Hearing a Mysterious Chime From Your AirPods Pro Case? It's a Feature

If you've been hearing a chiming sound from your AirPods Pro 2 case when the AirPods are charging, it's a feature that Apple added with the launch of Hearing Health last year.

airpods pro 2 botw
In a support guide, Apple says that the ‌AirPods Pro‌ may play a sound every so often while in the case to ensure the microphones and speakers are working as intended. From Apple:

To help ensure that your AirPods microphones and speakers are operating at their best (for example, to help provide high-quality hearing test results), your AirPods may periodically play a quiet chime when they're in their charging case.

Information on the mysterious chime was highlighted on Mastodon after Apple's unclear AirPods sounds were discussed on today's ATP podcast.

As noted on the podcast, Apple does not have an established guide that provides insight into the different sounds that the AirPods make, so it can be confusing.

The ‌AirPods Pro‌ will play a sound when battery is low or when the charging case is placed on a charger or plugged in. Some sounds can be disabled by connecting the AirPods to an Apple device, going to Settings, tapping on the AirPods icon, and turning off Enable Charging Case Sounds.

Related Roundup: AirPods Pro
Buyer's Guide: AirPods Pro (Caution)
Related Forum: AirPods

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Top Rated Comments

litmag01 Avatar
15 weeks ago
Why isn't it smart enough to know that 2 AM is probably not a good time for this test.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Viridian5 Avatar
15 weeks ago
I always thought that meant the AirPod didn’t properly connect to the nodes in the case for charging. ??‍♂️
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swiftapplefan Avatar
15 weeks ago
So that’s what it was. I kept hearing for months a tone like you’d hear in Knicks knockoff Chinese electronics. I was starting to think I had fakes or that I was crazy, because I couldn’t find anything online
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JosephAW Avatar
15 weeks ago
That is Apple testing the microphone is to make sure they can pick up all the surrounding sounds just to alert everyone that Apple isn’t listening to everyone. o_O
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nattK Avatar
15 weeks ago

Finally thought to look this up last week and was relieved to find out that I’m not going insane, lol. Very un-Apple and it sounds like wireless interference a little, but I’ll survive.
Oh god, it was driving me absolutely crazy! I legit thought it was coming from some hidden electronic device in my house because it didn’t resemble any sound my Apple devices made or any other devices I own.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hank001 Avatar
15 weeks ago
An entire article about a sound....and then the journalist forgot to post...the sound. Amazing.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)