Are you wondering why one of your AirPods is not working? There are multiple reasons why one of your wireless AirPods might not be charging. All these things can impact charging performance from a broken charge case to moisture damage. Thankfully, such issues are easy to troubleshoot.
There are two pods in an AirPod box: the left and right pod. Both have their own charging case with a battery and charging circuits that allow the pods to charge wirelessly inside their cases.
If you find that only one pod is not charging no matter what you do, there are a few things you should check before throwing away your broken AirPod. Let’s see some causes of one AirPod not charging and possible solutions.
Why Is One of My AirPods Not Charging?
Check Your AirPods Charging Case
If you find that only one of your AirPods is not charging, check your charging case first. One reason why one of your AirPods might not be charging is that the charging case itself needs to be fixed. If this is the case, you should have another person (preferably AppleCare) replace it for you.
Check if There’s Anything Wrong With the Charging Dock Connector
The next thing to check when only one AirPod isn’t charging may be the charge dock connector inside the charging case. If you find one of your AirPods is not charging, you first need to check the cable (not the plug) at the USB charger port inside your charging case.
Expert Tip: Make sure that this cable does not have any damage. If it does, simply replace it with a new one.
If your AirPod isn’t charging because there’s something wrong with the charge dock connector, remove the pod from its case and check if any pins aren’t connected to other parts of the connector. If only one pod is not charging, ensure all pins are connected properly to other parts of the connector.
An AirPod Case With a Broken Charge Port
If you find that your AirPod charging case has a broken charge port, your AirPods will also stop charging. This occurs due to moisture damage inside the body of your AirPods. For this reason, ensure that you keep your AirPods in their box when not in use, and don’t keep them in the same place for a long time.
Something is Covering the AirPods Wireless Charging Port
Another cause of one AirPod not charging is that something is covering the wireless charging port. Water, dirt, or foreign objects are some of the things that can cause this problem. To prevent this, ensure there’s nothing covering the wireless charging port in your AirPods charger case when they’re not being used.
The AirPod Battery Is Broken
If there’s nothing wrong with your AirPod and your charging case, there’s a possibility that the battery in your pod is dead. But how will you know if the battery is broken?
The battery of your AirPods may be broken if the sound of one of them becomes muffled or distorted. Listen carefully to see if any distortion occurs when you remove an AirPod from its charging case and place it inside your ear.
If you find any disturbance in sound when only one of your pods plays music through its wireless connection, it means that the battery inside it is already dead.
One or Both Pods Are Water Damaged
If you’ve kept your AirPods in their charging case for a long time, there’s a possibility that they might not be working because of the water damage. To check whether your AirPods are damaged by water, remove them from their charging case and touch the tip of one of the pods to see if it glows.
If it does, this means that only one pod has been affected by water, as indicated by its glowing blue light.
A Mismatched Pair of AirPods (e.g. one new, one old)
If you purchased a new AirPod and an old one after your warranty expired, it is possible that they might not be working as a matched pair. But, how could you know which one is new and which one is old?
The easiest way to find out if your AirPods are matched is by checking their serial numbers. By doing this, you can determine whether both of them are working.
To do this, open your AirPods charging case and press the button on the top for 10 seconds. After pressing it for a few seconds, your AirPods will display their serial numbers on their screen.
Voltage Variations Are Causing Problems with Airpod Charging
If you find that only one of your AirPods has a lower voltage than the other, it means that the charging circuit in this pod is broken. Since your AirPods use both electricity and magnets, they must have a constant voltage.
If there’s some variation in voltage among your AirPods, they won’t be able to connect with their charging case. This problem can be solved by buying a replacement charging case.
You Dropped Your AirPods and Their Batteries are Shaken up
If you dropped your AirPods and the battery in one of them is slightly shaken up, you should check whether its battery is still working. You can find out if there’s something wrong with your AirPods by looking at the tip of their wires and seeing if they have bent or damaged.
If any damage has occurred on their tips, it means that only one of their batteries is not working.
An Incompatible Charging Cable
There are a few things that can happen when the cable connected to your AirPods gets damaged. All of these can cause only one of your AirPods not to charge. Although these problems are rare, they are common enough to keep an eye on them at all times.
The easiest way to check if the cable is working is by plugging it into another USB port and seeing if it charges as normal. If this doesn’t work, you need to buy a new one and try again.
Expert Tip: If there’s any damage or distortion on the cables, change it so either one of them can charge properly.
Short circuit in One of the Airpods
If there’s something wrong with the wire inside either of your AirPods, it means that you should check whether its battery is working. To check if there’s a short circuit in your AirPods, remove both of them from their charging case and put them on their wireless charging pad.
If they are to be charged, one of them shall start blinking its blue light on and off but not the other. Only one of your AirPods can get charged because of a damaged wire inside it.
How to Fix One AirPod Not Charging
Replace the Airpods batteries
If your AirPods have been working properly and one of them has stopped charging, there’s a chance that its battery needs to be replaced. To do this, open the AirPods charging case and remove the batteries from each pod then keep them aside in a safe place until they’re back in use.
Replace the charger case
If your battery is still not working after replacing the batteries, try contacting your Airpods customer support team or Apple stores. If you are unable to fix it, you can buy a replacement charger case by keeping track of where you bought it through the online store where you bought it.
Check the wires
In case there’s nothing wrong with your AirPods and their battery, check the wires for them to charge properly again. Check for any damage or distortion on them and replace them if something is wrong.
If your wire is bent or damaged, you should buy a new charging case for both of your AirPods to charge properly again.
Clean the Airpods charging ports
If your AirPods haven’t been working properly for a long time, they can have accumulated debris or microscopic dirt that may be blocking the ports inside their charging case.
To clean them and get them working again, open the charging case and gently wipe the ports with an alcohol swab to eliminate any debris or microscopic dirt that might be blocking its ports.
Replace the pods
In some cases, there may be something wrong with your AirPods and they are not working even after you’ve replaced the battery in your pod. This could mean that you have broken one of its wires and you need to consider fixing it by replacing it with a new one.
With this problem fixed, you can get your AirPods working again and they are ready to be used.
You are Using the Wrong Airpods Case
If you’re using the wrong Airpods case, you should buy the correct one for them so that they can charge properly. If you bought a new wireless charging pad for them but it doesn’t work with your Airpods case, make sure to use it on its own first then try charging your AirPods with it.
If this doesn’t work, you will have to buy a new wireless charging pad for them.
Replace the charging cable
If the charging cable is faulty or getting damaged, it means that you need to buy a new one and use it in order for both of your AirPods to charge properly. This can be done by buying another USB cable and connecting it to your Mac then checking if it’s charging properly.
If this doesn’t work, you should seek help from the Apple support team or contact them directly for help.
Check the AirPods charging station
If you are using a different wireless charger for your AirPods than its original one. check whether its wireless charger is working properly. If there’s a problem with the wireless holder that you bought for them, there are chances that their battery may need to be replaced.
To test this, remove both of your AirPods from their charging case and put them on the wireless charger. If they are working, they should get charged. If they aren’t, this means that the AirPods wireless charging station is faulty.
In this case, you need to contact your AirPods customer support team or contact apple with regards to this issue because it will take too long if you try fixing it by yourself.
Take the Airpods to the service center for repair
Sometimes, you can’t fix the AirPods charging problem on your own. In this case, you should take them to the service center to get them fixed. This means that they will have to be taken apart and checked if anything is wrong with them or not. With this done, you should be able to get them working again for you.
Remove and clean the battery
If your AirPods are not working properly after removing both of their batteries from their charging case, there’s a chance that their battery needs to be replaced.
To do this, open their charging case and remove the batteries from both of them then clean them in order to get rid of any debris that might be preventing them from working properly.
Expert Tip: If you found that only one AirPod isn’t working, don’t worry. The other AirPod should also still be charging because your AirPods have enough charge to hold them for a longer period of time.
If you can’t use them, let them charge up first. You can use it and take it with you since it’s easier to recharge than having to replace both of your AirPods at once.
You must not pull too hard on the wire when inserting it into the charging port because this will break the connection between your AirPods and the charging station. Once they are in place, let go and they should automatically start charging.
If the charging process is taking too long, there are chances that your AirPods might not be getting charged properly. This could be because of a problem with the charging station or because it simply needs to charge longer. Make sure that you leave it there until it’s fully charged before trying to use them again.
Conclusion
If you have bought the AirPods charging case, it won’t be long before you discover that your AirPods are not charging properly. To fix this issue, follow the steps above for you to deal with this issue and fix it.
There are cases when your Airpods may not be charging at all. This could happen if there were an error with your charger or battery. If this happens, don’t try to use them again until you have contacted their customer service team for help.
I hope you can find all of the information related to problems with your Airpods and their chargers helpful.