Do Older AirPods Still Hold Up After Years Of Use?

Science

José Adorno/BGR

When you invest the cash for an item like Apple’s AirPods, you anticipate them to hold up for many years. Based upon my experience, that’s an affordable expectation to have. Battery life destruction, which is inescapable, there’s no proof that the audio quality gets even worse. The exception to this guideline is that users who stop working to routinely clean their AirPods do discover that sound quality deteriorates with time. This is among a number of reasons cleaning your earbuds is so essential.

In addition to the audio quality remaining constant in time, Apple hasn’t ceased any noteworthy AirPods functions. If you have a set of first-generation AirPods and wish to link them to an iPhone 17, the earbuds still use automated pairing, simple syncing in between Apple gadgets on the exact same Apple Account, and auto-pause/play when putting the earbuds in or taking them out.

Naturally, AirPods may not last as long as you ‘d anticipate if you do not look after them, such as not cleaning them appropriately (both earbuds and charging case), dropping them, or tossing them into your bag with desert. While you can’t inspect battery health on Apple’s earbuds like you can on an iPhone, you may start to see indications of wear. A couple examples of that consist of lowered listening time on a single charge in addition to one earbud draining pipes considerably faster than the other. Luckily, however, there are a couple of things you can do to optimize your older AirPods ‘life-span.

How to reduce battery life destruction on AirPods

science A pair of white AirPods 4 beside a black iPad Pro. José Adorno/BGR

On AirPods, unequal battery drain normally takes place due to the fact that one earbud is doing all the heavy lifting to run the microphone. Active voice calls and offline voice assistant commands draw more power than simply listening to music does, and in my years of utilizing AirPods, I’ve observed that Apple does not normally alter the microphone’s earbud project when it’s set to Automatic. One method to prevent this problem is to by hand switch which earbud is utilized as the default microphone every now and then.

To do that, browse to your iPhone’s Settings app, then tap Bluetooth, then tap the blue information icon beside your AirPods. On the Microphone setting, switch in between Always Left and Always Right every each month approximately. Doing so need to assist stabilize the battery wear of each of your AirPods with time.

Some more recent designs come with software application functions that assist balance out charging-related wear. The AirPods Pro 3 usage adaptive charging innovation to discover your day-to-day use regimens. In doing so, the software application purposefully stops briefly the charge till right before you typically begin utilizing them. Apple states this habits “preserves the lifespan of your battery over time.”

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            <h2 class>When should you update your AirPods?</h2>
                            <picture id="pd9790366bedf7ed3e6cc70f79d68f948"> <source media="(min-width: 429px)" type="image/webp"> <source media="(max-width: 428px)" type="image/webp"> <img src="https://i0.wp.com/media.pmnsports.co.uk/2026/09/localimages/when-should-you-upgrade-your-airpods-1789165582.jpg" data-slide-url="https://www.bgr.com/2256579/do-airpods-hold-up-after-years-of-use/" data-post-id="2256579" data-slide-num="2" data-slide-title="science Do Older AirPods Still Hold Up After Years Of Use?: When should you upgrade your AirPods?" width="780" height="438" alt="science A white Apple AirPods Pro case with a book next to it, both placed on a brown stand.">
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                <span>Jos&eacute; Adorno/BGR</span>
                </p></div>
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            <p>New generations of AirPods usually release every 2 to 3 years. If you're a hardcore user like I am, you'll most likely wind up upgrading your hardware with each brand-new AirPods release-- not since they do not still sound excellent, however since battery life has actually visibly deteriorated and you desire all of the current functions that the brand-new designs use.

Another concern that has actually pressed me to update AirPods more regularly than I may otherwise is that a person side may not charge correctly after a while. Although Apple has actually provided remembers in the past, it has actually been a typical problem for many years, and it’s afflicted every set of AirPods I’ve owned, consisting of the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3. While Apple never ever rejected repair work under service warranty, it so occurred that the concern came back right after my guarantee ended.

If you’re not rather all set to purchase brand-new AirPods, it’s worth checking out Apple’s service and repair work alternatives for AirPods. Throughout the earbuds lineup, battery service costs $49 for each earbud. Harmed AirPods, on the other hand, expense in between $69 and $89. For the charging case, Apple charges in between $59 and $99, depending upon the design. The brand name brand-new AirPods 5 start at $129, you may simply be much better off purchasing a brand-new set.

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