Last Updated on 01/02/2022 by Nidhi Khandelwal
AirPods are an excellent product. However, the minor annoyances that occur when using them prevent it from being classified as an Apple device that “Just Works.”
These are the complaints that a product designer, Philip Ardeljan experienced after using AirPods for a long time. On his third pair right now.
Issue 1: If you have AirPods connected to two devices, like an iMac and an iPhone, and you use your iMac and unlock your iPhone to check something, the AirPods will sometimes switch to the iPhone. You, on the other hand, did not want them to. He understood that Apple is trying to be intelligent and anticipate your motions, which he admires, but it’s bothersome when it gets in the way.
According to him:
Issue 2: (While in use) When removing AirPods out of your ears and leaving them on your desk for a moment (to get some water, etc.) and then putting them back in, the tone sound sometimes makes you think they’ve connected, but they haven’t.
Issue 3: In the instance above, the AirPods icon is visible in the menu bar, leading you to believe it’s connected because the UI is visually signaling it. However, you must first click the bluetooth icon, then select the active AirPods from the list, and then click the icon again to reconnect them.
Issue 4: In the aforesaid case, there is a brief 3 second delay after clicking the active AirPods in the bluetooth list, leading you to believe they haven’t been disconnected, prompting you to click it again. However, your first click did indeed fire, leaving you perplexed as to where you are now.
Issue 3: If you exit a slack/zoom/etc call using AirPods as your microphone and immediately play the music you were listening to right before the call by pressing the play button on your keyboard, your music will play at a lesser audio quality than if you waited 5 seconds and then clicked play.
Issue 5: Only the left or right AirPod plays sound at times. Taking them in and out of your ears won’t repair it; you’ll have to put them back into the case and take them out again, which won’t always work. To fix it, you’ll need to put your AirPods in and out of your case two or three times.
Issue 6: When you get a call on your iPhone while working on your iMac/MacBook and want to use the AirPods to take the call, it takes a good 5-7 seconds for them to be properly linked after answering the call and switching to AirPods. As a result, the awkward “Hello?” Hello? “Oh sure, I can hear you now,” says the speaker.
Issue 7: After several years of use, both of his initial two pairs of AirPods developed an annoying buzzing noise. The only option he discovered was to purchase a new pair. This is a huge annoyance because this problem with other headphones is very minimal (not that it doesn’t happen with other headphones).
AirPods are the fantasy of every individual. But all is required for these vexing complaints to go away.
