To reset AirPods to factory settings, put them in their case, close the lid for 30 seconds, open the lid, and then use the control for your model: on AirPods 1, 2 or 3 and AirPods Pro 1 or 2, press and hold the setup button on the back of the case for about 15 seconds, until the status light flashes amber, then white. On AirPods 4, 5 and AirPods Pro 3 — whose cases have no button — double-tap the front of the case three times instead. On AirPods Max, hold the Digital Crown and the noise control button together until the light by the charging port turns from flashing amber to flashing white. The amber-then-white flash is the confirmation on every model: the reset is done and the AirPods are ready to pair as if new.
Those are Apple’s own steps, from Apple Support’s guide to restarting, unpairing and resetting AirPods. What follows is the same procedure with the parts around it that most short guides leave out: when a reset is actually the right fix, the unpairing step that comes first, how to reconnect, and the one situation — second-hand AirPods — where reset alone will not help you.
Before you reset: two lighter steps, and a charge
Apple’s own order of operations is restart, then unpair, then reset — because a full reset erases your settings (custom name, tap and press controls, noise-control preferences) and removes every pairing, which is more surgery than many problems need.
- Restart them. Put both AirPods in the case, close the lid, wait at least 10 seconds, then open it. A surprising share of one-bud-silent and won’t-connect problems end here. If the problem is a connection failure rather than a settings problem, Apple’s troubleshooting steps for AirPods that won’t connect start with updating your iPhone, iPad or Mac and checking that both AirPods are charging — worth two minutes before you erase anything. (If that update itself refuses to install because the phone is full, that is a separate, common problem: iPhone storage filling up with system data has to be cleared before iOS can update, and until iOS updates, the AirPods troubleshooting is stuck behind it.)
- Charge the case and buds. A reset attempted on a nearly flat case can fail partway. If your AirPods won’t charge at all, fix that first: Apple specifies at least 15 minutes connected to power for AirPods and AirPods Pro before further troubleshooting.
- Unpair (forget) them. If you are resetting to fix a connection problem, forget the AirPods on your device first, per Apple’s guide: on iPhone or iPad, either tap your AirPods’ name near the top of the Settings app, or go to Settings > Bluetooth, tap the (i) next to their name, and tap Forget This Device. On a Mac, open System Settings, click your AirPods’ name in the sidebar, and click Forget This Device. Apple notes that forgetting removes them from all devices signed in to the same Apple Account at once. If they no longer appear in your device list at all, skip this and go straight to the reset.
How to reset AirPods, model by model
| Model | Reset action | Success signal |
|---|---|---|
| AirPods 1, 2, 3 · AirPods Pro 1, 2 | Hold the setup button on the back of the case ~15 seconds | Light flashes amber, then white |
| AirPods 4, 5 · AirPods Pro 3 | Double-tap the front of the case three times | Light flashes amber, then white |
| AirPods Max | Hold Digital Crown + noise control button together ~15 seconds | Light goes from flashing amber to flashing white |
AirPods 1, 2 or 3, and AirPods Pro 1 or 2
- Put both AirPods in the case, close the lid, and wait 30 seconds.
- Forget them in Bluetooth settings if you have not already (above).
- Open the lid.
- Press and hold the setup button — the small round button on the back of the case — for about 15 seconds.
- Keep holding through the first flashes until the status light flashes amber, then white. Releasing at amber alone leaves you mid-reset; the white flash is the finish line.
AirPods 4, 5 and AirPods Pro 3
These cases have no setup button; the front of the case is touch-sensitive, and the reset is a rhythm of taps instead of a hold.
- Put both AirPods in the case, close the lid, and wait 30 seconds.
- Forget them in Bluetooth settings if they appear there.
- Open the lid.
- Double-tap the front of the case three times: double-tap while the status light is on, again when it turns white, and a third time as it flashes faster.
- A successful reset ends with the light flashing amber, then white, exactly as with the button models.
AirPods Max
AirPods Max have no case control, so the reset happens on the headphones themselves.
- Charge them for a few minutes first if the battery is low.
- On the right ear cup, press and hold the Digital Crown and the noise control (listening mode) button at the same time.
- Hold until the status light next to the charging port changes from flashing amber to flashing white — around 15 seconds.
One warning from Apple’s guide: on AirPods Max, how long you hold decides what happens. A shorter hold (around 10 seconds territory) restarts them; holding until the amber-to-white change is what performs the factory reset. If yours merely restarted, hold longer.
How to reconnect after a reset
A reset AirPod is an unpaired AirPod. To set it up again: leave both buds in the case with the lid open, hold the case near your iPhone, iPad or Mac, and follow the setup animation that appears on screen. Because forgetting and resetting removed the pairing everywhere, the AirPods will then be offered automatically to your other devices signed in to the same Apple Account — the same account-wide behaviour that can fill an iPhone with device settings over time (the flip side of the tidiness questions behind iPhone storage filling up with system data).
After reconnecting, re-check the settings the reset erased: the AirPods’ name, what a double-tap or press-and-hold does, automatic ear detection, and — on Pro models — your noise-control defaults.
Pairing with a non-Apple device works differently. AirPods can be used as ordinary Bluetooth earbuds with an Android phone or a Windows PC: put them into pairing mode (the same case control as your model’s reset, held or tapped only until the status light flashes white, without continuing into the amber reset sequence), then select them in the other device’s Bluetooth list. What you give up is the Apple layer: no setup animation, no automatic switching between devices, no Find My, and settings such as the custom name and control assignments can only be changed from an Apple device. If the AirPods were previously paired to an iPhone, forget them there first, or the iPhone will keep reclaiming them whenever it is in range. And if the pair turns out to be associated with someone else’s Apple Account, the lock described below applies no matter which phone you are trying to use — it has to be released by the account holder before the AirPods will pair cleanly with anyone else’s account.
Bought second-hand AirPods? The lock a reset cannot fix
This is the point where most reset guides fail their readers, because they never separate two different things:
- A factory reset clears the AirPods’ stored pairings and settings. It works fine.
- Apple Account association (Find My) is separate. AirPods can be paired with only one Apple Account at a time, and if a previous owner never removed them from their account, you can reset them a dozen times and still be unable to pair them to yours. There is no bypass, and Apple cannot remove the association for you — only the account holder can.
The fix belongs to the previous owner: in the Find My app, on the Devices tab, they select the AirPods and choose Remove This Device. If you are selling or giving away your own AirPods, do this before handing them over, alongside the reset, so the new owner can pair them and use Find My themselves. If you have already bought a pair that shows as connected to another account, the only route is asking the seller to remove them — which is worth confirming before you pay for any used pair.
If the reset doesn’t work
- The light never flashes amber, then white. The usual causes are a nearly dead case (charge it, cable connected, for at least 15 minutes and try again), the wrong control for your model — tapping the front of a case that has a button, or hunting for a button on a case that does not have one — or releasing a beat too early. On button models, hold through the amber.
- Only one AirPod misbehaves. Reset with both buds in the case; the procedure resets the pair as a unit. If one bud was not in the case, it kept its old pairing and its old problem.
- Everything pairs, but the fault comes back. A fault that survives a factory reset is unlikely to be settings. Before assuming hardware, check the firmware: Apple delivers AirPods firmware updates automatically while the buds are charging in Bluetooth range of a Wi-Fi-connected iPhone, iPad or Mac, and Apple’s firmware page lists the current version for each model so you can confirm yours is current. A problem that persists on current firmware, after a clean reset, is a service issue — and no number of further resets will change that.
Frequently asked questions
Does resetting AirPods remove them from my Apple Account? No — not by itself. A reset clears pairings and settings; the Find My association is removed separately, in the Find My app, with Remove This Device. That is why a previous owner’s AirPods can be freshly reset and still unusable by you.
Will a reset delete my settings and custom name? Yes. Name, tap/press assignments and listening-mode preferences return to defaults, and every device pairing is erased. That is precisely what “factory settings” means here, and why Apple puts restart and unpair ahead of reset in its own guidance.
How long do I hold the setup button? About 15 seconds — but watch the light, not the clock. The reset is complete when the status light flashes amber, then white. Stop at amber and you have stopped halfway.
Can I reset AirPods without the case? For the earbud models, no: the case is the reset tool — its button or touch surface performs the procedure. AirPods Max are the exception, because they reset from their own buttons.
Does a reset update the firmware too? No. A reset changes settings and pairings; firmware updates arrive separately and automatically, while the AirPods charge near a connected Apple device.
Do I have to unpair (forget) my AirPods before resetting them? Apple’s guide treats unpairing and resetting as separate steps, in that order: forget first if the AirPods appear in your Bluetooth list, then reset. If they no longer appear in the list at all, there is nothing to forget — skip straight to the reset for your model. Skipping the forget step when they are listed leaves an old pairing behind for the reset to fight with.
Can I reset AirPods without an iPhone nearby? Yes. The reset itself happens on the case or, for AirPods Max, on the headphones — no phone takes part in it. A phone is only needed for the step before it (forgetting the pairing) and the step after it (setting the AirPods up again). If no Apple device is around, do the case reset now and pair them when you are back at your device.
Steps and behaviour in this article follow Apple Support’s published AirPods guidance, linked above, checked November 2026. Menu names can shift slightly between iOS and macOS versions; if a label on your device differs, Apple’s guide for your model is the deciding source.