How To Restart Your AirPods — And When You Should

Most devices that rely on software for their core features need a restart every now and then, and the AirPods are no exception. It especially comes in handy whenever your earbuds or headphones suddenly start malfunctioning — maybe your AirPods' noise cancellation isn't working, or perhaps they won't connect to your phone.

Instead of going through the hassle of resetting the AirPods to their factory default settings and then pairing them to every single device they used to be connected to, you can try restarting them first. A restart on the AirPods works like a restart on any other device — it simply reloads the system and fixes minor bugs, all while retaining stored data and settings like your connected Apple Account and Bluetooth pairings. This is a quicker and more convenient first step when troubleshooting your glitching AirPods.

We'll walk you through the easy steps on how to restart your AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max, whichever model you have. All you need is the earbuds and the charging case for your AirPods and AirPods Pro — or in the case of the AirPods Max, just the headphones themselves.

Before you factory reset your AirPods, it's a good idea to restart them first. For your AirPods and AirPods Pro, this is as easy as placing both earbuds inside the charging case and leaving them in for at least ten seconds. You won't have to press or do anything. Simply wait for the requisite time to pass before taking your AirPods out and trying again.

For your AirPods Max, the restart process is similar to how you would reset the headphones. Start by holding down both the listening mode button and the Digital Crown, which are both located on the right headphone. Once the LED indicator beside the charging port starts glowing amber — this should take no more than 10 seconds — let go of the buttons. Make sure to release the buttons as soon as you see the amber LED. Otherwise, your AirPods Max may initiate the factory reset process.

If restarting your AirPods doesn't solve your issue, you can try unpairing them from the problematic device and then pairing them again. Beyond that, you may want to try updating your AirPods firmware. If that still doesn't work, you can always proceed with resetting the earbuds or headphones to their factory defaults.