How to Quickly Factory Reset Your AirPods and AirPods Pro

Press the Setup button.
Press the Setup button.

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Get your AirPods reset back to factory settings within minutes

Whether you’re troubleshooting, selling, or pawning your AirPods, a proper reset is crucial.

An incomplete reset may lead to future unnecessary issues.

Follow this guide to thoroughly reset your AirPods and AirPods Pro within minutes.

  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Time it will take: 2 mins
  • Prepare:
Watch: How to Factory Reset Your AirPods in minutes! 🎧 #shorts

Step 1: Put AirPods Back in Charging Case And Wait

  • Place your AirPods inside the charging case and close the lid for at least 30 seconds. This will ensure your AirPods can recharge a little and have enough battery to connect to the case.
If the charging case has a low battery, charge it for at least 15 minutes before attempting a reset. A reset will not be successful if the charging case does not have enough power.

Step 2: Unpair AirPods From Connected Apple Devices

With iOS 16 or later, you can easily access a dedicated AirPods settings section directly within the Settings app of your iPhone.

  1. Place your AirPods near the Apple Device you want to connect to.
  2. Go to “Settings”. You will see a tab with your AirPods’s name. Tap it.
  3. You will reach your AirPods setting page. Scroll all the way down and tap “Forget This Device”.
Forget this AirPods on iOS device
Forget this AirPods on iOS device

If your iPhone is running an OS version older than iOS16, do the following to unpair your AirPods:

  1. On your iOS device, go to Settings and select Bluetooth.
  2. Find the AirPods you want to reset and tap the “i” icon beside it.

    Forgetting AirPods Pro on iOS
    Forgetting AirPods Pro on iOS
  3. Tap “Forget This Device” to forget the AirPods from it.
Unpairing the AirPods will remove the AirPods from all the connected devices you signed in with your Apple ID.

Alternatively, you can use the “Find My” app to unpair the AirPods from your Apple ID account.

  1. On your Apple devices, open up the “Find My” app.
  2. On the “Devices” tab, you will see a list of connected Apple Devices tied to your Apple ID.
  3. Click on the AirPods you want to unlink from, and click “Remove This Device“.
Remove AirPods from Apple ID
Remove AirPods from Apple ID

Step 3: Press and Hold the Setup Button to Complete the Reset

  1. Open the charging case’s lid and locate the setup button at the back of the case.
  2. Press and hold the setup button for ~15 seconds, and the status light on the case will start flashing white. When the light turns from flashing amber to flashing white, release the setup button. Your AirPods are now reset.
Press and hold the setup button until you see flashing white light
Press and hold the setup button until you see a flashing white light

Reconnecting your AirPods

Once you have reset your AirPods, you can reconnect your AirPods back to your Apple device. Open the case’s lid and bring it near the Apple Device. You will be prompted to setup the AirPods again. Complete the setup steps to reconnect your AirPods.

How to Reset AirPods without an Apple Device?

For users on platforms like Android or Windows, the reset process for AirPods is largely the same. However, instead of using iOS settings, you must access your device’s Bluetooth settings.

From there, locate your AirPods in the list of devices, select them, and opt to ‘Forget’ or remove the device. To re-pair your AirPods after resetting, manually initiate the pairing mode and connect through your device’s Bluetooth settings.

Oh no, my AirPods have earcups! How do I reset it?

The buttons to reset AirPods Max
The buttons to reset AirPods Max
The steps to reset AirPods Max differ entirely from the AirPods and AirPods Pro.
  1. On the right ear cup, locate both the Digital Crown and the noise control button.
  2. Press and hold both buttons simultaneously.
  3. Keep an eye on the status light next to the charging port.
  4. Wait until the light changes from flashing amber to flashing white, which should take about 15 seconds.
  5. Once the light is flashing white, release both buttons. The AirPods Max is now reset.

What Happens if AirPods are Still Linked to a Previous Owner’s Apple ID

To use second-hand AirPods with your Apple ID, the prior owner must remove them from their account to prevent access issues and disable location tracking via “Find My.”

Without unlinking, you forfeit features like automatic device switching and could be susceptible to the former owner tracking the AirPods’ location.

Previous Owner can see the AirPods current location when it is connected
I tried connecting our editor’s AirPods to my iPhone without disconnecting her Apple ID. She’s able to see where her AirPods are currently at.

What to Do When AirPods Won’t Reset

If your AirPods fail to reset after trying the above steps, here are a few suggestions on what you can do:

  1. Charge your AirPods: Make sure it has enough battery to do a complete reset
  2. Clean the AirPods and its charging case: Clear any debris on the connector between the AirPods and the charging case 
  3. Drain the Battery: Drain the battery and recharge it to 100%
  4. Check if AirPods are Fake
  5. Contact Apple Support

💬 Conversation: 10 comments

  1. Someone sold me a pair of stolen EarPods and I’m trying to factory reset them but it is saying that the persons location settings for them are still on so that means that they are still looking for their EarPods and I don’t want to get blamed for this I’m really mad at the person and now they deleted their Facebook account

    1. damn imagine. me personally, i would never let someone do that to me, thas jus me tho. Honestly jus L-BOZO 🫵😹. But good luck i’m just going to call the cops.

  2. This didn’t help at all but you wanna know what did one of my AirPods was charging and the other wasn’t so I got mad and started to throw them at the ground and both of them started to charge so if that happened o you just throw them on the ground until they both change

  3. Yea I bought unknowingly a stolen pair of AirPods. And when I tried to pair them it said the owner can now track them. I freaked out cause I paid quite a lot and I don’t know what this guy will do. Should I take them to a cell phone shop? Apparently it’s connected to his iCloud

  4. When I’m resting my AirPods it’s just stays green no amber or white! I’ve met them for and still same issue

  5. Worst $250 I have ever spent. Wish we could just go back to wired sets, which worked 100% of the time.

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