If you’re using AirPods with an Android phone, you can check the battery level for the buds and case. Here’s how to do it.
AirPods are popular among most iPhone users. However, if you’re using them with an Android phone to listen to music or take calls, you’re missing out on some of their features: the inability to natively monitor your AirPods’ battery levels is one of them.
But don’t fret. We’ll show you a quick and easy way to view your AirPods battery on Android.
Check your AirPods battery on Android with OpenPods
Apple’s AirPods have an LED on the charging case. Among other things, it aims to give you a general overview of the battery level of your AirPods: green means fully charged, while yellow indicates that less than a single full charge remains.
However, as you can see, this isn’t very reliable as you can’t see the actual battery level. And hence, it justifies the need for a dedicated app.
OpenPods is one such app. With it, you can easily monitor your AirPods battery on your Android device. OpenPods is free and open source, and for licensing reasons you can download it directly from the F-Droid App Store – not the official Play Store.
Alternatively, you can download the APK file from the F-Droid website and install it manually using our guide to sideloading apps on Android.
Download: F-Droid (Free)
Download: OpenPods (free)
Set up and use OpenPods
With OpenPods installed on your phone, launch the app and grant it access to all necessary permissions. OpenPods will minimize and an AirPods icon will appear in the device status bar.
Pull down the notification panel. Here you will see a notification for OpenPods. On this notification, tap the down arrow to expand it.
OpenPods shows you the connected AirPods and the charge they’re holding. If the AirPods are not in their charging case and the case is also open, you can see the battery level for both the earbuds and the charging case. On the other hand, if you only took the AirPods out of the charging case, OpenPods only show the battery status of the left and right earphones.
Finally, when you put the AirPods back into the charging case and close it, OpenPods understands that they’re not connected and doesn’t show you the battery status. However, once you open the case and connect the AirPods to your phone, the app will see that your AirPods are connected and will show you the battery level again.
Of course, this means OpenPods will keep running in the background even when your AirPods aren’t connected, resulting in increased battery drain. However, OpenPods does offer a battery saver option, which you can access through the app’s settings, which you can enable if you think the app is using too much battery.
Easily know when your AirPods are dead on your Android phone
OpenPods makes checking the battery level of your AirPods on Android super easy. With it, you can easily keep an eye on when your AirPods battery is dead. So you can charge them in time and have them ready for use when you need them later.
Although AirPods work flawlessly with Android, the lack of built-in support for displaying the battery level is one of the few quirks to contend with.