How Long Do AirPods Last: Real Usage Tips & Battery Truth

I am not trying to sugarcoat it, by the way, I have already changed three pairs of AirPods during the last five years. First pair? Died after 18 months. Second pair survived to two years until the battery became a potato. When people inquires about the actual duration of Apple Pods, I do not give them the Apple-selling response. I give them the real one.

The thing is as follows: the average life of the AirPods is not less than 2 to 3 years, after which the battery starts exhibiting strange behavior. But that’s not the full story.

What Actually Determines How Long Your AirPods Last

The battery is everything. AirPods have small lithium-ion batteries – we are talking 93mWh per earbud. That’s insanely small. And since they are so small, they reach some 300 to 500 charging cycles before you begin to be struck by difficulties.

What’s a charging cycle? It happens to suck the life out of your AirPods when they are at 100 percent down to 0 percent and then recharge straight up. Does not necessarily have to occur immediately. When you put in 50 per cent to-day and 50 per cent to-morrow, that puts in one rev.

I saw that the first pair of mine began to die quicker at 18 months Isis. They would only get to 3 hours as opposed to 5 hours. One of the earbuds always broke sooner than the other, which was so irritating when calling.

Based on research conducted by actual users, battery capacity is reduced by 20-25 percent after 18 months of intensive usage (2-4 hours per day). When you are pushing them to the limit, then you may experience a half capacity loss within the first year.

Battery Life By Model (What you actually get).

AirPods are not made physically equal. Here’s what I’ve learned:

Original AirPods (1 st and 2 nd Generation): When new, approximately 4.5-5 hours per charge. After a year? More like 3 hours. Cases have an approximate of 24 hours of total lifespan.

Air Pods Pro (1stGen): Started with a 4.5-hour battery life with Active Noise Cancellation on. These appeared to wear off greatly quicker since ANC devours battery recklessly.

AirPods Pro 2:Better 6 hours with ANC. The H2 chip helped a lot. Maximum battery time case on battery reaches 30 hours.

AirPods Pro 3 (the most recent): At this point, it is also interesting. ANC will last up to 8 hours of use. That’s a 33% jump from Pro 2. However, the case battery reduced, and total time was reduced to 24 hours. Trade-off.

The difference? The chips of Apple became considerably more efficient. Better power management was given by the jump of W1 into H1 to H2 chips. In newer models, ANC processing is done on H2 chip which does not kill your battery.

The Secret of Easily Making Your AirPods Last Longer.

Here’s what worked for me:

Activate Optimized Battery Charging: Tap: settings-[Your name]-air pod- turn that slider. It can learn when you wear your AirPods and does not charge them to 100 per cent. until just before you are required. Sounds simple, but it works. According to Apple, this will increase the life span by a few months.

Do not leave them on the case overnight: I had been placing mine in the case overnight, when fully charged. Bad move. Where possible try to maintain them between 20-80%.

Reduce Volume: When the phone is at top volume, decelerate the battery by 30-percent. I keep mine around 60-70% now.

Switch off ANC to save power- ANC consumes 20-30 percent more power compared to normal mode. In a quiet room? Just turn it off. You will get an additional hour or two to pay.

Don’t be serious: Do not leave your air pods in the hot car or subject them to extreme temperature changes like the freezing weather. Lithium-ion batteries are swiftly tampered with by heat and cold.

Wipe down the charging pins: After every 2 weeks, wiping with a dry cloth or an anti-static wipe on the metal parts. Smeary pins = low charging = accelerated deterioration.

The Theoretical Cost of Lost Earphones.

At last your AirPods have ceased to work, so this is what you may expect to see:

• No AppleCare: $49 earbud by the battery service of Apple. Both earbuds and case? That’s $147.
• Under the warranty of AppleCare+: Battery replacement is a free option when battery capacity falls below 80 percent.
• Third party repair (in India): Approximately [?]3,499, comes with a 6 month warranty.

Majority of the ones then simply purchase new ones. Which is quite logical in case your AirPods are 2-3 years old.

The Bottom Line

So, the lifespan of AirPods is 2 to 3 years in the case of most just people. The average users could get up to 18 months of battery life before beginning to experience battery troubles. Light users could push 3+ years.

The battery is the weak link. All other aspects, sound quality, Bluetooth connection, build, etc. do not seem bad. It can only make sense that small battery dying slowly on you.

My advice? When purchasing new AirPods, it is better to use the most recent model. The H2 types of the chip (Pro 2, Pro 3, AirPods 4) are much more effective in battery control. And enable the Optimized Battery Charging feature they second.

FAQs

Why does one AirPod die faster than the other?

This occurs to nearly all human beings. In most cases, it is due to it being the earbud which gets used more during calls (the mic consumes more energy), or due to a minor defect during the manufacturing process.

Occasionally in case you have changed one earbud within the warranty period, the new earbud has lasted longer than the old earbud. It is irritating, but it is the indicator that soon a battery change is going to happen.

Can I check my AirPods battery health like I can on my iPhone?

Nope. Apple does not provide you with battery future percentage of AirPods. The most you can do is to open the case to know the present level of charge or you can add Batteries widget to your home screen.

To monitor degradation, you must have a comparison of the longevity of them as compared to their new stage. No formal 82 percent health monitors, like with phones.

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