Five Tips to Improve AirPods Battery Life

Apple’s AirPods are among the best wireless headphones currently available, albeit let down slightly by their battery life. The latest third-generation AirPods will last for around six hours. The existing AirPods Pro? Just four hours. By contrast, buyers of the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Buds+ can expect ten or more hours on a single charge.

At the same time, these figures aren’t set in stone. How the users treat their headphones and earbuds will affect how long the batteries last. For the most part, getting the maximum battery life from earbuds involves following just a handful of steps. What’s more, all are easily tackled with any of Apple’s various earbud-style AirPods models. That’s as opposed to the manufacturer’s AirPods Max and their over 20 hours of battery life on a full charge.

It sounds like common sense. But all too often, people fail to put their AirPods back in their case when not in use. When they’re not in their case, they’re not charging. That means their battery is slowly draining at the same time.

Even a short burst of power from their case can grant an extra hour or more of listening time. For this reason, AirPods should always be stored there, without fail.

Of course, always storing AirPods in their case counts for nothing if the case itself has no power. Make a point of charging the case whenever you charge your smartphone. That way, it’s always likely to be fully or almost fully charged.

Simply adhering to these two first steps is often all that’s required to stay on top of the battery life of any AirPods. Remember that a quick charge of as little as 15 minutes can grant two hours or more of listening time. With up to 24 hours of additional charge stored in their case, by ensuring that it’s charged every day or two, there should always be battery life available one way or another.

Where continuous listening is important, several other steps can be crucial to improving AirPods battery life. For example, while the passive noise canceling functionality of standard AirPods has no impact on battery life, the same can’t be said of AirPods Pro and their active version of the same tech.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to disable this feature when you’re not using it. Aside from actual usage, active noise canceling is one of the biggest drains of battery life among Pro model AirPods. Accordingly, turning it off when not needed is a great way to get the maximum possible time between charges. The same goes for features like automatic ear detection. Turn it off to boost battery life.

All batteries perform best within a specific temperature range, including when charging. Batteries drain faster and charge slower when used in hot or cold environments. That’s because they don’t work well at these extremes. Accordingly, it’s advisable to avoid exposing AirPods to such temperatures.

Not only will this help them to last longer on a single charge, but it’ll also promote better battery health in the longer term.

Another way to ensure that you’re getting the very best from your AirPods is by protecting them with an extended warranty. Of course, an extended headphone warranty doesn’t directly impact things like battery life. However, they do help to keep tech like smartphones, smartwatches, and wireless headphones in great shape.

Furthermore, with an extended AirPods warranty in place, should a more serious fault occur, Upsie will take care of it. Upsie’s extended warranties cost up to 70 percent less than warranties sold elsewhere, including options from AppleCare.

Upsie covers manufacturing defects resulting in mechanical failures, liquid damage, and early wear. Protection with Upsie also protects AirPods from drops, including cracks and broken hardware. Best of all, Upsie customers can make unlimited claims up to the purchase price of the device, ensuring that customers get the most out of every warranty option.