AirPods connection issues after iOS 18 Update

Ever since my phone forced the iOS18.1 update, my AirPod Pros have been entirely bricked. Had absolutely no issue with them prior to the update and they have been well cared for. Now my phone and computer no longer recognize them and are unable to successfully pair. I did all of the troubleshooting recommended directly by Apple--no success. Ended up taking them to the Genius Bar, where they immediately insisted my AirPods likely were damaged by moisture. When I insisted this was not the case, they took them back to their lab to further investigate, with the report concluding that there was in fact NO physical damage done to the devices. To ensure MY phone was not the issue, the tech tried to pair my airPods to his employee iPad--same problem. To this the tech said "We're not sure what's wrong with them, but because they're out of warranty, you'll need to buy new ones." They were working PERFECTLY before the update. If this isn't resolved with a software patch, I will be leaving the Apple Ecosystem altogether.

Can’t connect with airpod

same

Same thing happened to me! Fortunately, it just fixed itself one day and never came back. Are your AirPods updated?

Ditto, mine are almost unusable at the minute with the interference and cutouts.

My issues have stopped, must have been either from an airpod update or Iphone update (I’m running the latest dev update). Whichever, the airpods are now back to their normal trusted behaviour! Phew!

app1 won’t stay connected to my iphone 13 pm, they “connect”, but seconds later they’re disconnected and ask me to pair them again. very annoying bug, please fix.

I’ve seen several posts saying to durn off vocal shortcuts… it’s not setup for me, yet I’ve still got problems.

No. I reported the bug to apple. I am waiting for solution.

I see a few people said to turn vocal shortcuts off. What is vocal shortcuts was off?

I also have this issue with two sets of airpods. It's a constant battle to get them to connect. They will disconnect randomly while on a call as well. It started after I updated to 18.

Exactly my issue. I tried everything i can. I dont want to spend more money replacing this. Was this resolved for you?

Same problem with iPhone 16 and iOS 18.1.1

Doesn't work with YouTube, stops working after a few minutes, impossible to get it to work properly

I was hoping that Apple would fix the bug with the update to iOS 18.2, but the bug still exists on iOS 18.2.

I just upgraded my ipad to ipadOS 18, and got the 16 pro max, since getting the new phone, my airpods pro 2 have had auto connectivity issues with both the ipad and the phone. and if i change the way i am using my airpods while watching youtube specifically like taking one out or putting another airpod in, it keeps pausing the video. the only way to “fix” this issue is have found is to take out the airpods and put them back in the case, then manually reconnect the airpods to the ipad and closing out the app and re opening it. please help 😭