Oliver Haslam on December 18, 2020, 9:14 pm

No, You Don’t Need The AirPods Max Smart Case To Access Low Power Mode

There’s been a lot of talk of late about AirPods Max and that pretty horrible Smart Case. Those of us who would normally just never use the case were concerned that we might need to use it to put the headphones into low power mode – given the fact Apple told us that was what the case did. Turns out, we needn’t have worried.

According to a newly updated Apple support document, AirPods Max will go into low power mode after five minutes of not being used. Just like putting them into the Smart Case.

If you set your ‌AirPods Max‌ down and leave them stationary for 5 minutes, they go into a low power mode to preserve battery charge. After 72 stationary hours out of the Smart Case, your ‌AirPods Max‌ go into a lower power mode that turns off Bluetooth and ‌Find My‌ to preserve battery charge further.

Moving on, it seems that the same low power states are used when Apple’s Smart Case is used, too. Except the Smart Case puts the AirPods Max into low power immediately, rather than waiting 5 minutes.

If you put your ‌AirPods Max‌ in the Smart Case when you’re not using them, they go into a low power mode immediately to preserve battery charge. After 18 hours in the Smart Case, your ‌AirPods Max‌ go into an ultralow power mode that turns off Bluetooth and ‌Find My‌ and maximizes battery life.

Oddly, it seems the Smart Case still makes AirPods Max wait 18 hours before going into ultra-low power mode. Something many had assumed happened immediately.

Regardless, we’ve heard great things about AirPods Max battery life so far. Although it isn’t clear whether everyone was using the Smart Case, or not.