AirPods are an item you may use throughout your day, and everyday carry items often take the most abuse. AirPods are well-built but can still get damaged easily if you do not adequately care for them.
Sometimes you might get a dent in the shimmering white surface of your case as a result of dropping them if you carry them without a protective case. Or you may lose your AirPods battery health due to poor usage habits. Today we will discuss a few things you should do to care for your AirPods.
Is It Ok to Leave AirPods Out of Case & How Long?
It is not okay to leave your Air Pods out of their case for prolonged periods. Ideally, you should keep AirPods in case when you are not using them, as it may cost you precious battery life. You should not keep them out of the case for more than three hours at a time.
AirPods left out of the case may get completely discharged and become unusable. AirPods are powered by a lithium-ion battery, which can be recharged repeatedly until it eventually runs enough cycles to die. Fully discharging a battery costs more cycles than regular charging and discharging.
Does leaving AirPods out of the case harm your battery life?
Leaving your AirPods out of the case can degrade your battery life. When you leave your AirPods out of their case, they will continue to draw power from the internal battery, which may cause a phenomenon called “leakage.” Leakage can cause your batteries to lose capacity over time.
If this happens, AirPods will no longer be able to hold enough charge to power up to their previous limit. Your completely drained AirPods might not even power on. AirPods have a lithium-ion battery that needs to stay charged to function correctly. Lithium-ion batteries are designed to charge in boosts rather than zero to one hundred percent charge. If your AirPods aren’t charging in their case, you will not have enough power left over after a few hours.
Apple has designed AirPods with some protective features built in. For example, AirPods can use less power when the proximity sensor on each earpiece is active. This allows AirPods to enter a low-power mode, and the goal is to keep your AirPods connected to your phone on minimal power. Lithium-ion batteries have a memory effect where the battery forgets its original charging capacity and worsens.
If you charge your AirPods up fully most days without using them, the battery may complete charging at 50% capacity instead of 100%. The battery on each AirPod earpiece can last almost two hours out of the case. Still, you should avoid draining your battery completely.
Leaving AirPods out of the case keeps them working if they are connected via Bluetooth. Lithium-ion batteries also have another problem called voltage depression. Voltage depression happens when you leave your iPhone or AirPods plugged in overnight without using it much during the day (or at all). This causes the battery to lose power over time gradually. Eventually, it reaches zero volts—a dead battery and an expensive replacement.
How Long Does Air Pods Battery Last?
AirPods have a battery life of 5 hours when listening at maximum volume. Apple AirPods’ battery life depends on different usage patterns, so you may have a better battery life if you are a light user. Depending on how long you leave them out of the case, you may have some battery left or none.
If you leave them out of their case and listen to music at high volume all day long, they will drain much quicker–and once fully drained, they won’t work until they’re recharged again (which takes about two hours).
The battery will run out much faster if you use them to make calls or play games! So, suppose you want to keep using your AirPods for as long as possible. In that case, we recommend keeping them in their case whenever possible.
How to properly take care of AirPods?
If you care properly for your AirPods battery, it can easily last up to three to four years. A few things you can start doing to take better care of your AirPods include:
- Get an AirPods Carry Case
Your AirPods are meant to be kept in the case when not in use. Always make sure you are properly closing the lid and that your AirPods are securely seated inside the case. The AirPods case will protect your earphones from the harsh elements and keep them charged for your next use.
You can invest in a carry case for your AirPods; it will protect your AirPods but help you remember to put them back. You can carry these on your belt loops or any other everyday item.
- Turn Off Your Proximity Sensor
AirPods’ low-power mode may do more harm than good, depending on your usage habits. The sensor feature on your phone uses power which is not ideal when trying to make the battery last.
If you turn off the proximity sensor, you might have to navigate your playlist instead of automatically playback. Here’s how you can get rid of the automatic ear detection feature:
- First, connect your AirPods to your Apple device.
- Then, navigate to Settings, then select Bluetooth on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
- Next, Select your AirPods.
- You can switch off Automatic Ear Detection on this menu.
- Turn off AirPods Double Tap Commands
On the same page, you will find the option to stop using the double-tap AirPods command. Turning off these intelligent sensors in your left and right earpiece can save you some battery life.
You will lose the ability to double-tap your AirPods to control actions, such as skipping, but it will keep your AirPods battery from draining faster when left out of the case. You can turn off this feature entirely or configure it for one AirPods earpiece individually.
- Never Fully Charge Your AirPods
Yes, you read that right. AirPods batteries have a set number of charge and discharge cycles. So, every time you perform a 0 to 100 charge, it counts as a cycle. As you continue through the remaining cycles, your battery will start to deteriorate in capacity. Thus, keeping your AirPods battery between 40% and 85 % would be best.
- Keep Track of Battery Percentage
Place AirPods in the case after using them for three continuous hours. You can check the battery level of your AirPods by connecting them to a MacBook, iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Drain the battery with regular use and try to keep it around 40% before placing the AirPods in their case. You will not notice any substantial battery degradation during the first year. However, you will eventually need a battery replacement. So, make sure you save those battery cycles.
- Ensure your Charger Connection is Secure
If you use a wired Apple charger, ensure it doesn’t come loose from its connection point inside the case, leaving you with no charge. There should be no foreign objects inside your charging port. Things like hair, dead skin, dust, sand, and lint can get lodged inside the AirPods case and may impact your charging speed.
Ensure your charging cable’s gold contacts are all exposed, and there are no dirt or carbon particles on the cable connector.
Conclusion
AirPods batteries do not last more than five years of use, and you will eventually need to get the battery of your AirPods replaced. We have discussed how leaving your AirPods out of the case can drain them off their battery and cause long-term harm to lithium-ion batteries within your AirPods.
If you do not care properly, you could end up with a dead AirPods battery in two years. The battery replacement charges of Apple care are not cheap; thus, you should always try to keep your battery at medium capacity. Charge it more frequently in short bursts rather than a full charge, and keep track of your charging level. Saving your battery cycles will help you retain your battery health longer and save you big bucks on replacements.
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Yousuf Sameed is a tech journalist, guitarist, and writer from Faisalabad, Pakistan. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and specializes in Mobile OS Development. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science. He is an audiophile at heart and loves modern audio accessories like guitar effect processors, and AirPods. He loves tinkering with technology and the melodious sound of an old Gibson Les paul.