Can you charge AirPods with someone else's case?

I’m an AirPods owner who recently ran into a frustrating issue: can I charge my AirPods with someone else’s case? After some research and trial and error, I’m here to share what I learned so that other AirPods owners can learn from my experience.

After exploring the issue in depth, I’ve uncovered some interesting tips and tricks for charging AirPods with cases that don’t belong to you. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through all the details of what I found and what I learned.

Note: everything in this article also applies to the AirPods pro.

Key Takeaways
1. You can charge AirPods with a compatible charging case.
2. AirPods Pro require a case designed for AirPods Pro.
3. You need to purchase a replacement case if you lose yours.
4. AirPods and AirPods Pro cannot use each other’s cases.
5. Third-party cases are available, but use Apple’s for safety.

Table of Contents

Can you pair and charge AirPods with a different case?

Yes, you can charge the AirPods with a different case as long as it is designed for your generation of AirPods. It is also the case that you can charge the AirPods pro in a different case as long as it is designed for the AirPods pro.

When it comes to technology, the simplest things can somehow be among the most frustrating. The good news here is that the Apple AirPods are designed to be pretty simple when it comes to using the charging cases.

Apple does not force you to stick with one charging case for life, or force you to only have one charging case at a time at least.

Rather, so long as your specific kind of AirPods fit into a charging case, pairing your AirPods and charging them in that case should be no more complicated than it is with your main or original charging case.

Can you charge AirPods with someone else’s case?

While it is established that you are not limited to only one charging case at a time, this does not clear up the subject of ownership. Often, a peripheral or other device is user-locked. Thankfully, Apple’s AirPods are not an example of this.

Using your AirPods with someone else’s case should be not much more difficult than it would be to charge them with your own. All you have to do is hold the button to search for your AirPods, and voilà! You now have access to your friend’s charging case.

Can you charge AirPods without the case?

There are a lot of different answers when it comes to this, and the answer is no. Anyone who is telling you anything to the contrary is either lying or misinformed themselves.

There are multiple things people suggest you can do to give your AirPods and AirPods Pro charge, but these “lifehacks” are at best unreliable, and at worst, potentially dangerous.

The first idea often proposed is the use of a narrow pin charger from a Nokia phone. This is an idea that simply does not work, and even if it could, would have a g good chance of damaging your AirPods through overcharging.

The second idea is to use third-party applications on phones that purport to charge your AirPods. However, it is important to know that there are no official apps that can do this, and in fact, no apps are able to do this.

Any app that claims to be able to do this is either completely useless at best, or at worst, is actively malicious. It could exist to put malware on your phone, or to try to trick you into giving the creators money.

One tactic sometimes employed by underhanded app developers is to distribute their apps as free trials, and after a period of time, charge you an exorbitant fee (often a monthly fee). In general, make sure that you are very cautious of any unknown mobile apps you download.

Ultimately, in the event that you lose your AirPods charging case, the only option you have at your disposal is to get a new charging case.

What can I do if I lose my AirPods charging case?

As mentioned above, the answer to this question is a pretty straightforward one. Simply, your only option is to purchase a replacement charging case for your AirPods. If you no longer have your charging case, your AirPods will be rendered useless once they deplete their battery.

While replacement is your only option for charging your AirPods, that does not mean that you have to buy the same kind of charging case your AirPods came with.

The official charging case has the advantage that compatibility is guaranteed to not be an issue, but the major downside is that you will have to pay more than most of the third-party options available.

Are Some Charging Cases only Compatible with Some Types of AirPods?

One of the biggest issues with a proprietary piece of technology is that it can become complicated whether one thing is compatible or not with your device.

One might expect that AirPods and AirPods Pro can use each other’s charging cases, but that is simply not the case. One might think this is because of some inner mechanics of the charging case, but the truth is, the problem comes down to shape.

AirPods and AirPods Pro have different form factors from one another, meaning that charging cases designed with AirPods Pro in mind physically cannot accommodate the earlier AirPods models.

AirPods 1 and 2 do not have the same case. However, you can charge them both using either case.

Can you charge AirPods with third party cases?

There are third-party AirPods cases that you can buy that will allow you to charge your AirPods. However, there is always a risk that the third-party case will not work properly or that it might actually damage the AirPods. For the most party, it is best to stick with Apple’s case.

Pros:

You can charge your AirPods with a different case as long as it is designed for your generation of AirPods.

You can charge the AirPods pro in a different case as long as it is designed for the AirPods pro.
Using your AirPods with someone else’s case is not much more difficult than it would be to charge them with your own.
Third-party AirPods cases are available.

Cons:

If you lose your AirPods case, you must purchase a replacement charging case.
AirPods and AirPods Pro have different form factors and therefore cannot use each other’s charging cases.
Third-party AirPods cases are available, but it is best to stick with Apple’s case to avoid damaging your AirPods.