7 Best Fixes for AirPods Not Working for Phone Calls

Sometimes AirPods don’t work although they are connected to your iPhone, and that can be annoying. However, it’s an entirely different (and quite bizarre) ball game when AirPods don’t work with phone calls, but work fine with other apps. It can be quite annoying when you can’t answer calls. In this article, we’ll walk you through the reasons your AirPods aren’t working for phone calls and how to fix the issue.

Before continuing, make sure your AirPods are charged or have sufficient power. Additionally, we suggest that you call another person from your contact list. If the AirPods are not producing sound when calling a particular contact, the problem may be with the person. Maybe you can’t hear anything due to network issues, or the person’s microphone is defective. If your AirPods don’t work for all phone calls regardless of contact, you should try the troubleshooting solutions listed below.

1. Change the audio output of the call

We’ve noticed that sometimes iPhones and other devices don’t automatically route call audio to AirPods, even when they’re connected. If AirPods don’t work for phone calls on your iPhone, check that AirPods is the selected audio output device.

Step 1: Go to the call screen and tap the audio (speaker) icon.

2nd step: Select your AirPods from the list of compatible audio devices.

If your AirPods don’t appear in the audio devices list, they probably aren’t connected to your phone. To check if AirPods are connected to your iPhone, long press the Bluetooth icon in Control Center. Your AirPods should appear under the Bluetooth icon if they are connected to your iPhone.

You can also go to your iPhone’s Bluetooth Settings menu and check if AirPods are tagged as connected.

2. Check the volume of AirPods

It is also possible that no sound is produced during calls because the volume of AirPods is low or muted. If you selected AirPods as your preferred audio device on the call screen, but you still can’t hear the other person talking, we recommend that you check the volume of the AirPods. Press any of the volume buttons on your iPhone to check the volume of AirPods.

Check the AirPods volume level on the indicator that appears at the top left of the screen. Press the volume up button on your screen to increase the volume of AirPods. Then check if it works for phone calls.

3. Reactivate Bluetooth on iPhone

Restart your phone’s connection to AirPods by turning off your iPhone’s Bluetooth and then turning it back on. Before that, unplug the AirPods from your ears and place them in the charging case. Now take them out and place the AirPods in your ears again, then try to make a phone call.

4. Reset AirPods

If the AirPods still won’t work during phone calls, you might need to reset them. This means that you will have to remove the AirPods from your iPhone’s “ paired Bluetooth devices ” memory and reconnect from scratch. Open the AirPods Bluetooth settings page on your iPhone and select “ Forget This Device. ”

To reconnect the two devices, keep both AirPods in the charging case. With the charging case near your phone (about 5 meters), open the AirPods case and hold the setup button on the back to put the AirPods into pairing mode.

Follow the prompt on your phone screen to connect AirPods to your iPhone.

5. Reset network settings

As with other iPhone users who have encountered similar issues, resetting your iPhone’s network settings might help resolve the issue. I understand it doesn’t seem out of place, but it worked. This will erase all wireless network settings and eliminate any bluetooth related issues causing AirPods to malfunction during phone calls.

Go to Settings> General> Reset> Reset Network Settings to refresh your iPhone’s Bluetooth configurations. It should be pointed out that as a result, other network related settings (Wi-Fi, VPN, etc.) will also be reset to factory settings. Learn more about what happens when you reset network settings (on iOS and Android).

6. Check Bluetooth access

You might have difficulty using AirPods for certain activities if certain apps are simultaneously using your iPhone’s Bluetooth. In an Apple community thread, we found out that a number of iOS users were able to resolve the issue of AirPods not working for phone calls by disabling Bluetooth access for a particular app: the Tile application. If the app is installed on your iPhone, try disabling its Bluetooth access.

To check apps using your iPhone’s Bluetooth, go to Settings> Privacy> Bluetooth. Temporarily turn off Bluetooth access for the apps on the list and check if you can now make calls using AirPods.

7. Update iOS

Sometimes running outdated or beta versions / builds of iOS on your iPhone is the foundation for connectivity and issues with using AirPods. If your iPhone’s operating system is not up to date, you should install the latest iOS version as soon as possible. If you are having issues with beta versions, consider taking a full backup of your iPhone and installing a stable iOS version.

AirPods calling issues on other apps

The solutions in this guide can also be applied to troubleshoot calling issues when using AirPods with third-party voice and video calling apps (Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, etc.) on your iPhone. Always make sure your AirPods are selected as the preferred audio device on these apps. Leave a comment if you need further assistance.