Top 8 Reasons Why Headphones Keep Disconnecting?


When people use Bluetooth headphones, one of the biggest issues they deal with is the headphones disconnecting. It can be annoying, as it seemingly happens for no apparent reason. People often want to know why the headphones are disconnecting so that they can prevent it from happening.

Why your headset keeps disconnecting:

There are several reasons why your headphones keep disconnecting, including a low battery, interference, connection with an incompatible Bluetooth device, being out of range, or the Bluetooth device being paired with another set of headphones.

Once you understand the possibilities, you can troubleshoot your headphone’s Bluetooth connection and determine how you can fix the problem when your headset keeps disconnecting.

Table of Contents

1. Your Bluetooth Headphones Have Low Battery

Why do my earbuds keep disconnecting? Most Bluetooth devices run on batteries. Your headphones could be disconnecting because your battery is low.

Often, when the battery is low, users have trouble keeping stable Bluetooth connections.

Try charging your headphones for at least 20 minutes, and then connect again. If your Bluetooth headphones connect, this is the issue. Otherwise, try another solution.

2. Your Bluetooth Headset is Out of Range

Another reason that your Bluetooth headset may not connect is that they are out of range of the Bluetooth device. Sometimes people are using headphones with their phones, and they leave the phone and walk away.

Once you get out of range, the connection will become unstable. Make sure that you are in close enough range to connect to the device successfully.

3. Your Wireless Headphones Are Paired to an Old Bluetooth Device

When your Bluetooth headset is already paired with an older device, they will search for it rather than the new device.

If you haven’t disconnected them, your Bluetooth headset will consider it the priority connection, and you need to change the settings before connecting to a different device.

Go ahead and connect to the old device, and then disconnect. Once this is complete, try to connect to the new device again.

If you no longer have the old device, you can go into the Bluetooth settings and forget the device that you no longer use.

4. Bluetooth Connection is Experiencing Interference

It is fairly common for Bluetooth headset to experience interference from other devices and disconnect from a device. Interference is caused by radio waves generated from appliances, electromagnetic devices, and other devices.

If you are near these kinds of devices or appliances, move away from them to see if your connection improves.

Your WiFi router is another common source of interference with your high-end wireless headset. The reason is that a WiFi router device often emits radio waves that are similar to those sent out by Bluetooth devices.

If you move away from your Wi-Fi router, you lower the interference with your wireless headset.

Another device that can cause interference is a USB 3.0 port. The best way to eliminate this problem is to move away from the computer.

5. You Are Trying to Connect Incompatible Bluetooth Devices

Sometimes, an older model Bluetooth headset isn’t able to make a wireless connection to newer devices. Make sure that your headphones and the device you are trying to connect to are compatible.

If the two Bluetooth devices have different Bluetooth versions, they won’t have the right Bluetooth capabilities for a stable connection.

Without a stable connection, old Bluetooth devices will initially connect, but then will randomly disconnect while you are using them.

Bluetooth is dependent on hardware and software to function properly without any issues, and some will work better than others.

For example, Bluetooth 5, which is a newer Bluetooth version, will be compatible with Bluetooth 2.1, which is very old. However, Bluetooth Smart doesn’t work with old Bluetooth versions.

You need to check which versions of Bluetooth are on the Bluetooth headset and the device you want to connect to make sure that they are compatible.

6. You Are Running Too Many Background Apps

People often leave a lot of apps open and running in the background.

The problem is that this makes your phone work too hard, and its performance is reduced. In addition, it has an effect on the Bluetooth headsets that are connected to the phone.

The Bluetooth gets too many signals when there are a lot of apps running. This can lead to interference, and you may lose the Bluetooth connection.

Try to make it a habit to close out apps that you aren’t using. Not only will your Bluetooth headsets connect better, but your phone will perform better.

7. You Have Multiple Entries of the Same Contact

Sometimes, people end up with duplicate entries of one contact. If you are on a call and using your Bluetooth headphones, the headphones can become confused about which contact they are connected to.

If you find that your Bluetooth headphones drop calls for no reason, this is a very likely cause. The best way to resolve this issue is to go through your contacts and eliminate any duplicate entries.

8. You Need to Update Firmware or Bluetooth Headphone Drivers

Bluetooth uses firmware to run on your mobile device, and it is often called the USB headset driver for these kinds of devices. The firmware (USB headset drivers) provides the link between the hardware and software of many devices.

If you don’t update your USB headset drivers to the latest version as soon as it is released, it is possible that it is out of date or it can become corrupted.

The firmware is usually updated regularly to add features or fix bugs. If your firmware doesn’t update automatically, you need to do it manually.

Bluetooth headphones (or any device) may not function correctly if the firmware is out of date. It may become glitchy, have trouble connecting, or disconnect often.

The way to fix this is to update your firmware.

What to Do When Your Bluetooth Headphones Won’t Pair with a Device

If you are having trouble pairing your Bluetooth headphones with a device, you need to troubleshoot to solve the problem.

Pairing Mode / Pairing Process

First, verify the pairing process for your device. Different devices may have different processes, such as entering a PIN code or simply tapping on a button that says “connect.”

Within Maximum Range

Next, make sure that you are within range to connect the device. If this doesn’t work, you may need to simply turn the device and the headphones off and then turn them back on. This can reset the devices so that it is easier to make a connection.

Power saving mode

Make sure that both devices are powered up with enough battery life, and move away from any interference. You should also make sure that you don’t have your device in airplane mode or power-saving mode because this can prevent Bluetooth from connecting.

Try to Pair the Wireless Headset Again

If nothing else works and it is a device that you have paired to in the past, you should consider going to the settings, forgetting the device, and then pairing it over again.

Final Words on Why Your headphones Keep Disconnecting

If you find that your Bluetooth is disconnecting, there are a number of solutions you can try. The first step is to troubleshoot it and find out which issue is causing the poor connection.

If you were looking for answers to why your wired headphones keep unplugging, we’ll discuss that another time.

Juan Louder
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Juan Louder

I started SoundStudioMagic to learn how to record my own audiobook at home, and now I'm addicted to all the latest techniques and gear.

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