How To Turn Off AirPods

Stopping AirPods from playing audio doesn't mean they are turned off. Here's how to fully shut down the earbuds to preserve battery life.

AirPods might be energy-efficient, but just because they're no longer playing audio doesn't necessarily mean they're turned off. There's a difference between AirPods that are powered down and ones that are simply on standby, so ensuring they're properly shut down is crucial in preserving the batteries. At the same time, AirPods have consistently been getting better in terms of battery life following each new entry.

The original AirPods already touted an impressive five hours of continuous playback when released back in 2016. However, the lithium-ion batteries that Apple uses in these wireless earbuds degrade over time depending on how often they're being used. Since manually replacing these batteries is not exactly easy, it's best to avoid the process altogether by making sure the earbuds are turned off when not in use.

AirPods come with a feature called Automatic Ear Detection, which is turned on by default, according to Apple. This feature stops audio from playing when an earbud is removed from the ear and then resumes playback once both earbuds are inserted back. Removing both earbuds at the same time will prevent playback from resuming altogether until they're both placed back in the ears. Although the audio playback is paused during this process, the AirPods battery will still continue to drain, albeit slightly slower than when actively in use.

How To Turn AirPods Off Completely

Keeping AirPods connected while not playing audio only puts them in low power consumption mode. Since AirPods lack any sort of physical off button, users can only shut them down by placing them back into the charging case and closing the lid. The earbuds will also power down on their own if they're not connected to any device for a period of time. If users simply want to extend battery life without having to power the AirPods down, they can also try disabling the spatial audio feature for models that support it. Likewise, turning off the active noise cancellation also extends battery life.

Lowering volume levels is another option for extending play time and especially on older models, like the first and second-gen AirPods which don't come with additional battery-draining features. As for the case itself, there isn't really a way to turn it off completely, as the physical button on the case actually serves a different function. Perhaps a virtual on/off toggle switch, or at least an equivalent touch control, will be introduced in future versions. In the meantime, however, users might want to keep their AirPods charging case within reach as a quick and convenient way to preserve battery life.