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Am I the only one whose AirPods have gotten quiet over time? I use mine now only to avoid disturbing others around me; I often have to hold them into my ear to understand YouTube. My phone's speakers are much louder and clearer.

[Edit: the comment is meant to be relevant because this seems cool and I like the lack of stigma, but a nearly silent headphone may not be ideal for the hard of hearing]

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Sounds like you need to clean them https://lifehacker.com/the-gross-but-effective-way-to-clean-...

Ew.. since they're water resistant, I tried ear wax drops. Helps a bit, though it's weird that my wired Apple headphones don't suffer the same way

I never got EarPods to last more than a few months; the wax would get through the mesh, and cleaning only worked once.

I was concerned Airpods would be the same way but so far (six months) they sound as good as ever.

Are you on Android? I had a similar problem with my Pixel 2 last year, and I've seen other Android users report similar issues with other bluetooth headsets. Under Android developer options, there's an option called "absolute volume" that you can disable which should increase/remove the volume cap on your bluetooth device.

I have found two things:

1. They get dirty fast. So you clean them and it helps.

2. If you are on the Mac, lower the sound all the way down and then raise it again. It is a software bug.

Yes it’s very common to get wax buildup. Just hit them with some rubbing alcohol and an electric toothbrush.

On Android I've found that the volume that the phone thinks the AirPods are at can get out of sync with reality, the result being that Android's idea of full volume is actually very quiet. (Perhaps I tried to change the volume before they were fully connected?)

Re-pairing them from scratch fixed this. Might be worth a try.

I experienced this (but mostly as a mild confusion of not being sure if they had ever been as loud or if I had just forgotten what volume setting I often used). I lost one in a restaurant and bought a new pair a few days ago and it was amazing how much louder the new ones were.

I’ve just bitten the bullet and replace them every 6 months. I think there’s a flaw that let the outside grill get pushed in and making the whole thing quieter.

I hope they fix this issue, but they’re also not expensive enough for me to hate having to buy new ones too much.

You may be experiencing hearing loss. Please get your ears checked.

I’ve never heard this complaint about AirPods. Mine certainly don’t seem to have experienced any reduction in volume after about 15 months of use. Have you gotten them wet?

Just an anecdote, but no my haven’t changed at all.

My iPhone volume gets more quiet over time. I used to be able to do the washing up while listening to Youtube or Netflix on speaker, I can’t anymore. I used to be able to listen to Youtube on the street with earplugs, not anymore. It decreased by a notch (30%) when I installed iOS 11.3. Never upgraded since.

This may sound odd, but are you sure your earphones are going in all they way into the plug? If they don’t go in properly you lose a lot of volume. (Possibly because of lint)

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