macOS Tahoe 26.1 — AirPods 3 Randomly Disconnecting and Reconnecting (Bluetooth Issue)

Hi everyone,

I’m having a frustrating Bluetooth issue on my MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip. My AirPods 3 randomly start disconnecting and reconnecting every 1–2 seconds. This can continue for a full minute or longer, making them almost impossible to use.

I’ve noticed that this issue always starts when I open the AirPods widget from the macOS menu bar. As soon as the widget appears, the AirPods behave as if they’re turning off and on, but macOS still shows them as connected. The audio keeps cutting out during these rapid disconnections.

Some important notes:

• AirPods 3 work perfectly with my iPhone — no disconnection issues at all.
• The problem seems specific to macOS on my M3 Pro MacBook.

Troubleshooting I’ve tried:

• Restarting the Mac
• Unpairing and re-pairing the AirPods
• Resetting the AirPods
• Checking for macOS updates

Unfortunately, nothing has solved the issue.

Has anyone else experienced this with AirPods or Bluetooth devices on an M3 Pro Mac? Any ideas on what else I can try?

Thanks!