The AirPods are extremely easy to use. They are wireless and that is simply better for listening to music. The AirPods and AirPods Pro have a charging case to charge the earbuds more. You can fully charge the AirPods Max in a few hours via a Lightning or USB-C cable.
The battery of the AirPods (Pro) lasts about 4 to 8 hours with normal use and depending on the model. Thanks to the charging case that also contains a battery, you can increase the listening time to 24 hours. If you charge the AirPods in the case for 15 minutes, you can then listen to music for another 3 hours. The AirPods Max have a battery life of approximately 20 hours.
Charge AirPods with charging case
You can charge the battery of the charging case by connecting it to a computer using the cable and, for example, your iPhone adapter or via USB. Those who own the second generation of AirPods with wireless charging case, AirPods 3 or newer and all AirPods Pro models can also charge the case via a Qi charger. Finally, AirPods 3 with MagSafe Charging Case, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 2 or newer can be charged with a compatible MagSafe charger.
You can leave the AirPods in the case while charging, so they are immediately fully charged. The earphones and case are fully charged after an hour. To fully charge the AirPods, it is not necessary to also charge the case. As soon as you put the earphones in the case, they are charged using the internal battery, unless you use optimized charging.
Charging AirPods Max
You need to charge the AirPods Max using a lightning or USB-C cable. A fully charged battery provides 20 hours of battery life, even when using active noise cancellation. Is the battery (almost) empty? After just 5 minutes of charging you can listen for 1.5 hours. The AirPods Max are fully charged after about an hour.
Consult the battery status of the AirPods and case
You can request the status of the battery in various ways. The easiest way is via an iPhone or iPad. When you open the case, a window will immediately pop up from the bottom of your screen. You can immediately see the battery status of the earphones and case.
While playing music, when the AirPods are connected, you can check the battery status from the control center. You do this by tapping the triangle with the circles or AirPods symbol in the music panel. You can also consult the battery status via the battery widget via a special pop-up window.
On Mac you can also check the battery status of the AirPods. Remove the AirPods from the charging case and from macOS Big Sur, click bluetooth in it control panel. From macOS Tahoe you can also click directly on it AirPods icon in the menu bar.
Are you still running macOS Catalina or older? Then click on the Bluetooth symbol in the menu bar and then on the AirPods. A connection is made immediately and you will see a battery indication. If you do not see a Bluetooth icon in the menu bar, you must activate it via:  â–¸ System Preferences â–¸ Bluetooth â–¸ check the ‘Show Bluetooth in menu bar’ option at the bottom.
Have the AirPods battery replaced
If the battery life of the Pods decreases drastically over time, you can choose to have the battery replaced. Within the warranty this is free up to 80%, after which you pay between €59 and €85. You can find more information about this here back.