My Air Pods Pro suddenly won't connect properly

[maclover9771]

I have a set of Air Pods Pro that worked fine for months, impressibly so. I put them in my ears and go to one of my Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, or iMac) and they either connect automatically or a simple "bluetooth | Connect" and away I go.

All of a sudden a few weeks ago I found a weird detail. When I initially set them up I called them "My AirPods". Now suddenly they were appearing on my iMac as "My AirPods - Find my". Odd. I renamed them from my iMac and now nothing seems to work. I haven't tied my iPad lately but for both my iPhone and iMac I have to remove them then reconnect them...every time, Once connected they seem to work OK, although the "My AirPods - Find my" naming oddity continues. Even if I go back to the same device a few hours later, I have to remove/reconnect them. When I do this on my iPhone, it tells me that removing them will affect all iCloud devices.

I don't live near an Apple store anymore so taking them in is possible but an all day affair. Previous experience tells me this is a 50/50 proposition.

Anybody seen this or have any ideas?

Thanks

 

[MacInWin]

The name change is, I think, normal. My AirPods name also changed to add the "Find My" tag. I think that is because you can now track down the AirPods using the Find My app. I just tested and the AirPods connected automatically, despite the name change.

I went through a spate of remove/re-pair cycles a while ago and fixed it by logging out of iCloud on all devices that shared the AirPods, then logging back into iCloud. Not sure if that actually fixed it, or was a coincidence, but after the logout/login cycle, the AirPods work well again.

 

[maclover9771]

I'll try that, thanks!

 

[maclover9771]

Son of a b....Didn't work. Same crap. This is yet another reason Apple is driving me nuts. All the "It Just Works" isn't working anymore.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, if it's not a system setting issue, which logging out and in should have sorted out, then it might be some sort of interference issue. BT uses the same frequency band as WiFi and other low energy remote devices like wireless land line units, some remote controls, etc. So, if something interferes with the signals it could interrupt the connection negotiations between the device and the AirPods. Has there been any changes that came just before the issue appeared? And it doesn't have to be computer related, either.

 

[maclover9771]

But they worked flawlessly for months...nothing has changed from then to now. Well, obviously something has, but nothing I can identify.

 

[MacInWin]

See if anything here helps. I wonder if the renaming you did mucked up the pairing process? Maybe if you can reset the AirPods to factory and then re-pair them as totally new, it might sort it out?

Change the settings of your AirPods and AirPods Pro

Learn how to change the name of your AirPods and change what happens when you double tap your AirPods (1st and 2nd generation) or press and hold on AirPods Pro (1st and 2nd generation).

support.apple.com

 

[maclover9771]

That's a thought...but the link is all about setting them up, I didn't see any mention of resetting to factory defaults. I found a page that did...but they won't reset. At least I assume that if they are properly reset to factory defaults the name I gave them when they were initially set up would no longer appear, but it does so...???

 

[IWT]

Try this:

How to reset your AirPods and AirPods Pro

You may need to reset your AirPods if they won't charge, or to fix a different issue.

support.apple.com

Ian

 

[maclover9771]

That's the page I found. Took 4 tries but I'm seeing some positive results. Time will tell.

Thanks

 

[maclover9771]

Late to reply, but everything now works as it should (and used to).

Thanks!