I learned that I should use the pad of my finger and not the fingernail. Also, I needed to tap quickly instead of a very deliberate TAP TAP.

I've now got the airpods connected to my MacAir, my iPad, and my iPhone. I can listen to a podcast and when a call comes in, have it auto switch to the call.

How long should the AirPods last for calls?

I'm getting about 90 minutes, then they start to die. I then switch to either speaker or wired headphones.

When I'm just listening to music they go for much longer, I've never had them run out over several hours.

I use them for calls probably 15+ house a week with either iphone or laptop. I get about 2 hours of calls with iphone before they start to ding. What I do is take one out and put it back in the case for about 15 minutes and it gets to about 25-35%, then I switch it out with the other one. Once calls are done, usually 60-90 minute calls, if I put them back in the case between calls I don't have to do the swap dance. But, 2 hours with both in should certainly be possible.

I do this or just use one for half an hour or more and then switch to the other one. Using one airpod instead of two does not impact my ability to hear the call.

Thanks for the tips!

It is probably closer to 2 hours if they are fully charged. I had a call yesterday that was scheduled for 45 min. After 80 min or so one of the AirPods made the ding... I'll start to switch between them for calls now.

When reading today about Apple Airpods2, I noticed that it will have an upgraded BT chip.

Currently, I use an iPX + iW3 cellular and when making phone calls from the iPhone with AirPods, I must put the iW3 in airplane mode due to BT conflicts.

Will the new BT chips in the upcoming Airpods2 resolve this issue when making phone calls?

You're reading rumors right, not an official announcement?

Yes, rumors is all we have but this aspect is consistent in all the reports.

I've moved to the jabra elite sport headsets this year and am much happier with the fit and appearance. It doesn't look like my ears are vaping anymore.

I think the new airpods will most likely include the BT5 protocol whereas in either the LOW energy version or the LONG RANGE version (or maybe some combination>) I think the original version were some version of BT4.x BT5.0 has some significant advantages for range, battery life and the ability to pass other transport features to another BT5 enabled phone or other device. I'm hoping that a AP2 version would allow each earpiece to be paired with different devices as I'll often be on two separate conference calls with a different earpiece in each ear. I'd like to be able to use the Airpods for this use case

The BT issue I was trying to describe is discussed in this thread that I wonder if it will be addressed with the Air Pods 2 if the rumors are on target:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7794112

One should start with page 11 and the last posts from 2017 and go from there.

So, having had the airpods about 14 months now I can say I had some SERIOUS issues at first. But, after ios and FW on the airpods updates I haven't had really any of these issues again.

So you do not have to put your iW in airplane mode or disable BT on tile or like devices when making a phone call on your smartphone while wearing AirPods?

Could you clarify the question? what is iW? (is that apple watch?)..and as for smartphone, do you mean my iPhone/s or if it is connected to some other smartphone maker via BT?

I don't turn anything off on anything to use the airpods with my iphone, ipad, imac or applewatch. I just tap the pair button (not a PRESS but a tap) and it pretty much connects to the device it is now closest to. they are all sync'd for the BT connection setup of course but they are not all connected at the same time. I connect it to my computer, ipad and back to iphone probably 5+ times a day. Least often is with my applewatch that connection (directly to the airpods) is really only 1-2 times a week for podcasts or heading out for a run/walk without my phone.