Jim Rossman: Fixing a non-working AirPod

Most of the time I write about issues other people are having, but today the problem I will tell you about happened to me.

I love to listen to sports talk radio at lunch if I’m eating alone. I am lucky to get to test out a lot of different kinds of wireless earbuds and headphones, but most of the time I use second-generation AirPods.

I like the way they fit in my ears and they still sound great. They are just like the original AirPods, but the case has wireless charging.

My problem started when I noticed the left AirPod was not working, and the AirPods did not show up on my phone screen when I opened the case and brought it next to my iPhone.

I also noticed the LED status light was flashing orange.

All these symptoms were helpful in searching for the answer.

I searched for AirPods flashing orange and found an answer – the AirPods needed to be reset.

I had a feeling resetting would be the fix.

First, go to the iPhone’s Bluetooth settings and tap the “i” next to the AirPods on the list of devices. On the AirPods preference, touch to “forget” the AirPods, which unpairs them from your phone.

Make sure both AirPods are in the case and press and hold the button on the back of the case until the LED flashes orange (about 15 seconds).

After the amber light has flashed three times, let go of the button.

Now open the AirPods case and bring it to the side of the iPhone. You should see the AirPods connect dialog box.

Touch the connect button and hopefully both AirPods will resume working.

It worked for me.

By the way, the button on the back of the AirPods case is also used to put the AirPods into Bluetooth pairing mode if you’d like to pair them to any non-Apple device.