I recently bought refurbished AirPods 4 through Amazon Renewed, but I haven't been able to connect them to my iPhone. When I open the case, the light flashes white, indicating pairing mode, yet no connection prompt appears and the AirPods don't show up in Bluetooth settings. I tried the same process with another phone and had the same result. Is there another pairing step I'm missing, or should I return them?
2 Answers
Make sure you’re following the full pairing process: open the case, put the AirPods into pairing mode, then hold the case close to the phone and check the Bluetooth device list. It’s also worth trying another Bluetooth device to see whether the AirPods appear there. If they don’t show up anywhere, the problem is probably with the AirPods rather than your phone.
If they won’t appear on multiple phones, I’d return them instead of spending more time troubleshooting. Refurbished earbuds can have battery, case, or pairing issues, and replacing them is probably the simplest solution.
I tried holding the open case next to my phone and checking Bluetooth settings, but nothing appeared. I repeated the same steps with my sister’s phone and got the same result. Is there another step I’m missing?