Today I’m here to talk about a frustrating issue I’ve experienced with my AirPods: why do they stop playing when I take one out? This has been a frequent problem for me, and I’m sure for many others, so I wanted to explore why this might be happening and what solutions might be available.
In this post, I’ll be breaking down the potential causes of this issue and discussing strategies for getting your AirPods back to normal. Let’s dive in!
The reason why your AirPods stop playing when you take one out is the automatic ear detection feature. The quickest way to stop your AirPods from shutting off your music when you take one out is to disable the automatic ear detection feature. You can also turn off the tap controls to prevent your AirPods from accidentally pausing music or changing tracks.
Airpods are one of the best accessories from Apple, but sometimes they can be a little annoying when they stop playing the music you’re listening to. Here’s everything you need to know about keeping the music going with your AirPods.
| Key Takeaways for AirPods Features |
|---|
| 1. Automatic ear detection |
| 2. Disable automatic ear detection and/or tap controls |
| 3. Turn off tap controls |
Table of Contents
Why Do My Airpods Stop Playing When I Take One Out?
There are two main reasons why your AirPods stop playing music when you take one out. The first is the automatic ear detection feature and the second are the tap controls.
The automatic ear detection feature allows the AirPods to intuitively pick up on when you’ve placed them in your ears and when you take them out. This allows them to seamlessly connect audio from your devices to the AirPods.
It’s a great feature when you just want to put in your headphones and enjoy whatever is playing without messing around with settings and Bluetooth menus.
This feature also automatically pauses music, movies, and other media like podcasts when you take your AirPods out.
This pause can be a little tedious if you’ve been enjoying music and you just had to pop your headphones in for a second when you went to another room. Luckily, you can shut this off in your settings menu—we’ll cover that in just a second.
The tap controls are also a useful feature. You can use them to change tracks, pause your music, and even hang up phone calls.
Some users report that these tap controls are a little too sensitive and even brushing against your ear can pause the track.
You can also disable the touch controls which is the feature we’re going to talk about next.
Read more: Can you connect multiple AirPods to one MacBook?
Is There A Way To Keep Airpods Playing When Taking One Out?
The fastest way to keep your AirPods playing when you take one out is to turn off automatic ear detection.
We’ll cover a step-by-step guide for turning off that feature in just a second, but there’s another feature we need to tackle for keeping your AirPods playing when you take one out.
Your AirPods also have controls for music and calls built into them. You can double tap your AirPods to perform actions like hang up calls, pause music, and change tracks.
Plenty of AirPods users have reported that these tap controls are more sensitive than they should be. This means you might be pausing your music just by accidentally brushing against your AirPods. If these features have been holding back your listening experience, here’s how you can change them.
- Navigate to your settings menu
- Tap on the Bluetooth menu
- Find your airpods
- Tap the “circle i” information button
- You can change tap controls on your airpods or even turn them off
Read more: What do the lights mean on the AirPods case?
Turn Off Automatic Ear Detection Airpods?
Automatic ear detection is the feature in apple AirPods that allows them to detect when you put them in your ears when you take them out.
This automatically syncs your AirPods to the nearest connected device and starts playing whatever you were listening to. It also causes whatever you’re listening to pause whenever you take out your AirPods.
This is probably the biggest cause of your AirPods stopping whatever you’re playing when you take them out. If you want to turn off this feature, here’s how you do it.
- Open your settings menu on your iPhone
- Navigate to Bluetooth
- Select the “circle i” information button next to your airpods
- Toggle “Automatic Ear Detection” off
Where To Tap On Airpods
There are two places to tap on your AirPods depending on which model you have. 1st and 2nd generation AirPods only have basic tap controls while the latest generation of AirPods comes with its own button.
1st and 2nd generation AirPods can be tapped where the top of the airpod meets the stem. Double tapping on this location activates any of the tap controls that you selected in the settings menu.
3rd generation AirPods feature tap controls as well as a force sensor button. The force sensor button is on the inside of the stem and can be assigned its own controls.
How To Stop Airpods From Hanging Up Calls
If you want to stop your AirPods from accidentally hanging up your calls, you just have a few settings you need to change. Your first stop will be to turn off automatic ear detection which could be hanging up your calls or switching them over to the regular phone speaker when you take out your AirPods.
Your next step is going to be changing your settings for tap controls. This is especially the case in the third generation AirPods which have the force sensor button. Change the settings to either remove tap control functions or select options that don’t interfere with phone calls.
Pros
- Automatic ear detection makes it easy to start playing music without needing to manually connect to your device.
- Tap controls make it easy to pause music, change tracks, and hang up calls.
- The latest generation of AirPods come with a force sensor button for added control.
Cons
- Automatic ear detection stops your music when you take out your AirPods.
- Tap controls can be overly sensitive and pause music or hang up calls when you don’t want them to.
Pros:
- Can connect multiple AirPods and AirPods Pros to a MacBook.
- Can listen to multiple AirPods and other types of earphones or headphones concurrently.
- No limit to how many AirPods can be connected to a Macbook.
- Can listen to the same audio with friends or a partner without bothering other people in the area.
Cons:
- Extra setup required to listen to multiple AirPods simultaneously.
- Must set up a multi-output device to listen to multiple AirPods and other types of earphones or headphones concurrently.
