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How to check your AirPods battery life
The Apple AirPods battery life isn’t known for being particularly long, no matter which pair of earbuds you go with. Even the longer battery life of the AirPods Max won’t blow the competition out of the water. To ensure your AirPods battery life is enough to get you through the day, here’s our guide on how to see your AirPods battery percentage and check if they’re charging.
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You can hold your AirPods next to your iPhone or iPad to check their battery life, use Control Center on your Mac, or look at the status light on the case (or the AirPods Max right ear cup) to see their battery status.
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How to check AirPods battery percentage on your iPhone or iPad
Chances are you’ve paired your AirPods with an iPhone or iPad. If that’s the case, checking their battery percentage in a few different situations is pretty straightforward.
If your AirPods are in their case, here’s how to see your AirPods battery life:
- Open the case lid and hold your AirPods near your iPhone or iPad.
- A window will pop up on your iPhone or iPad with the battery status of each AirPod and the case itself.
- For the AirPods Max, take them out of their case and hold them close to your phone or press the noise control button to see a pop-up with their battery life.
When wearing the earbuds, here’s how to check the AirPods battery percentage:
- Open the Widgets screen on your iPad or iPhone.
- The Batteries widget will show you the battery status of the earbuds and case.
How to check AirPods battery life on a Mac
Your Mac can also show you the battery status of AirPods. Here’s how to see your AirPods battery percentage on a Mac:
- Near your Mac, open the lid of the charging case with the AirPods inside or take them out of the case. For the AirPods Max, take them out of their case.
- On your Mac’s Control Center.
- Click on the Bluetooth icon in Control Center.
- Hold your mouse pointer over the name of your AirPods to see their remaining battery life.
How to check battery life on the AirPods case
Sometimes you may not have an iPhone or Mac around to check your AirPods battery. That’s not a problem; here’s how to see your AirPods battery percentage without devices. If the earbuds are in the case, the status light on the outside of the case (or inside the area under the lid, depending on the model) indicates the following:
- Green: Fully charged.
- Amber: Less than one full charge remains.
For the AirPods Max, pressing the noise control button will show you the following status indicator lights:
- Green: More than or equal to 15% battery remains.
- Amber: Less than 15% battery remains.
If the earbuds are not in the case, the same colors indicate the battery status of the case itself.
How to check AirPods battery life on Android
To check your AirPods battery life on Android, you’ll need to download and install a third-party app called AirBattery. Only then can you see a battery percentage readout of the various AirPods models.
- Pair your AirPods to your Android phone.
- Install AirBattery through the Google Play Store.
- Open the app.
- Tap Grant Permission and then tap AirBattery.
- Slide the toggle to allow AirBattery to display over other apps.
- Tap Back (<) twice to exit the setup prompts.
- A pop-up card will appear. You can hit Ignore.
- Select your AirPods from the device options.
- Return to your phone’s homepage and then open the AirBattery app.
- Open your AirPods case near your Android phone. Be sure to keep the AirPods inside the case.
- A notification card will appear at the bottom of your screen, displaying the individual AirPod battery percentages and the AirPods case battery life.
How to know if AirPods are charging
Once you connect your AirPods case to a charger, the light on the case or inside the lid will glow to indicate charging. An amber light indicates that your AirPods are charging, and once it turns green, they’re done. The light automatically switches off after a while, but you can open the lid again to see the current charging status.
For the AirPods Max, you can press the noise control button when they’re connected to a charger to see their status. Here’s what the lights mean:
- Green: More than or equal to 95% battery has been charged.
- Amber: Less than 95% of the battery has been charged.
A white light indicates that the AirPods are ready for pairing, while a flashing amber light indicates a problem has occurred.
Top AirPods questions and answers
The amount of time your AirPods will last depends on the model and how you use them. According to Apple, here are the expected battery life stats for each model:
Apple AirPods (2nd generation)
Apple claims the AirPods (2nd generation) will last the following:
- Up to five hours of listening time.
- Up to three hours of talk time.
Apple AirPods (3rd generation)
The AirPods (3rd generation) claim they will last the following:
- Up to six hours of listening time with Spatial Audio disabled.
- Up to five hours of listening time with Spatial Audio enabled.
- Up to four hours of talk time.
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation)
The noise-cancelling AirPods Pro (2nd generation) promise to last this long:
- Up to six hours with ANC enabled.
- Up to 5.5 hours with ANC, Spatial Audio, and head tracking enabled.
- Up to 4.5 hours of talk time.
Apple AirPods Pro (1st generation)
Apple claims that the AirPods Pro (1st generation) get the following battery life:
- Up to 5 hours of listening time with ANC disabled.
- Up to 4.5 hours of listening time with ANC enabled.
- Up to 3.5 hours of talk time with ANC enabled.
Apple AirPods Max
The AirPods Max claim they can get the following battery life:
- Up to 20 hours of listening time with ANC enabled, and Spatial Audio turned on.
- Up to 20 hours of talk time.
- Up to 20 hours of movie playback with Spatial Audio enabled.
To answer this question, we should note that AirPods will learn your listening habits and won’t charge above 80% until just before you usually start listening when paired to an iPhone. That’s to help them preserve their battery and last longer.
With that in mind, it usually takes AirPods anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to around an hour or two to fully recharge, depending on various factors. These include how much battery was remaining when you started charging them, the model of AirPods, and the type of charger you’re using.
Note that all models of AirPods support fast charging. That means you can charge them for around five to 15 minutes and get around an hour of listening time.