How to Check AirPods Max Battery Life - MacRumors
Skip to Content

How to Check AirPods Max Battery Life

by

Apple's AirPods Max headphones offer around 20 hours of listening time or talk time on a single charge when you have Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio turned on. If you pop ‌AirPods Max in their Smart Case for five minutes, you can get enough charge for around 1.5 hours of listening time.

AirPods Max Smart Case Battery Life Feature
During use, you'll hear a tone when your ‌AirPods Max battery charge is 10%, and a second tone just before they run out. But you don't have to wait for these tones to know how much charge they have remaining. Here are several ways that you can keep a closer eye on the battery life of your AirPods Max.

How to Check AirPods Max Charge Status

The status light on the right ear cup shows the charge status of your AirPods Max. If you press the noise control button when your AirPods Max are connected to power, the status light will turn green if the charge has more than 95 percent remaining, or amber if the charge has less than or equal to 95 percent remaining.

airpods max digital crown
If you press the noise control button when your AirPods Max aren't connected to power, the status light will turn green if the charge has more than 15 percent remaining, or amber if the charge has less than or equal to 15 percent remaining.

How to Check AirPods Max Charge Status on iPhone or iPad

When you take AirPods Max out of the Smart Case, their charge status‌‌ should appear on your iPhone's or iPad's screen. You can also check the charge status of your ‌AirPods Max‌ using the Batteries widget in your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌'s Today View, accessed by swiping right on the Lock screen or on your Home screen's first screen of apps.

AirPods-max
If you don't have it installed already, you can add the Batteries widget manually. To do so, enter the Today view, scroll to the bottom of the column of widgets and press the Edit button. Then simply tap the green plus button in the list next to Batteries and tap Done in the upper right of the screen.

siri
If you're a fan of Siri and you're wearing your ‌AirPods‌ Max, you can always ask the virtual assistant "How is the battery life of my ‌AirPods‌ Max?" and you should get an answer.

How to Check AirPods Max Charge Status on Apple Watch

You can check the battery level of your ‌AirPods‌ Max from your wrist, whether they're paired with your ‌iPhone‌ or directly with your Apple Watch.

airpods max charge status apple watch
To do so, bring up the Control Center on your Apple Watch: Swipe up on a watch face, or when in an app, press the bottom edge of the screen then drag up the Control Center. Then tap the Apple Watch battery icon, indicated by a percentage. The battery level of AirPods Max will be displayed as a ring below the Apple Watch battery percentage.

Related Roundup: AirPods Max 2
Buyer's Guide: AirPods Max (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

Popular Stories

airpods max 2 purple

Apple's New Headphones Will Blend Beats With AirPods Max

Thursday July 23, 2026 9:23 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to release a new pair of over-ear Beats headphones that will have a similar design as the AirPods Max, according to teaser images. Spanish soccer star Lamine Yamal was spotted wearing unreleased Beats in a series of photos he shared on Instagram a few months ago. The over-ear headphones have a unique design with some similarities to AirPods Max, including telescoping...
airpods max 2 purple

AirPods Max 3: The Latest Rumors

Friday July 24, 2026 10:06 am PDT by
While the AirPods Max were updated with an H2 chip in March, the over-ear headphones could receive another update next year, if a previous rumor is still accurate. In May 2025, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that he expected lighter-weight AirPods Max to enter mass production in 2027. All versions of the AirPods Max ever released weigh 0.85 pounds, excluding the charging...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Month With These 12 New Features

Thursday August 6, 2026 7:03 am PDT by
It is now August, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are just a month away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a...