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Apple’s AirPods wireless earbuds were introduced nearly a decade ago and have since become Apple’s best-selling accessory at 66 million units in 2024. The pebble-shaped white case has remained a mainstay, though it has gained wireless charging chops and moved to the USB-C standard over the years. One thing that remained constant through the first three generations was the round white button at the back of the case but when the fourth-generation AirPods debuted in November of 2024, Apple swapped the tactile button with a capacitive sensor on the front. New features for the Airpods 4 also included Active Noise Cancellation and IP54 weather protection.

You can’t see the new button, but it’s positioned close to the LED indicator as seen in the image above. Think of it like an invisible sensor that can sense your tap inputs on the surface of the case. As for its function, it’s used for pairing and resetting the AirPods 4. Open the lid of the earbuds’ charging case, confirm the light is lit, and double-tap on the front of the case just below the LED. If there is no light, it’s time to charge your AirPods and case and try again.

To reset your AirPods 4 if your’e having trouble, open the case lid with your Airpods inside. The first double-tap of the button will make the light flash white, and a second double-tap makes it flash faster. A third double-tap makes it flash amber and then white again, indicating that they’re ready to use. If there’s an Apple device nearby like an iPhone or Mac, you should see a pairing notification in its Bluetooth settings.

Nadeem sarwar/SlashGear

Apple put the new capacitive button on both AirPods 4 variants; the one with active noise cancellation and the version that lacks this feature. If you lose your original charging case, you’ll need to use the capacitive button to pair a replacement. To set up a replacement AirPods 4 charging case, charge the case and AirPods with the lid closed for at least 20 minutes, then open the lid. If the light flashes white, close the lid and pair with your device. If the light doesn’t flash white, perform the double-tap gesture until it does and the setup animation appears in your device’s Bluetooth settings. If you don’t see it there, make sure Bluetooth is enabled and you’ve deleted the old AirPods case from your connected device list. 

You might never need to use the new button thanks to the chip array that helps AirPods work seamlessly with other Apple devices. Most users can use AirPods on multiple devices after configuring them on just one — any other iPhones, iPads, or Macs signed in using the same Apple ID should display the paired AirPods in Bluetooth settings. You likely won’t run into a situation where you have to manually pair them with another device, put them into connection mode, or reset them. Many other earbuds offer a physical button for pairing, since users might need to use them with devices across different operating systems like such as Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS. Even though Google’s Fast Pair is an improvement for that brand, it’s nowhere near as seamless as AirPods used within the Apple ecosystem.