During the holiday season, AirPods are a notably common gift among Apple device users. After the festivities, you might find yourself with two pairs of AirPods at home, leaving you wondering what to do with the old ones. You can sell or gift them, but before doing so, it’s essential to restore them properly and remove them from your Apple account. This ensures that the new owner can use them as their own and that they are no longer tied to your account.
Just like we’ve talked about how to enable and set up personalized spatial audio, let’s go over how to reset your AirPods to their original settings and unlink them from your Apple account so they’re fully ready for their new owner.
How to restore your AirPods to make them like new
Restoring AirPods is a very straightforward process, but it’s important to follow all the steps. Whether you have first- or second-generation AirPods Pro or first-, second-, or third-generation AirPods, the steps are the same. Here’s what to do:
- Place the AirPods inside their charging case and close the lid.
- Wait about 30 seconds to complete the initial synchronization process.
- Open the lid of the charging case without removing the AirPods.
- On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Bluetooth, find your AirPods in the list of devices, tap the "i" next to their name, and select Forget This Device.
- With the case lid still open, press and hold the button on the back of the charging case until the LED indicator starts flashing red, then white.
- Release the button and close the lid of the charging case.
For iPhone 4 users, the process is almost identical, but with a key difference: in step 5, after opening the lid, you’ll need to tap the front of the case twice, three times in succession. Then, continue with step 6, closing the lid as usual.
With these steps, your AirPods will be reset to their factory settings, clearing all personalized configurations and leaving them ready to pair with a new device. However, there’s one last detail to address before the AirPods are completely ready.
How to remove your AirPods from your Apple Account
Even after resetting your AirPods, they remain linked to your Apple account. How do you remove them? As long as the AirPods are within Bluetooth range of your iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:
- Open the Find My app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap the Devices tab to see all devices linked to your account.
- Select the AirPods you want to unlink.
- Tap Remove This Device and confirm the action.
With both processes complete—factory reset and Apple account unlinking—you can now sell or gift your AirPods with peace of mind. The new owner will receive AirPods ready to set up as if they were brand new.
Getting old AirPods ready for a new owner is, as you can see, much simpler than it seems. In just a few minutes, your headphones will be ready for someone else to enjoy.
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