Only One AirPod Working at a Time? Try These Fixes

By Mike Peterson
1 Min Read
Analyst Claims AirPods Will Aquire 'Augmented Audio', Apple Glasses Will Arrive By 2020 Credit: Everything Technology
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AirPods are great, and they’re Apple’s most evident step toward a wireless future. But, as with all tech products, they can sport some annoying bugs.

Among those bugs is a particularly inconvenient one that causes only one AirPod to work at any given time. While not a widespread issue, there are a fair number of reports across the Apple Support forums indicating that it’s not an entirely isolated incident.

If you’re experiencing this bug, there are a few things you can try to save you a trip to the Genius Bar.

Reset and Repair

  1. Before you go any further, navigate to Settings > Bluetooth > AirPods. From here, tap on the “I” icon and then “Forget This Device.”

  2. At this point, you’ll want to ‘hard reset’ your AirPods by holding down the pairing button on the rear of your AirPods case for about 15 seconds. The light should flash amber and then white.

  3. Finally, go back into Settings > Bluetooth and trying pairing your device with your AirPods again. They should be listed under “Other Devices.”

If That Doesn't Work, Try This

  1. An additional and somewhat weird step is to simply try the above method, but hold down the pairing button for an extended period of time ~ like 40 seconds.

  2. Once you do, the AirPods case should flash through its white and amber lights for about 5 cycles. Then, try re-paring your device. For many users, this extended method fixes the issue.

  3. It’s worth noting that the extra step of reseting your iPhone’s network settings could also fix the issue. Just go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings, and then pair with your AirPods again.

  4. Used together, both of these additional steps should fix the problem.

If All Else Fails

  1. Of course, if you went through the trouble of hard resetting and re-pairing your AirPods several times and they still don’t work as intended, it’s probably time to take your wireless earbuds to the repair shop.

  2. You can get in touch with Apple Support staff via their official Contact page, or their Twitter account. They’ll be able to guide you through additional steps or get you the support that you need to fix it.

  3. Alternatively, you can just book a Genius Bar appointment at your local brick-and-mortar Apple Store directly by going to this link.

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