Do AirPods Pro Go to Sleep? Pro 2 and Later Can Pause Media
Do AirPods Pro go to sleep? On AirPods Pro 2 or later, and AirPods 4 or later, you can turn on a setting that pauses your audio when you fall asleep while listening on an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV.
Apple’s words: “If you have AirPods 4 or later or AirPods Pro 2 or later, you can choose to pause media automatically when you fall asleep while listening to audio using your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV.”
Apple’s settings page prints no feature called sleep mode (zero hits for sleep mode, standby and low power). The two settings on that page that matter here, the pause media toggle and Automatic Ear Detection, are below.
The pause when you fall asleep setting
Apple prints the setting under two names on one page. The heading reads “Pause media when you fall asleep” and the lead in says “To turn on Pause Media When Falling Asleep, wear your AirPods, and make sure they’re connected to your device.”; the turn on step then names it Pause Media While Falling Asleep.
On an iPhone or iPad, Apple’s steps are: “On your iPhone or iPad, go to the Settings app, tap the name of your AirPods, then turn on Pause Media While Falling Asleep. If Pause Media While Falling Asleep isn’t displayed, first tap Audio & Routing.”
On a Mac, open System Settings from the Apple menu, then follow Apple’s steps: “Click the name of your AirPods, then turn on Pause Media While Falling Asleep. If Pause Media While Falling Asleep isn’t displayed, first click Audio & Routing.” On an Apple TV, Apple’s step is “On your Apple TV, open Control Center, select your AirPods, then turn on Pause Media While Falling Asleep.”
The model line is the part to read twice. The feature’s scope on Apple’s page is AirPods 4 or later and AirPods Pro 2 or later; the page prints no pause while falling asleep setting for the first AirPods Pro or for AirPods 1 to 3.
Why AirPods Pro stop when you take one out
That is Automatic Ear Detection, and Apple says it is on from the start: “By default, AirPods sense when they’re in your ear and receive the audio from your device.”
Apple describes the two pause cases in one sentence: “AirPods also pause and resume playback when you remove one of your AirPods, or stop playback—and won’t resume—when you remove both.” With the setting on and the AirPods out, “audio plays through your device’s speakers.”
To change it, put the AirPods in and make sure they are connected, then open Settings, tap the name of your AirPods and turn Automatic Ear Detection on or off; if it is not shown, tap Audio & Routing first. Apple’s steps: “On your iPhone or iPad, go to the Settings app, tap the name of your AirPods, then turn Automatic Ear Detection on or off. If Automatic Ear Detection isn’t displayed, first tap Audio & Routing.”
Turning it off has a cost Apple spells out: “When you turn off Automatic Ear Detection, these features are off and all audio plays to your AirPods whether or not you’re wearing them.” If the pausing happens while the AirPods are in your ears, our AirPods keep pausing piece covers that case.
What Apple’s settings page does not print
The page prints no battery figure and no time after which AirPods switch themselves off (zero hits for battery, minutes and hours). For how long AirPods last on calls, our AirPods battery life on calls piece covers that.
The page prints no sleep mode, standby mode or low power mode by name; the word asleep appears only in the pause media section. If the case light is what you are reading, what the lights on AirPods mean covers the case light.
Frequently asked questions
Do AirPods Pro turn off when you fall asleep?
On AirPods Pro 2 or later, Apple lets you turn on Pause Media While Falling Asleep, which pauses the audio when you fall asleep; the setting lives under the AirPods name in Settings, under Audio & Routing if it is not shown. Apple’s page prints no setting that powers the AirPods off (the one turn off on the page is Automatic Ear Detection’s).
Why do my AirPods Pro stop playing when I lie down?
Apple’s Automatic Ear Detection pauses playback when you remove one AirPod and stops it when you remove both. If Pause Media While Falling Asleep is on and you drift off, that setting pauses the audio too; turning ear detection off keeps audio on the AirPods “whether or not you’re wearing them.”
Does the first generation AirPods Pro have the sleep pause?
Apple’s settings page scopes the pause media while falling asleep setting to “AirPods 4 or later or AirPods Pro 2 or later” and prints no such setting for the first AirPods Pro.
Is there an AirPods sleep mode?
Apple’s settings page prints no feature called sleep mode. Its two related settings are Pause Media While Falling Asleep and Automatic Ear Detection, both above.