Have you ever left the house with your AirPods in your ears only to realize later that one of them was out of battery? If you have, we’ve got you covered! There are actually several ways to check your AirPods’ battery life on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Here’s how it’s done!
Headphones Settings
In order to see the battery life of your AirPods, simply head into the Settings app on any iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Navigate through Settings until you find Bluetooth and tap on it. Then, swipe over to the right side of your screen and tap on AirPods. At the top of this screen, you’ll be able to see how much battery life is left in your device in a red bar along with a timer that displays how long it has been since you last charged them. Tap Details for more information about current charge levels or follow these steps:
If an iOS device isn’t showing up in Bluetooth Settings on either an iPhone or iPad (or Mac), close all open apps and try again.
If you’re still having issues with Bluetooth connectivity and audio quality, head into Settings > Sound & Haptics. Tap Output Sound Mix and adjust accordingly. In case it matters, I’m using AirPods connected to a mid-2017 MacBook Pro using Apple’s Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter plugged into a USB C port.
It’s still unclear if some features in iOS 11 aren’t compatible with current generation devices until it has been installed because of licensing restrictions like DRM for streaming music services or FaceTime Audio calling but there are already reports that some first generation devices (iPad mini 1) will be getting stuck during installation resulting in needing to connect your device via iTunes because file system corruption.
Control Center
AirPods’ Battery Life on iPhone, iPad, or Mac: From the Control Center section of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac you can see your AirPods’ battery level. Just go to Settings > Battery. To refresh the information onscreen, swipe left or right. This includes other Bluetooth devices in pairing mode. You can also see the power consumption of AirPods by swiping up with two fingers from the bottom of your device and scrolling down past Useful. You’ll see it just below My Watch.
This doesn’t include information about how much more listening time you have with one pod versus two. If you want an exact reading for each AirPod, open Apple’s Health app. Just tap and hold your finger on a single pod until both pods vibrate. The larger number is how much charge is left in that single earbud. The smaller number represents the other earbud and will always be lower than its partner’s number. Once they’re paired again, their battery levels should return to match once again.
Siri
You can check your AirPods’ battery life on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac: •Open the Bluetooth tab on iOS 11.3 or later •Swipe up to open Control Center and tap on the Battery icon. To use Siri, make sure she is enabled by going to Settings>Siri and tapping Allow ‘Hey Siri’.
- On a Mac, go to System Preferences>Bluetooth and check your AirPods’ battery status. The battery status of your paired device is also visible in macOS System Information.
- On an Apple Watch, swipe up from your watch face and then tap Battery. Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on by going to Settings>Bluetooth and ensure that your Apple Watch is paired with an iPhone.
Find My iPhone
AirPods have made it possible for iPhone users, iPad users, and Mac users alike to completely untether from the laptop or desktop computer and use their devices on the go. The only downside of this is the fear that a battery life will die out in the middle of a podcast or an episode of your favorite TV show. Well worry no more, because there are three ways you can quickly check on your AirPods’ battery life without having to log into your Apple ID: 1) Settings > Battery (iPhone and iPad), 2) System Preferences > Energy Saver (Mac), 3) Settings > General > Usage