of you confirm what the current hardware at most stores is... as in fixed, or not fixed? And if it only applies to the AirPods "Pro" version?

Thanks in advance!

Dave
 
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