Getting through the work week for some people is an excruciating ordeal, only made worse by the mind-numbing white noise of your immediate environment. Even worse is when your left Airpod decides to go on strike and fails to charge, leaving you with the unbelievably unsatisfying feeling of single-ear audio.
Unlike a wired headset, your Airpod has not lost a channel and doesn’t always need to be replaced. You are experiencing a loathsome issue that can more than likely be fixed or at the very least – diagnosed.
Whether you are a day one Apple aficionado who allows nothing but iOS devices in your home or you are simply someone looking to try these trendy earbuds out, everyone knows that Apple products come at a high price. So for your hard-earned money, you deserve a product that will not fall short of your expectations when you need them most.
In this article, we are going to go over why individual Airpods fail to charge, how to fix them and quite a bit more so you don’t have to read the fine print of that warranty you aren’t sure you purchased.
Why Do Airpods Fail to Charge?
The first thing we have to understand is that usually, we are looking in the wrong direction to solve this issue. While it may feel like the earbud is the bane of your existence, what is more likely is that the charging case itself is flawed.
This does not mean that you have to toss out your charging case with the weekly garbage, but you should follow the tips in this article to make sure that this problem is rectified. Few things are more irritating than getting all the items you will need for the day and finding out one or more of them is out of commission.
It should be said before we get into all the solutions that your device may in fact need Apple support or a replacement case, though this is less likely than the alternative.
Before you reach out to them, however, you should try the following tips to ensure that you have exhausted all avenues. If you aren’t familiar with some of the repair costs Apple will throw at you, let’s just say they start out steep and climb from there.
How To Get Your Airpod To Charge (Five Solutions!)
1. Take Out Airpod and Try Reloading Them Into Case
Every Airpod case has a visible part at the bottom known as a charging place. If your Airpod fails to physically connect with this forgettable piece of the container, then you will not have a charged Airpod the next time you pull it out.
To solve this issue in the most basic, rudimentary sense, sometimes it helps to simply try again.
Rest assured, I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of how to reinsert your AirPods into the charging case. Take them out, reload them into your case and see if the problem is fixed.
If you are reading this wondering why I didn’t assume you have already tried this, accept my sincerest apologies and move on to the next solution.
2. Make Sure Your Charging Case is Fully Charged
The second thing you will want to do is unfortunately somewhat time-consuming, though likely the fix for several people with this issue.
If your charging case has a substandard charge, it is not going to be able to charge your Airpods. If your charging case is plugged in properly, this process shouldn’t take longer than an hour.
Checking your Airpod charge is easy and fairly universal whether you are checking your earbuds or the case itself. Simply bring the charging case (with the AirPods inside of it) to your phone while it is charging, then flip the case lid up. The percentage of battery that your case and AirPods have will appear conveniently on the front of your iPhone.
Don’t stress about the possibility of overcharging your case, the batteries are designed to reject voltage once they are fully charged.
3. Clean Your Airpods & The Charging Case
This fixes several issues that your Airpods may experience over their lifespan outside of the fact that it minimizes the risk of you getting an ear infection from sharing your earbuds with less hygienically minded folks. With that being said, the process of cleaning your Airpods and their charging case is an incredibly delicate procedure that is both tedious and time-consuming, so make sure you give yourself a bit of free time beforehand.
You will want to be gentle around the openings of the earbud and near any open electrical pieces (the port that connects the charging case and the Airpod comes to mind). It is highly recommended that you avoid anything corrosive or metallic due to the risks of damaging your Airpods either aesthetically or in their interior.
You should not clean your Airpods with anything metal, and liquids – unless otherwise stated – should stay clear of your earbuds and case, no chemical agents, abrasive cloths, soaps, or rough materials. You should also not take off any necessary parts of the earbuds, including the outer shell or exterior, what you can’t get with the tools provided should be left alone or you risk serious harm to your Airpods.
You are going to need a few household items to clean your earbuds. You will want to grab some Q-tips, cotton swabs, or even pads if you have them, wooden toothpicks are ideal, electronics wipes, and a container to keep a small amount of water in (for cleaning tools).
- Begin cleaning the outer layer of your earbuds and charging case with a Q-tip, being particular to grab all exterior grime and sediment off of the product.
- Using a separate Q-tip (remember that cotton products work just as well), start cleaning the more sensitive areas of the charging case and Airpods, audio output holes, the charging port, microphone, etc. Be careful that fine, hard to see threads of cotton don’t get stuck on the product
- It is incredibly important that throughout this process you are not muscling the product to remove sediment. Airpods are an expensive and delicate piece of tech, frustration isn’t worth the cost to replace these.
- Using the toothpick, begin picking at the hard-to-reach areas that you couldn’t get with your Q-tip. Refrain from inserting the toothpick into the mesh on the Airpods or any vulnerable parts of the charging case.
- Electronic wipes work well to remove any persistent gunk that remains on either part of your Apple product.
Once this process is complete and your charging case is fully charged, place your AirPods into the charging case and see if your problem is resolved. If it still persists, continue to solution #4.
4. Buy an Apple Charging Cable
Who hasn’t been in a rush and bought some suspect third-party charger at the sketchy Valero two miles away from their house on the way to work? They aren’t ideal, but they are cheap and they can be a lifesaver if you are strapped for time.
Unfortunately, sometimes just having a matching end on a cable does not make for a compatible connection and this can cause complications when you are trying to charge your device, be it a smartphone, tablet, or earbuds.
Check the cable you use to charge your Airpod case. If it isn’t manufactured by Apple it may be the reason that your case is struggling to charge your Airpods, if it even recognizes the charger at all. If you already have an Apple cable and charger, don’t waste the money buying another. Regrettably, for those who do not have Apple everything, you may have to jump on the technological bandwagon if you want your Airpods to work.
5. Forget Your Airpods, Reset Your Airpods, Reconnect Your Airpods
If you have tried all the other fixes and you are still looking for a solution, thanks for being a good sport. If none of the above quick fixes did the trick, this very well might work, and more importantly, get your Airpods to start charging.
Simply put, you are going to need to forget your Airpods on the device they are connected to or paired with. After this, you need to reset your AirPods through the case and then reconnect them to your preferred iOS device.
The process is quick and simple to follow:
- Go to your Settings and then navigate to the Bluetooth menu.
- Tap the lowercase i next to your Airpods on the dropdown menu and then hit Forget This Device.
- Put both AirPods in the charging case and shut the case completely.
- Now hold the Setup button for no less than 15 seconds. Set a timer, do the Mississippi method, text a loved one, just make sure it is held down for at least fifteen seconds.
- The status light will blink a yellowish-orange light before flashing white. When it is white, your Airpods have successfully reset.
- You now have to reconnect them to your iOS device. They should already be in pairing mode.
- From your iOS Device, once again go to Settings and then Bluetooth.
- From the dropdown menu, select your Airpods.
- They are now fully reconnected and the charging process should be fixed.
Conclusion
If all else fails, you will have to contact a professional or Apple genius. This is never an ideal situation, though sometimes tech falters and it is outside of our control whether we treated the product perfectly or not.
Regardless, you should always look for yourself to see if there are any easy fixes before spending your hard-earned cash on some guy telling you that you need a different charging cable.
