AirPods Are Randomly Disconnecting During Calls Sparking Apple Investigation

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It appears that Apple’s difficulties surrounding the AirPods Bluetooth earbuds are ongoing. The company initially had trouble getting the AirPods out the door in time for the originally-announced October launch date. Then, when the initial influx of AirPods arrived in December, there wasn’t enough stock to go around so shipping times quickly extended from days to weeks to well over a month.

Now, Apple is having to face another problem with the AirPods as customers have taken to its Support Communities site to complain about random disconnections while on a phone call. This is a quite peculiar problem, as users are reporting that they don’t have the disconnection problems when listening to music or playing games — it is specifically related to phone calls.

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“I have same problem with iPhone 6s, disconnects intermittently during calls, no problem when listening to music,” wrote user kevwkev. “It happens so frequently that I can't believe product testers did not notice it, makes you think if they just rush the product out because of the holiday season.”

Some users have suggested using just a single AirPod to see if that alleviates the problem, but users are experiencing sketchy results with that suggestion. “I tried the single AirPod, and it disconnected only once on a phone call,” explained iPadSam. “It's disconnected probably 100 times when using both AirPods and only that once on a single. As with everybody else though, no issues with music or 3rd party calling apps. Just with the native iPhone dialer.”

Right now, the problem seems to only affects AirPods users that are connected to an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus. The newer iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus don’t appear to be afflicted with the same annoyances. According to MacRumors, Apple is currently investigating the issue and will hopefully be able to issue a software update in a timely fashion.

Brandon Hill

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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