The Apple AirPods is one of the more convenient products that Apple has in store for us. Thanks to being wireless, it saves us the trouble of accidentally damaging the product when we trip on it as well as making it easier to use especially on crowder areas. What’s great about it is that it can be connected with your Windows 10 PC as easily as how you can carry it in your pocket.
So how do you pair your AirPods with your computer or laptop? The easiest way to do that is to turn on your Bluetooth and pair the AirPods to your Windows 10 PC. Once you are paired, you can automatically connect to it at any time whenever you turn on your Bluetooth.
With that being said, not everyone knows the fast and convenient way to connect and pair their PC to a device via Bluetooth. In fact, many of us just wander randomly in the Settings menu until we finally make it to our destination. If you are one of those who are easily lost in the Settings menu, don’t worry because we are here to give the step by step instructions on how to quickly pair your AirPods to your Windows 10 PC.
How to Connect Your AirPods to Your Windows 10 PC Via Bluetooth
The best laptops and PCs will tend to have tons of useful and convenient features with them. Of course, most laptops, even the older models also have Bluetooth connection which makes it convenient to connect to most devices.
This also means that the most reliable way to connect your Apple AirPods to your laptop is via Bluetooth connection. But you need to be mindful of the model.
Each laptop model has different buttons and functions so turning on your Bluetooth will vary from laptop to laptop. Thankfully, the process is the same if you’re using the same Operating System so we will be using the latest Windows OS, Windows 10, as our example.
Turn On Your Computer’s Bluetooth Connection
Turning on the Bluetooth on your Windows 10 PC is easy. All you need to do to is to follow the instructions below:
- Press the “Start” or “Windows” button and press “Settings”. The Settings menu is located above the Power Option.
- In settings go to “Devices”. It should open a new window where you can turn your Bluetooth settings on. If you can’t find these settings, then look to the left side of the screen and click on “Bluetooth and other devices”.
- From here you can simply toggle your laptop’s Bluetooth on or off.
- After turning the Bluetooth on, click the “Add Bluetooth or Other Device”.
- The “Add a Device” window will prompt, asking you the type of device you want to pair with. Select “Bluetooth”.
Side Note:
There is even a faster way to open your Bluetooth on your Windows 10 PC or laptop and it is by using Windows Action Center. It is found on the bottom-right most of your screen and it looks like a callout. Once you click that, a window that has a record of your recent activities on your Windows PC will pop out. Find and click the Bluetooth option and wait for it to turn on.
But doing this won’t still give you the ability to add other Bluetooth devices on your Windows PC. You will still have to open the Bluetooth settings and manually add devices there.
Turn On Your AirPods’ Bluetooth Connection
It is actually easier to turn on your AirPod’s Bluetooth than your computer’s Bluetooth. And you can do it just by following the steps below:
- Get your AirPods and open the lid.
- Press and hold the circular button on the back of the AirPods. The button is hard to miss but if you have a hard time seeing it, it’s under the “Designed by Apple” text. Hold this button down for 5 to 10 seconds. This will make your AirPods look for suitable devices to pair with.
You can tell that it’s looking for devices when your AirPods case charging light is blinking. When you see the lights blinking, you have a limited amount of time until it stops searching for devices.
(Image credit: Apple)
- Look at your Windows 10 PC and check if your AirPods is already being read. Sometimes, it takes a while for the PC to see the AirPods so a little patience is a must.
- Once your AirPods name has appeared, “Select” them. You will know that it is already paired when you get a “Your device is ready to go!” notification.
If you can’t find it, we suggest doing it again since the blinking might have stopped.
Pair Your AirPods with your Windows 10 PC
Once you have already paired your AirPods with your Windows 10 PC, it will already automatically connect. But there are some instances where it will not reconnect automatically. To reconnect it manually, here are the steps that you could follow:
- Open the Settings menu.
- Select “Devices”.
- Go to “Bluetooth and other devices”, then find “Audio”
- Select your AirPods. Then a window will pop up. Press Connect and your AirPods will now work again.
Common AirPods Problems
Non-functioning Devices
The first and most important step to ensure that nothing goes wrong is to check the device itself. Your AirPods could really be already broken and that is why it isn’t connecting to your Windows 10 PC. A common solution to know if it is your AirPod that is broken is to try to connect it to different devices to isolate the possibility that it is your PC which has a problem.
The same goes for your PC as well. Connect other devices to it to know that it is functioning properly. Also, make sure that all the drivers are up to date.
Make Sure It Is Charging
One of the major reasons why your Apple AirPods isn’t connecting is because it doesn’t have a sufficient battery charge to do so. To prevent disconnects and other issues during the pairing process, we highly recommend that you charge your AirPods first before doing this or charge it during the pairing process.
Forgetting to Turn On Your Device Bluetooth
One of the greatest blunders since the Bluetooth was invented is forgetting to turn on your device Bluetooth. This really doesn’t need an explanation and your own experiences could already suffice.
Windows 10 Bluetooth Is Not Working
It might be troublesome if your Bluetooth is not working because it hinders you from connecting not only to your AirPods but also to other devices as well. If you are sure that it is your Windows 10 PC that has Bluetooth connectivity problems and not your AirPods, then you may try the following solutions:
Restart Your Windows 10 PC
This is one of the common fixes and you should try this because restarting your computer also restarts the Bluetooth that might have had an error somewhere in the process.
Flight Mode Is On
You might have few reasons to turn on your Flight Mode. It could be because you have a flight, or you want to save your phone battery, or you just want to disconnect from the digital world. But whatever reason you may have, turning on your Flight Mode disables your Bluetooth together with your WiFi, GPS, and all other wireless signals that you are emitting. So just make sure that before connecting your AirPods to your Windows 10 laptop, turn off the Flight Mode.
Turn Off Other Bluetooth Devices
This shouldn’t be a problem in the first place because even though many Bluetooth devices are open, your computer should still be able to distinguish different Bluetooth devices from each other. Though it would be better for you to help your Windows 10 PC to eliminate its choices.
Faulty Drivers
If your Windows 10 PC can’t connect to your AirPods, or on any other device, it might be because you have a broken driver. Always update your computer drivers when available because driver updates fix bugs and corrupted installations.
Run Windows 10 Bluetooth Troubleshooter
The good thing about Windows is that it has a built-in troubleshooter for many of its tools, including Bluetooth. Windows 10 Troubleshooter scans your computer for programs that are connected to using Bluetooth and checks if there are problems.
To open the Bluetooth troubleshooter, find and open Settings from the Start menu. Then go to Update & Security, then Troubleshoot. Scroll down and click Bluetooth.
How to Reconnect Your AirPods to Your Laptop via Action Center
Now that your AirPods are connected to your laptop, you can automatically reconnect to them anytime by turning on the Bluetooth and choosing the device from your settings. There is a shortcut on how to do this in Windows 10 via the Action Center.
Click on the lower right end part of the desktop which is next to where you can see the date and the time. This is the action center, clicking on this will make a window popup with different settings to pick from like VPNs, going to tablet mode, and even a night light.
Look for the Bluetooth settings and click on it. This should turn on your laptop’s Bluetooth and if your AirPods are within range, then it should automatically connect to it.
If for some reason, you can’t see the Bluetooth icon on the window, then chances are, you are looking at a collapsed list. Simply click on the “Expand” text and other options would appear.
As you can see, after clicking on “Expand”, a lot of new choices should show up. The Bluetooth icon should be visible. Right-clicking on the icon and pressing “Go To Settings” should take you to the “Bluetooth & other devices” windows where you can see the devices you can pair with.
If your AirPods don’t automatically connect with your laptop after this, you can simply click on your AirPods in this window and connect to it manually.
Why Can’t I See the Bluetooth Icon Even When I Expand My Windows Action Center?
If for some reason, you can’t see the Bluetooth icon even when expanding the action center, then don’t panic. The Bluetooth setting wasn’t probably added into it yet or you removed it a long time ago.
To add the Bluetooth settings, simply right click on any of the icons in the Action Center. Pick “Edit quick actions” and a new window should pop up.
In this new window, click on “Add” and choose “Bluetooth”.
A new Bluetooth icon should now be available. Click on “Done”, and you should be able to access your Bluetooth settings whenever you open Windows action center.
AirPods keeps disconnecting and reconnecting on a Windows 10 PC
If you experience AirPods that keep on disconnecting and reconnecting again, don’t worry because you are not alone. It is one of the most common problems in connecting AirPods to Windows 10 PCs or laptops.
What is happening is that whenever the song pauses, Windows 10 detects it as “not being used” so it automatically disconnects your AirPods to your PC to save power. But there is a workaround to outwit this smart feature of Windows 10 that you can see below:
- On the Windows search bar, type and open the Device Manager.
- Go to the “View” tab and ensure that you select the “Devices by type”.
- Find and expand the “Human Interface Devices”.
- Find (Name) AirPods Audio/Video Remote Control HID and (Name) AirPods Hands-Free Call Control HID. The next steps that would follow should be done to both of these but one at a time.
- Right-click and select “Properties”.
- Go to the “Power Management” and uncheck the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”.
- Repeat step 5 and step 6 to “Bluetooth Low Energy GATT compliant HID device” as well.
- Click OK, then exit.
Can I connect my AirPods to other Devices?
What’s great about the Apple AirPods is that it can connect to most modern-day devices that have Bluetooth. So you don’t have to worry about incompatibility issues with it since you can connect it with your tablet, your smartphone, and most devices in general.
This doesn’t mean that the Apple AirPods are universal though, and it may have trouble connecting to older devices with outdated drivers or with Bluetooth problems in general.