Why Can’t People Hear Me With My AirPods? – Fix Guide

Why can’t people hear me with my AirPods? One of the most frequently asked questions!

Luckily the solution only requires a few steps that cover an inspection of your AirPods settings, microphone, and device’s connection.

When you’re done you would know how to fix the issue.

When the recipient can’t hear you through the AirPods microphone you should reconnect the earbuds and enable them as the primary microphone. In addition, you would need to inspect whether ear wax has clogged the microphone of your AirPods.

Why Can’t People Hear Me With My AirPods When Talking?

In short, people can’t hear you whenever you’re talking through your AirPods due to a clogged microphone.

Other possibilities include a disabled microphone in the device’s settings or there is a certain feature suppressing the operation.

Here are the most common occurrences of microphone issues on AirPods:

AirPods Are Not Primary Microphone

On iOS devices, there is a microphone setting that allows you to choose which microphone should be used when the headphones are plugged in.

Since the AirPods have an inbuilt microphone, there is a setting that enabled and disables the headphone’s voice input.

AirPods’ Microphone Is Clogged

When using your AirPods for too long without cleaning them, ear wax can cover the speakers and the microphone compartment.

This can completely mute the microphone and the recipients won’t be able to hear a word.

Connectivity Issues With The Device

Since the AirPods are running Bluetooth, the over-the-air connection can be weakened and your phone can easily lose connection.

In case such a disconnect occurs during a call or beforehand, the receiver might not be able to hear you.

Let’s now proceed with the solutions:

How To Fix When People Can’t Hear Me On My AirPods?

To solve the microphone problem on your AirPods you’ll need to undertake a few solutions that will help you identify and solve the problem with your device.

Solution #1 Select AirPods As Primary Microphone

The first thing you should do is select your AirPods to be the primary microphone for ongoing and upcoming voice calls.

In general, there are two sources from which you can select which microphone your phone should use.

Let’s begin with adjusting the “during-call” microphone setting:

How To Select AirPods Microphone During A Call?

1. Make sure that you’re on a voice or video call with somebody.
2. Open the info screen of the call.
3. Press the microphone button.
4. When your AirPods are connected, they should be available as a setting in the menu.

How To Select AirPods Microphone In Settings?

1. Go to the Settings of your device.
2. Head to the “Audio” tab.
3. From there, select “Microphone”.
4. Press the options slider.
5. Press the “AirPods” option.
6. Choose “Use Always When Connected”.

Note: When AirPods are not selected as the primary device in the settings, you will have to manually choose them each time when you’re in a call.

Solution #2 Switch The Microphone Bud

Apple had installed microphones in both of their AirPods.

However, users noticed that sometimes when using one of the buds, the microphone experiences interruptions, and the recipient may not always hear your voice.

We suggest switching the microphone to the other bud to localize the problem:

1. Open the Settings of your device.
2. Go to Bluetooth.
3. If your AirPods are connected, press the “Info” button next to “AirPods”.
4. Choose “Microphone”.
5. Press the right or left earbud based on the one you have currently selected.
6. Test whether the microphone would work now by calling someone.

Note: To be able to adjust AirPods microphone preferences, make sure that the AirPods are connected to your device.

Solution #3 Clean The AirPods Microphone

Chances are that the microphone of the AirPods has been clogged.

To clean the microphone of your AirPods you will need a wet/dry cloth and an ear stick to collect all the ear wax.

Here are some instructions to clean the microphones of your AirPods:

1. Grab the earbud.
2. Collect the ear wax on the microphone of both units.
3. Wash the surface of the AirPods using a wet cloth.
4. Lastly, dry the surface of the AirPods using the dried cloth.

You should use a toothpick to take the wax from inside the microphone openings and music output little holes. That often helps to open up the earbud and fix the microphone issue.

Alert: Make sure to leave the AirPods for a bit to dry up completely before using them.

Solution #4 Turn OFF Automatic Ear Detection

Automatic ear detection is well-known to cause microphone issues during voice or video calls.

Whenever you have both of your AirPods on, putting one of the buds out will pause the music or end the call you’re in.

This can also be responsible for the microphone problems as well.

To turn OFF the automatic ear detection on your AirPods, follow these steps:

1. On your phone or device, go to Settings.
2. Enter the Bluetooth tab.
3. Press on the AirPods’ connection (make sure that they are connected).
4. Go to “Automatic Ear Detection”.
5. Hit the ON/OFF button to turn off this feature.

Notice: Now removing one of the AirPods won’t pause your music, video, or end your call.

Solution #5 Forget & Re-Add AirPods

This problem probably has something to do with the Bluetooth connection between your device and the AirPods.

The best way to refresh the Bluetooth between your devices is to forget the AirPods and then re-add them to your device.

Here’s how to forget the AirPods on your device and how to connect them later:

1. Go to the Settings of your device.
2. Access the Bluetooth configuration.
3. Locate the AirPods.
4. Press and hold on to the AirPods.
5. Once settings appear, choose “Disconnect & Forget”.
6. Now, re-pair the AirPods by holding the pair button on the back.

Tip: Keep the AirPods close to your device whenever you’re re-adding them later.

Solution #6 Turn OFF Lower Power Mode

Plenty of users reported that having the “Low Power Mode” on their device, the mic of their AirPods was not working.

The low power mode is a feature that greatly reduces the device’s processes and often interferes with resource-consuming functions.

To turn off the low power mode on most devices, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Enter “Battery”.
3. Choose “Power Mode”.
4. Go to “Low Battery Mode/Low Power Mode”.
5. Press the activation slider once, to turn the feature off.

Tip: Most Android and all iOS devices have the low power mode feature available in the quick menu, by sliding upwards from the bottom of the screen.

Solution #7 Reset Network Settings

In case nothing worked and people still can’t hear you through the AirPods, we suggest you conclude by performing the network settings.

This will delete all WiFi and Bluetooth data that has been stored, which could be responsible for the bad microphone performance.

Let’s begin with how to perform a network reset on iOS devices:

How To Reset Network Settings On iOS?

1. Go to Settings.
2. Head to General.
3. Choose Reset.
4. Press on “Network Reset”.
5. Confirm that you want to network reset your device.

How To Reset Network Settings On Android?

1. Go to Settings.
2. Access “General Management” or “System” for most devices.
3. Choose “Reset”.
4. Hit “Reset Options”.
5. Select “Reset All Network Settings”.
6. Confirm the reset is needed.

Alert: You should not interact with your device while the network reset is ongoing, since this can cause further software issues.

Quick Recap:

Thus, people can’t hear with the AirPods because the microphone is probably clogged or not your device’s primary output source. To solve the problem, you’ll need to reconnect and use both AirPods to determine whether the problem is still there.

Read Next: AirPods Pro Noise Cancelling Not Working?

Bottom Line:

Now that we’ve learned why can’t people hear me with my AirPods you should no longer experience this problem.

We can’t exclude the possibility of a broken microphone so when the problem persists, the best approach is to bring the earbuds for repair service.