With the first wave of AirPods Max orders now arriving into the hands of customers, as always there are bound to be a few hiccups encountered when trying to connect and use the over-ear headphones with different devices for the first time.

airpods max pairing
If you're experiencing issues, the first thing you should do before anything else is reset the headphones and see if that resolves the problem. If that doesn't work, or if you've decided to return the headphones, you can reset them to factory settings and unpair them from your iCloud account.

How to Reset AirPods Max

  1. Before you reset your ‌AirPods Max‌, make sure they have some charge by plugging them into a charging point via the supplied USB-C to Lightning Cable.
  2. Press and hold the Noise Control button and the Digital Crown until the LED status light at the bottom of the right-hand earcup flashes amber.

If that doesn't solve your problem, you can reset the ‌AirPods Max‌ to factory settings. If you go down that route to return the headphones to Apple, remember to unpair them from your ‌iCloud‌ account.

airpods max digital crown

How to Reset AirPods Max to Factory Settings

  1. Make sure the headphones have some charge by plugging them into a charging point via the supplied USB-C to Lightning Cable.
  2. Press and hold the Noise Control button and the Digital Crown for 15 seconds, until the LED status light at the bottom of the right-hand earcup flashes amber, then white.

If neither of these options work to resolve your particular problem, contact Apple Support.

There are a couple of other notable customization options with the ‌AirPods Max‌ that are worth knowing about. You can reverse the direction of the Digital Crown volume controls, and also customize the mode selection of the Noise Control button.

Related Roundup: AirPods Max
Buyer's Guide: AirPods Max (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

Top Rated Comments

RPhoto Avatar
52 months ago

Wait - so you can remove them from your iCloud account (removing activation lock) just by pressing the buttons on the headset, without entering your iCloud password at any point? That's not great for something that costs £550!
No, I think it's just been worded badly/confusingly.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Franjelisco Avatar
52 months ago

Wait - so you can remove them from your iCloud account (removing activation lock) just by pressing the buttons on the headset, without entering your iCloud password at any point? That's not great for something that costs £550!
There is no activation lock in Airpods. You can use stolen Airpods just fine.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mazz0 Avatar
52 months ago

No, I think it's just been worded badly/confusingly.
Yeah, looks like its been edited. Phew, that would have made them a thief magnet! Mind you, the case might
make thieves too embarrassed to be seen with them. People might think the thief's stolen somebody's bra which I think has a substantially harsher punishment.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
Apple TV 4K hero 221018 feature

Here is Everything New for the Apple TV in the tvOS 18.3 Update So Far

Tuesday December 17, 2024 6:25 am PST by
Apple on Monday seeded the first tvOS 18.3 beta to developers for testing. The update will likely be released in January. So far, there are only minor changes for the Apple TV, with one new feature and a few code changes discovered. Below, we outline what is new in tvOS 18.3 so far. Robot Vacuum Support in Home App First, tvOS 18.3 will add robot vacuum support to the Home app on the...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...