6 Ways to Fix One AirPod Not Working Issue (Left or Right) 

Apple products are well-known for their convenience of use and durability.
Some are positive, while others are negative. Although the AirPods made their mark in the headphone industry, they, too, have a few issues to address. And one of them is durability.

It doesn’t take long for AirPods to be ruined due to a variety of attributes. Like any other earphones, more often only one earpiece gets ruined. If it was a wired earphone, you could simply tweak the wire and your headphone was good to go. But that’s not possible in wireless headsets.

This article will discuss the cause of your one AirPod not working and what we can do to fix it.

Causes For Your AirPod Not Working

How to Fix AirPod Not Working on Either Side?

The first thing you can try doing to fix your AirPod is unpair and repair your AirPods. However, we can’t state any fixes without diagnosing the cause. Different problems have different solutions, so read this article properly and perform all the fixes written below to solve your AirPods issue.  

 Before you follow the methods, make sure to charge your AirPod as well as your phone and clean the mesh of your AirPods properly. 

Balance Audio Volume 

 As mentioned before, if the audio volume on your Airpods isn’t adjusted properly, it might give the false sway of not working Airpods. Let’s suppose your left AirPod isn’t making a sound.

For iPhone

1. Go to Settings on your phone
2. Scroll down and tap on Accessibility
   
3. Search for Audio/Visual and tap on it
4. Under Balance, adjust the volume between the right and left
5. You can also turn on the Mono Audio option to ensure that both the AirPods are playing the same content.
   

For Android 

1. Go to Settings and tap on Accessibility option
2. Press on Hearing Enhancements
3. If you see a slider to balance the volume, adjust it. If not, then turn on the Mono Audio option. This will balance the sound on both the AirPods on your phone. 
   

However, there is no certainty that placing the white dot in the middle will always make it sound fine. Try moving it to the right and left, and place it where the audio sounds the best for you. 

This will fix the issue if the problem is the audio balance between left and right channels. 

Charge Your AirPods

Both the left AirPod and right AirPod can have different amounts of charge in them. If either of the Airpods is out of battery, it might stop functioning. 

For such conditions, keep both of the AirPod on the charging case and charge it for a few minutes. Open the case near the device you have connected it to, and check whether both the AirPods are charging or not. After you’re done charging, use both of the AirPod and recheck whether you can hear audio properly on both the ears or not. 

Restart Your Phone

Sometimes such errors are caused by the phone rather than the Airpods. When your phone is crashing or isn’t running smoothly, it is best to restart it. It helps you get rid of glitches and slowdowns on the phone. 

For iPhone X and Later

1. Long press on either Volume Up or Volume Down Button along with Power Button
2. Slide the slider once it appears on your screen 
3. Press the Power Button until the Apple logo appears

For iPhone 3rd Generation or Older

1. Long press the Side Button/Power Button until the slider appears
2.  Slide the “slide to power off” icon to the right
3. Press on the Power button until you see the logo appear on your screen

For Android

1. Hold down the Side Button/Power Button for a few seconds. Options like shutdown, restart and emergency mode appears
2. Tap on Restart Option

After restarting, reconnect your Airpods to the phone and recheck if both the Airpods are working properly or not.

Update Your Software 

Often, when your software isn’t up to date, it is likely to cause such errors. A simple installation of a new update for your software can solve your problem in just a few minutes.

For iPhone

1. Go to Settings
2. Select General and tap on Software Update
   
3. Press on the Update you want to install
4. Click on Install Now

For Android

1. Go to Settings
2. Select About Phone and tap on Software Update
3. Press Download and Install and tap on Install Now Option
   

If this update isn’t available for you, the cause could be some other reason. Follow the remaining methods in this case.

Reset Your AirPods

If none of the methods work, you can always hard reset them. Resetting your AirPods deletes all the personal information and turns it back to a brand new one. It wipes all the data from your AirPod.

The outcome of reconnecting to your phone and restarting your AirPod is somewhat similar. Here, we use AirPods to reset whereas, we use the phone to reset it in the next step. 

1. Lift the top of the charging case with both the Airpods inside it
2. Tap and hold the Button on the Back until it starts to blink White light 
   
3. Keep pressing until the light turns Amber.

Repeat this process with the case open for at least three times if it doesn’t work in the first try to perform a hard reset on your AirPods. 

Reconnect to Your Phone

You can try reconnecting your Airpods to your phone or any other device to solve this problem. Airpods will introduce itself as a new device after following these steps. Keep both the Airpods on the charging case and close the lid.

1. Go to Settings
   
2. Tap on Bluetooth and find your AirPod’s name and click on the “i” icon.
   
3. Tap on Forget This Device
   

After a few seconds, open the lid and long press the button on the back of the charging case. Once you see white light flash, let go of the button. 

Bring your AirPods inside the charging case near the device you want to connect. A pop-up is likely to appear asking to pair the AirPods again. Set it up the same way you did the first time you got it. 

Contact the Apple Service Center

Despite following all these steps, if you still can’t make your one AirPod work, taking it to the Apple Service center for a repair would be a great idea. If it hasn’t been more than a year, you can get your warranty to cover the replacement. Otherwise, you can always save money and replace it with a new one.