A couple weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet and updated my iPhone 15 from iOS 18.7 to 26.1. I've been dealing with a weird intermittent connectivity issue with my second generation Airpods Pro ever since, and was wondering if anyone else was experiencing it as well. In a nutshell, my phone will randomly decide to try sending audio playback through AirPlay instead of my Airpods when I go to put them on after they've been out of my ears for a bit. My phone is practically never connected to an AirPlay device, so sound just ends up coming through the speakers when this happens. I have to go into the Control Center every time and switch the audio output back to my Airpods, which can be super inconvenient if I'm in a setting where VoiceOver's blabbering could be disruptive. Any idea whether this is an iOS 26 quirk, a setting I need to fix somewhere, or maybe just an issue with my 3-year-old Airpods?
Comments
The new continuity setting
Might be worth looking at this article and seeing if playing with the settings helps. A new setting for keeping audio in AirPods when getting into a car, which is kinda the opposite of what you're describing, but I'm wondering if toggling the setting on and off, or vice versa might clear out any issues:
https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/ios-keep-airpods-connected-get-in-your-car/
Yes
Yes, I have been having some connectivity issues too, albeit intermittently.
Iām pretty sure I also saw it reported in the mainstream / non-VoiceOver world.
Bluetooth
I think in the original 26.0 release there was an issue where sometimes Bluetooth would either drop out or wouldn't connect. Think they said it was fixed but occasionally when trying to connect a speaker it still does not connect and I have to go to bluetooth settings to manually connect.