Apple and its AirPods! Wow, they have really taken the market by a storm, haven’t they? It goes without saying that the Apple AirPods are one of the best wireless earbuds available, but of course, they do come with the occasional common, but pesky issues, such as AirPods connected but sound coming from phone.
A very common problem AirPods users have faced is with the AirPods’ connection. Imagine, you are in the middle of a very important work call and your AirPods lose their connectivity! Here are a few different ways to eliminate the issue, “AirPods connected but sound coming from phone”. Keep reading to find out more!
Why Is Sound Coming Out of Phone When AirPods Are Connected?
AirPods are known for their easy use and superb technology. But just as any tech writer will agree, superb technology also comes with its set of issues, one of the most common being “AirPods connected but sound coming from phone.”
There can be numerous reasons for this pesky problem, and the reasons may differ for an android device or an iOS device, and various system preferences that could be in play across devices. At times, something as simple as re-opening your phone’s music application does the trick, while other times, you may need to put in a bit more effort. Make sure to check that you don’t have ear wax in your ears too!
How to Fix AirPods Connected But Sound Coming From Phone Issues?
1. Reset Your Bluetooth Settings
As most you know (hopefully), AirPods rely on Bluetooth in order to connect to your Apple device, or any other Bluetooth device for that matter. So, before anything else, we suggest that you reset your Bluetooth settings on your Bluetooth devices.
Quick tip: This is something you should follow for any Bluetooth headphones when they are connected but sound coming from phone.
This is what you need to do to ensure that you have a stable connection:
- Head over to your iPhone’s settings app to reset Bluetooth settings.
- Select Bluetooth.
- Over here, tap on the toggle switch on ‘Bluetooth’ to turn it off. Wait for a 5-10 seconds and tap Bluetooth to turn it back on .
Another way to do this is to head over to your iPhone’s control center. If you’ve never checked this out, all you have to do is swipe down on your iPhone. Over here, you will find the blue Bluetooth icon. Tap the Bluetooth icon to turn it off and then turn it on a few seconds later. Give this a couple more shots and try to connect to your device, in case the problem persists.
If restarting your Bluetooth connectivity didn’t seem to do the trick, we recommend trying to reset your Bluetooth menu. Head over to the Bluetooth settings menu and tap on ‘forget device’ on the right of your AirPods. Now, let your iPhone scan for devices nearby. Once the AirPods are detected, connect to them via Bluetooth. And voila! Now you have your Airpods connected, with a stable Bluetooth connection.
2. Reset Your AirPods
To fix problems with AirPods connected to your device, but still having the sound come from your phone or output device, you can try to reset AirPods. It can help to fix any issues with the AirPods firmware. All you will need for this is your iPhone, your AirPods and their charging case, and soon you will see that your AirPods are connected seamlessly!
- To reset your AirPods, begin with disconnecting them from your device or iPhone. To do this, head over to Settings, followed by ‘Bluetooth’.
2. On the info icon against the name of your AirPods, you need to tap on “Forget this device.”
3. Now, place the AirPods inside their charging case and close the lid.
4. With the lid of the charging case closed, hold the button at the back of the case down, until the status light begins to blink.
5. Once this is done, open the lid and try connecting your AirPods to your device.
4. Update Your iPhone’s iOS Software
At times, you may face the “AirPods connected but sound coming from phone” problem simply because of software incompatibility. If your phone is running on an older or outdated software, it is time for a firmware update.
- Head to “Settings” on your iPhone, followed by “General.”
- Next, tap on the “Software Update.” Here, you will be able to see if there are any updates in place.
- If there are, download and install the latest iOS and firmware version.
- Once the software is done installing, your iPhone will restart. You will see that the Apple logo appears, after which, you can use your iPhone as you normally would.
- Try connecting your AirPods to your iPhone and play sound to test if the same AirPods which were giving you the “AirPods connected but sound coming from phone” issue before are working normally now.
4. Reset Network Settings
While we don’t usually recommend for you to reset network settings on your iPhone immediately, it is something that works when none of the other methods above seem to do the trick to stop sound coming from your iPhone instead of your AirPods.
Resetting your network settings on your phone’s software results in all network settings being removed and factory reset. This can get a little annoying since it means you need to set up all of your network connections all over again. But nonetheless, at least your AirPods will get connected!
Here’s what you need to do:
- Unlock your iPhone and open the Settings app.
- Here, go to “General.”
- Now, select “Reset Network Settings.”
- Once this is done, connect your AirPods to your phone’s Bluetooth and you should be good to go! Try hearing sound from your iPhone to ensure that the AirPods work as expected.
5. Switch Off Automatic Ear Detection
If you notice that you are often facing the issue of “AirPods connected but sound coming from phone”, it is time you become aware of the rather cool feature Apple’s AirPods offer – the automatic ear detection. What this feature does is that it recognizes if both earbuds are in your ears or not.
If they aren’t, the automatic ear detection feature will change the audio output device from your AirPods, to the source device. While this is a great feature, sometimes turning automatic ear detection off proves to be more beneficial than having it on. Here is what you need to do to turn it off:
- Head over to the Settings app on your Apple iPhone.
- Select Bluetooth and under “My Devices” tap on the info icon beside the name of your AirPods.
3. Here, tap the toggle which says “Automatic Ear Detection.”
6. Disconnect From Other Devices
While you can disconnect your Bluetooth devices nearby from the control center on your iPhone, a more foolproof way of connecting to your Apple AirPods is to disconnect any nearby devices. Another approach you could try is disconnecting from any previous connections.
After you have disconnected from nearby devices, connect your AirPods once again. Head to the music app and play music to check that your AirPods really are connected.
Final Words
And there you go! We hope that by now you have managed to resolve the issue of AirPods not connecting. We recommend that you give all the solutions above a shot, to see which one works the best for you. If you find that none of the above methods work, we recommend taking your iPhone and AirPods to the nearest Apple store to get them checked out.
While it is a rare scenario, you may be suggested by the Apple store employees to opt for an iPhone reset. Our experts don’t recommend this, until and unless no other method has worked for you. An iPhone reset will basically wipe out your iPhone and set it up as if it were bright new. This can prove to be annoying to set up, especially if you don’t have any backup of your phone’s data. Having said that, we are sure that you won’t need to reach this stage at all. After all, we have enlisted an in depth list of different ways to tackle the ‘AirPods connected but sound coming from phone’ problem.
If you have any questions, doubts or queries, feel free to drop a comment in our comments section below, and our experts will get back to you with an answer in no time. If there are any products you have in mind that you would like for us to review and compare, do write to us!
