How to Charge Airpods without a Case?

Is it possible to charge the AirPods without the case? If so, how can I charge the AirPods without using the charging case? The wireless Bluetooth headphones from Apple have been very popular for years. Despite the ever-growing competition in Bluetooth headphones, the Airpods are still very popular and that at a not exactly cheap price. Those who have bought the AirPods may ask themselves the same question we asked ourselves recently. What do you actually do when you forget the charging case and want to charge the Airpods?

Charging the AirPods battery

If you want to charge the AirPods, you just have to put them into the charging case and the battery is charged (provided the battery of the case is not empty yet). With the current generation, a 15-minute charge in the case is enough to use the headphones for three hours. After about 90 minutes, the battery of the AirPods is almost fully charged.

Charge AirPods without a Case?

But what do you do if you have to charge the AirPods without a case, and does that work at all? The short answer is, no it does not work at least with the current version of Apple’s headphones. The headphones cannot be connected to a power source via a cable or wirelessly. Unlike the case itself, you cannot connect the AirPods to a Qi-compatible charging station and use it to charge the battery.

AirPod case lost or defective: What to do?

The charging case does not have its own Bluetooth connection. It cannot be found via the “Find My” function on the iPhone, unless there is at least one AirPod still in it. You will therefore have to search for it. If it cannot be found again, there is no other choice but to get a replacement charging case.

You can get any replacement case for this. The AirPods don’t rely on the originally shipped accessory and will work with other cases. This even works with accessories that are not original from Apple, but are cheaper. However, third-party cases usually have to be connected to a new charging station first. You can find out how this works in the manual of the respective device. Note that non-original accessories might cause connection problems or other difficulties.

AirPods: This is how long a full battery lasts

Fully charged AirPods offer about five hours of playback time. You can use the headphones for talking for three hours. Should you carry the wireless case with you, you can charge the headphones for up to 24 more hours of operating time. Charging takes just 15 minutes.

Get info about your AirPods battery life

When the AirPods is running low, a message will appear on the screen of your iPhone or iPad. The message appears when the battery charge is 20, 10, and 5 percent. To see the battery level of your AirPods Pro, you can go several ways.

  • On the iPhone home screen: open the lid of the charging case while the AirPods are inside and hold the charging case close to the iOS device. After a few seconds, the charging status of the AirPods and the charging case will be displayed via pop-up window.
  • In the “Today” view: Swipe the iPhone all the way to the left. In the so-called “Today” view, you can see the charging status of AirPods and charging case when they are connected to the iPhone.
  • Via widget on the home screen: You can check the charging status of AirPods and charging case via the battery widget on one of your home screens. The charging status of the charging case is only displayed when there is at least one AirPod inside.
  • Use Siri: You can ask Siri about the headphones’ charge level. Just use the question “What’s AirPods battery level?” to do so.
  • On Mac: Open the lid of the charging case or take out the headphones. Click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar. Move the pointer in the menu over the AirPods with charging case.

Conclusion

So far, it is not possible to charge Apple’s AirPods without the corresponding case. However, you are able to charge wothout a cable.

  • Until recently, the case of the AirPods itself was equipped with a cable and could therefore only be charged near a power outlet.
  • Apple now offers a wireless case that can be charged via a Qi-compatible charging mat.
  • In this case, you simply place the case on the mat and make sure that the headphones are inside the case.
  • The LED light on the front shows the battery level of the headphones and signals you when they are fully charged.

Since many users of the AirPods want charging without a case, it might only be a matter of time until Apple responds to this frequent request. For example, charging via a Qi-compatible charging station would be conceivable, as it is already done with the charging case. However, this is not possible with the current generation of AirPods or the AirPods Pro.