Apple Investigating Issue With AirPods Randomly Disconnecting During Calls

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

A MacRumors forum thread and a long thread on Apple's Support Communities website have been generated by AirPods users who are regularly experiencing Bluetooth connection dropouts during phone calls, despite the fact that the wireless earphones almost never lose their connection when used to listen to music or anything else. MacRumors forum member protobiont wrote:

I've had this happen on two phone calls today. I am talking and suddenly the audio switches to the phone, I hear the Airpod connect tones and the audio switches back. This will repeat itself a few times, which is quite distracting during a phone call.

At present, the issue appears to be limited to iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus devices, with several users reporting no such problems after upgrading to an iPhone 7. MacRumors was also unable to replicate the problem on Apple's latest handset.

Initial reports suggested the dropout issue only occurs if users also have an Apple Watch paired to their iPhone, but MacRumors was able to replicate the problem with a Fitbit Blaze, suggesting a more general conflict when other Bluetooth devices are also connected.

Unpairing and then repairing the AirPods does not appear to solve the problem, neither does rebooting nor resetting the iPhone. Until Apple offers a solution, users are advised to use only one AirPod for conducting calls, as the dropouts only seem to occur when both earpieces are in use.

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Top Rated Comments

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NT1440

23 months ago

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

Rating: 5 Votes

dmylrea

23 months ago

[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.

Rating: 4 Votes

CTHarrryH

23 months ago

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.

Rating: 4 Votes

jaymie1983

23 months ago

Form over function as usual lol

Rating: 4 Votes

chr1s60

23 months ago

I guess we can rule out faulty wiring.

Rating: 3 Votes

stanman64

23 months ago

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.

Rating: 3 Votes

cyberhound

23 months ago

I have the same issue with my JBL Everest headphones and my Plantronics headset. Music plays fine, but calls drop from bluetooth headsets. It's been going on since sometime in the iOS 9 upgrade cycle and happened on both my iPhone 6 and now the 7. I don't think it has to do with the Airpods or the Apple Watch. I think it's a software glitch in the Bluetooth stack/iOS. Never got corrected. But now that the Airpods are experiencing the problem, maybe it will be fixed.

Rating: 3 Votes

siyah.

23 months ago

Having the same problem with my PowerBeats3. Constant Bluetooth issues. Removing the headphone jack and then offering an inferior wireless experience is the latest Apple lapse in quality.

Rating: 2 Votes

levitynyc

23 months ago

Magic!

Rating: 2 Votes