The Best Ways To Fix When AirPods Won’t Connect To Your iPhone – SlashGear

If you have second- or third-generation AirPods, or any version of AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, then your headphones are equipped with Automatic Switching. It’s actually one of the cooler features your AirPods have to offer, but it can cause the occasional problem.

When Automatic Switching is activated, your AirPods can pay attention to your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV all at the same time. Then they can switch automatically between those devices, depending on which audio is most relevant. In practice, that means you could be listening to music on your iPhone and still receive an alert from your other Apple devices, delivered seamlessly to your ears. This way, all of your devices can work together in concert, and you can get whichever information or content is most relevant, all through one set of headphones.

If your audio switches to another device when you don’t want it to, however, it can appear as though your AirPods aren’t connected at all. It’s possible your AirPods are pulling audio from your iPad which is idle across the room, for reasons which will forever remain unknown. To disable Automatic Switching, put your AirPods in, open the Settings app, and select Bluetooth. Tap the information icon next to your AirPods and tap Connect to This iPhone. There, you can select or deselect Automatic Switching.