I opened my AirPods charging case next to my Mac, but AirBuddy didn’t show the status window. Why?

This can happen because of several different factors. AirBuddy was designed to show the status window only when it's appropriate, so as to avoid false activations that could disrupt your work.

If you opened your AirPods case next to your Mac expecting to see the status window, but it didn't show up:

Is AirBuddy installed and running?

Make sure that "Enable AirBuddy" is on in the app's settings under "General". If it's on and there's no AirBuddy icon in your Menu Bar even with that setting enabled, there could be a problem with the installation.

Is Bluetooth on?

AirBuddy requires Bluetooth to do its work, so if Bluetooth is disabled or unavailable, it can't show the status window.

Are the AirPods inside the charging case?

The charging case doesn't have a Bluetooth radio of its own, so it needs the buds to be inside in order to broadcast its status. So if you open or close the charging case with no buds inside, there is no way for AirBuddy to know that its been opened or closed.

Is the status window enabled?

Make sure that “Show Automatically” is enabled in the AirBuddy settings, under the Proximity tab.

Distance filter

In the AirBuddy settings > Proximity > Advanced, there is an option to filter devices by distance. This will prevent the status window from showing up when the AirPods are not close enough to your Mac, but it can also cause a slight delay since the app has to determine the distance before deciding to show the status window.

Additionally, depending on your environment and your Mac, even when the AirPods are close to the Mac, they might be interpreted as being too far for the status window to be shown. If filter devices by distance is enabled, try disabling it.

Do Not Disturb

In the AirBuddy settings > Proximity > Advanced, there is an option to not show the status window when Do Not Disturb is enabled. If that option is on, it's possible that the status window didn't show up because you had Do Not Disturb or another focus mode enabled.

Are the AirPods paired with the Mac?

If your AirPods are not paired with the Mac, then AirBuddy won't be able to detect them. If you use your AirPods with another device such as an iPhone or iPad and your Mac is logged into the same iCloud account, then the AirPods are automatically paired.

If you don't have iCloud configured or if you're using a different iCloud account on your Mac than the one the AirPods are paired to, then you'll have to use a keyboard shortcut in order to show the status window manually.

If the AirPods have been paired recently

Sometimes macOS will not deliver updates about recently paired devices to apps, so if you have recently paired the AirPods with your Mac or with another device in the same iCloud account, you may need to reboot your Mac in order for the app to pick them up.

Check system support

If you're running an older version of macOS but using a newer version of AirPods, it's possible that they're not fully supported in your version of macOS. Check out this article to learn more.

Use the keyboard shortcut

You may also set up a global keyboard shortcut to show the status window at any time. This can be done in the Proximity or Shortcuts tabs in AirBuddy's settings. This will let you show the status window even when the AirPods are not within the charging case, such as to quickly check how their battery is doing while using them.