LIberty Air - Using Left Earbud Only?

#1

I know the official FAQ states that you can’t use the left earbud on it’s own, however a few people on Reddit say they managed to get it working. Here is one such example: https://www.reddit.com/r/anker/comments/a4re4t/guide_how_to_use_liberty_air_left_earbud_on_its/

I tried this with my iPhone 5s and iPad Air 2, and I couldn’t get it to work. I suspect this is a “hidden” feature that might require bluetooth 5.0 (which my devices don’t support).

Can anyone else get this working? If you can, what device (and bluetooth version) are you using?

Thanks.

#2

If it doesn’t work, you could always just have the right earbud on but in your pocket (although, this wouldn’t work for phone calls).

#3

I have tried the reddit instructions and it works but not with all the devices. I don’t think having bluetooth 5.0 has anything to do with this.
It works with my Macbook Air (Bluetooth 4.0) but not with my iPhone SE (Bluetooth 4.2).
This method is hit or miss and only works with certain devices.

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#4

Perhaps to do with devices that don’t support aptX capabilities?

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#5

I can try to pair on my Galaxy s9+, but then it ask for the pincode to connect. I have to say I have tried all 4 digit PIN codes and none worked.

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#6

On Macbook Air it doesn’t ask for pin but the name changes (something like Lxx)

#7

I emailed Anker support to ask them about it. Hopefully they can clear up which devices it can work with. I’ll post an update here when I hear back.

Putting the right earbud in my pocket (and powered on) kind of defeats the most useful aspect of doing this. Each bud gets 5 hours of battery life, so when one dies, you can put it in the charger and remove the other fully charged earbud from the charger. Instead of just 5 hours of play time, you instantly have a much much greater play time because the drained earbud would be fully charged before the 5 hours expires.

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#8

Totally agree with you logic of using them separately. I wanted it to work so much. Please update here whatever you hear back from support.

#9

I can attest that if you use soley the right earbud you will get closer to 8 hours of use out of it. This is how I use mine when I’m at work overnight. Occasionally I get slightly less than 8 hours, but a quick 10 minute charge will help me get through the rest of the night.

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#10

I never even considered that! I guess if you only use the right bud, it doesn’t have to worry about broadcasting to the left bud. Without that broadcast, it would save power.

The only problem I can see with doing this is uneven battery wear. Lithium ion batteries are only good for so many charges before they start degrading. Using the right all of the time without the left would cause the left battery to degrade less. If both earbuds could be used independently, swapping them back and forth would keep the battery wear more even.

Slightly less than 8 hours should be perfect for my use case.

Thanks for the information elmo41683!

#11

You can also use the right earbud in your left ear if when you put it into your ear you turn it up… As seen below

20181030_151959.jpg2448×3264 2.04 MB

#12

I heard back from customer service, and it looks like my theory about it being a bluetooth 5 feature wasn’t correct:

The left earpiece of the Liberty Air cannot be used separately, I tried these steps on my own
iPhone (which comes with BT5.0), and it failed.
In this situation, I do not recommend you to use the left earbuds by trying these steps since our design does not support to use the left earbuds separately, thank for your understanding.

I replied back looking for some more info, but because this isn’t officially supported I don’t know how much info they would be prepared to give out.

I’m really curious why this works with certain devices but not others. As far as I can tell, no one with an iOS device has managed to get this working so far.

#13

Android-1 IOS-0

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#14

I believe it has more to do with the design and process of the earbuds upon manufacturing than anything else. Since it’s hit or miss for a lot of people i take it as a product if design. I have Android and could not get them to pair individually, tried on Galaxy s9+, Moto x pure, Galaxy S6, S7, and Motorola e5 and none worked

#15

Someone over on Reddit got it to work with a Galaxy S9+ https://old.reddit.com/r/anker/comments/ak8igc/personal_anker_soundcore_air_review/

It looks like they had to do an extra step to get it to work:

After getting the red light, I had to put it in the case once. Then it showed up on Bluetooth as “RWS L”.

#16

O it shows up for me, but as I mentioned above it ask for the pink code and I went through and entered every 4 pin combination possible and still wouldn’t connect. So it may be a 5 or 6 digit PIN code or a combination of letters and numbers… At which point I just give up trying

#17

I just heard back from Anker and they had a bit more info. It looks like they couldn’t make it work reliably, and that’s why it’s not officially supported:

I confirmed with my colleague, the chips of the Liberty Air is different from the Liberty Lite model, and we do a lot of tests when we produce the liberty Air, and found if we want the liberty air support to use both sides separately, it will not work very well, in this situation, we cancel this feature, thanks for your understanding.
I also have already forwarded the website you sent to my colleague and let them check why this happens. Please note, if this feature can be used on some devices, the left side can only be used to listen to music, and you cannot use the left side to make a call.

It still doesn’t explain why certain devices are capable of using just the left why other devices are not. My current best guess is that some devices can understand the way the left earbud connects to the right, and they are essentially tricking the left bud into thinking that it is connected to the right. I don’t know enough about bluetooth to even speculate the technical reasons for my theory.

#18

It’s neat that they want to follow the folks who have gotten it to work. That’s what makes Anker the best!

#19

Same, it prompts for a passcode, but no matter how many I guess it doesn’t accept any.