We love them because we no longer have to deal with entangled earphones. But their wireless nature means that you have to charge your AirPods regularly. So, how long does it take you to charge your AirPods?
Apple is yet to give an official time for charging AirPods. But generally, within the AirPods case, the individual 1st Gen AirPods will fully charge within 17 minutes while the 2nd Gen AirPods take 20 minutes. For the newer 3rd Gen AirPod models, expect a little longer, up to 30 minutes.
The time it takes to fully charge your AirPods will depend on the model you own. So let’s take a deeper look at how long a charged AirPod will last you and how to check its battery status.
How Long Does it Take to Charge AirPods?
When your AirPods are low on battery, your iPad or iPhone will send you notifications at 20, 10, and 5 percent. One or both of your AirPods will also produce a tone. They’ll do so first when the charge hits 10%, and the second time right before they turn off.
Charging AirPods in Their Case
When placed in their case, here’s how the different AirPod Models will take to charge:
- 1st Generation AirPods: 17 minutes.
- 2nd Generation AirPods (on Amazon): 20-30 minutes.
- 2nd Generation AirPods Pro (on Amazon) and 3rd Generation AirPods (on Amazon): Over 1 hour
Charging the Drained AirPod Case with AirPods Inside
Your AirPod case also needs charging. If it’s drained, expect a longer charging period. In this case, you’ll plug your AirPods into their case and charge them together. Different AirPod models will take different times to charge:
- 1st Generation AirPods with their case will take between 30 minutes to 1 hour to charge.
- 2nd Generation AirPods, with their case, will take about 45 minutes to charge.
- AirPods Pro and 3rd Generation AirPods with their case will take between one to two hours.
If you want a faster result, consider charging using a wired connection. It’s way faster than wireless charging. Also, you can opt to charge your AirPods for five minutes if you don’t need them fully charged. They’ll still serve you for a few minutes (see table below).
How Long Does a Charged AirPods Battery Last?
In the same way that different AirPod models take different durations to charge, you can also expect different lifespans from them. Here is a breakdown of what you get:
AirPods Pro (1st Gen)
When you charge your 1st Gen AirPods Pro on a single charge, you get up to 3½ hours of talk time or 4½ hours of listening time. With multiple charges, you get 18+ hours of talk time or 24+ hours of listening time.
When you charge them for 5 minutes, in their case, you get roughly 1 hour of either talk or listening time.
AirPods (2nd Gen)
When you charge your 2nd Gen AirPods on a single charge, you get up to 3 hours of talk time or 5 hours of listening time. With multiple charges, you get up to 18 hours of talk time or 24 hours of listening time.
If you charge them for 15 minutes, in their case, you get up to 2 hours of talk time or 3 hours of listening time.
AirPods Pro (2nd Gen)
When you charge your 2nd Gen AirPods Pro on a single charge, you get up to 4½ hours of talk time or 6 hours of listening time (5½ hours with Spatial Audio enabled).
With multiple charges, you get 24 hours of talk time or 30 hours of listening time. So, for example, if you charge them for 5 minutes, you’ll get 1 hour of either talk or listening time.
AirPods (3rd Gen)
When you charge your 3rd Gen AirPods on a single charge, you get up to 3½ hours of talk time and 4½ hours of listening time (5 hours with Spatial Audio enabled).
With multiple charges, you get up to 20 hours of talk time and 30 hours of listening time. So, for example, if you charge them for 5 minutes, you get either 1 hour of talk or listening time.
| AIRPOD MODEL | CHARGE TIME | |||||
| SINGLE CHARGE | MULTIPLE CHARGES | 5 MIN CHARGE (WITH CASE ON) | ||||
| Talk Time (hrs) | Listening Time (hrs) | Talk Time (hrs) | Listening Time (hrs) | Talk Time (hrs) | Listening Time (hrs) | |
| AirPod Pro (1st Gen) | 3 ½ | 4½ | 18+ | 24+ | 1 | 1 |
| AirPod (2nd Gen) | 3 | 5 | 18 | 24 | – | – |
| AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) | 4½ | 6 (5½ with spatial audio) | 24 | 30 | 1 | 1 |
| AirPod Pro (3rd Gen) | 3½ | 4½ (5 with spatial audio) | 20 | 30 | 1 | 1 |
How to Check AirPods Battery Status
You can use your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac to check the battery status of your AirPods.
Here’s how to check AirPods battery status using iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- First, put your AirPods (at least one) inside their case.
- Next, open the lid and hold the case close to your device.
- Wait for a few seconds, and your device will display your AirPods charge status.
A green light indicates that your AirPods are fully charged. An amber light means you have less than one full charge.
You can also use the battery widget in your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to check the battery status.
To check AirPods battery status using Mac:
- First, take your AirPods out of their case or leave the lid open.
- Then, on your computer, click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
- Look for AirPods and hover the pointer at it.
Charging AirPods Max
AirPods Max (on Amazon) is slightly different from the other AirPod models. They are more like headphones than AirPods. They don’t have a charging case but feature a lightning port that you can connect directly to a cable and power source. They also have bigger batteries and tend to hold power for longer.
It will take roughly 100 minutes (1 hour 40 minutes) to charge an AirPod max from 0 to 100. So a single AirPod max charge will get you 20+ hours of listening time, plus you can utilize their noise cancellation technology.