How to Fix AirPods Disconnecting from Mac

AirPods are one of the most popular wireless earbuds that provide quality audio to your ears. Most people use the earbuds in their day to day life which ultimately includes using it with their Apple devices such as the MacBook. One of the issues that users often encounter while using the AirPods is the connectivity issue where the earbuds keep on disconnecting from their device. As it turns out, the earbuds frequently keep disconnecting from the device and then connect back again. Disconnections are really annoying and especially the ones like these that may get in between your workflow.

There aren’t many reasons which can result in the said problem. As it turns out, the issue often appears due to the Bluetooth module or its preferences on your system. Mac systems save a .plist file that stores the user preferences for certain features so that you don’t have to specify them every time. In some cases, corruption in the Bluetooth preferences file can cause the issue to arise. Therefore, in such a scenario, you will have to delete the properties file of Bluetooth to resolve the issue. In other cases, you might have to reset the Bluetooth module to get the issue resolved. We will be going through both these methods and more in more detail down below. So, for all of that, just follow through.

Method 1: Delete Bluetooth Property List File 

As we have mentioned above, the first thing that you should do when your earbuds keep on disconnecting from your Mac is to delete the property list file that is generated by Bluetooth. PLIST or property list files are widely used in macOS to store user settings and configuration of various different applications. Thus, Bluetooth has its own property list file that it relies on when you wish to connect to an old device. When you delete the plist file, all of the configurations for your paired devices will be gone and you will have to go connect everything back again. So, that is something to keep in mind, however, it’s not much of a deal. To delete the file, follow the instructions down below:

1. First of all, open up Finder and then from the Finder menu bar, click on Go.
2. From the drop-down menu that appears, choose the Go to Folder option.

   

3. After that, paste the following path and then click Go.

   /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist

4. Finally, delete the com.apple.Bluetooth.plist file by moving it to Trash.

   

5. Connect your AirPods again to see if that resolves the issue.

Method 2: Reset Bluetooth Module 

Your Mac device uses the Bluetooth technology to connect to your wireless peripherals such as your keyboard, mice and in this case, your AirPods. While this works without any problems most of the time, there are times where you might want to reset the module in order to fix a connectivity issue. The present scenario is no different. This can be done through the Bluetooth icon that appears on the menu bar. Thus, you will have to make sure that you have the icon visible on your menu bar.

It is also important to note that if you are using other wireless peripherals to interact with your Mac, such as a wireless keyboard or a mouse, you are going to lose connection for some time. Therefore, it may be a good option to have a wired option for backup. So, with that said, follow the instructions down below to reset the Bluetooth module:

1. First of all, make sure that you have the Bluetooth icon visible on the menu bar. If you don’t see it, that means it isn’t allowed from the System Preferences. Thus, you will have to go to System Preferences > Bluetooth and then check the Show Bluetooth in menu bar option.

   

2. After that, once the icon is visible, press and hold the Shift + Option keys on your keyboard, and click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
3. This will bring up a drop-down menu, hover the cursor over the Debug option.

   

4. Once you have done that, the menu should expand. Now, click on the Reset the Bluetooth module option.

   

5. This will reset the Bluetooth module.
6. Finally, restart your Mac and then connect your AirPods. See if you still face the issue.

Method 3: Update MacOS

Finally, if the above solutions do not work out for you, it could be that the issue is being caused by an outdated version of the Mac operating system. There have been reports of the said issue by some users who resolved the issue by just updating their macOS to the latest build available. Thus, in such a scenario, what you have to do is simply look for any available updates and then install them to get the issue resolved. This is rather simple to do, so just follow the instructions down below:

1. First of all, open up the System Preferences window from the Apple menu.
2. On the System Preferences window, click on the Software Update option.

   

3. If there are any updates available, you will be shown the “An update is available for your Mac” text. Click on the Update Now to begin downloading the update.

   

4. Wait for it to complete and then your Mac should restart to complete installing the update.
5. Finally, once your Mac boots up again, connect your AirPods to see if the issue has been resolved.