Wireless earbuds generally follow a very easy-to-understand set of instructions: Open their charging case (and/or remove them from their case) and they’ll turn on and connect to your phone. . When you put them back in their case and close the lid, they will disconnect and the power will turn off. But wireless earbuds can malfunction from time to time, seeming to connect to your phone whenever they want – even when they’re in the charging case.
Why does this happen? And what can you do to prevent your earbuds from connecting inside the case?
Here are the top solutions worth trying.
Your charging case needs to be recharged
The No. 1 reason why wireless earbuds won’t reconnect to your phone (or the last device they were connected to) from within their case is because the charging case has died.
Most wireless earbuds use a simple technique to know when they have been placed in their case: they check to see if voltage is being applied to their charging contacts. If they sense voltage they turn off. If that voltage goes away, they assume you’ve removed them from the case, so they turn on themselves.
When the internal battery of the charging case is completely drained, it can no longer provide voltage to the earbuds. Recharging the case should fix the problem.
The lid of your charging case is not completely closed
Many charging cases have Hall sensors – tiny magnets that tell the charging case whether its lid is open or closed. Some wireless earbuds – Apple AirPods are a perfect example – are designed to reconnect to your phone as soon as you open the lid of the charging case. The trouble is, the reverse is also true: the earbuds won’t disconnect until the case senses that the lid is closed.
If the lid of your case is damaged or there is something that is preventing the Hall sensor from recognizing that the lid is closed, the earbuds will assume the lid is open and they will remain connected.
Your charging contacts are dirty or damaged
So you’ve made sure that your charging case has juice, and the lid opens and closes correctly, but your earbuds are still connecting on their own?
It’s possible that their charging contacts (or the matching contacts inside the charging case) may have become dirty with dirt or debris. When this happens, the result can be the same as a bad charging case battery – the earbuds don’t sense any voltage, so they stay on.
Here’s a great in-depth guide on how to clean your earbuds or headphones, and a specific guide for cleaning the charging case that comes with your Apple AirPods and AirPods Pro.
Your earbuds are not seated properly inside their charging case
Similar to the dirty/damaged contacts issue, if your earbuds are not seated properly, the charging contacts will not touch and, once again, your earbuds may assume they should remain connected to your device.
This is a problem with earbuds that use earhooks – as the earbuds are worn, the earhooks change their shape slightly to conform to your ears. But when you replace them in a case, that new shape may prevent the contacts from touching.
This can also happen if you replace the factory silicone eartips with larger size or third-party eartips. Foam eartips can be especially problematic because they are not as flexible as silicone.
Double-check to make sure your earbuds are always seated correctly; Not only is this a potential cause of reconnection, but it could also mean bad earbuds the next time you reach for them.