Powerbeats 3 Blinking Red and White While Charging

Like most other Powerbeats 3 owners, you probably use them so much that you don’t even realize that they are such a big part of your daily routine. That is until they stop working!

Not having them for a workout, a hike on the trail, a ride on the bus, or any other activity you regularly use them for is frustrating and it’s just not the same trying to use your backup pair of earphones.

My name is Eric and I am a technology enthusiast. I became interested in tech devices as a young kid and then studied as an electrical engineer so I could pursue my interests even further. I still love technology and troubleshooting problems with devices like this is a challenge I enjoy.

If your set of Powerbeats 3 is blinking red and white when you try to charge them, then you definitely have some type of problem, but there is a good chance it can be resolved with one of the simple solutions I will show you below.

So, keep reading if you would like to see some of the solutions that I am aware of and hopefully one of them will help you to fix yours.

What Does the Red and White Blinking Light Mean?

If you are seeing a blinking red and then white light from your Powerbeats 3, you might be wondering what that means. It simply means that your Beats are not charging. Unfortunately, that is all that it can tell you, it does not give any indication as to why they are not charging.

If you have had this issue for a while and we’re not sure what was going on, you may have figured it out due to the fact that the charge percentage has never gone up, but you might also be worried that something else is wrong. 

It’s not time to panic yet, this indicator, as we said above just shows that it is not charging, but there is no reason to believe that there is anything else wrong with them. Most likely the problem can be fixed with one of the simple solutions I will show you below.

Possible Solutions

The blinking red and white LED on your Powerbeats 3 is a general indicator that they are not charging but it doesn’t give you any information as to why. To figure this out you will have to do some simple troubleshooting and just try some of the solutions below until one of them works.

Since we don’t have much to go on, it makes sense to start with the most common problems and the simplest solutions. If one does not work, then we can move on to the next one and see if it solves the problem.

Water Damage

Because liquid and moisture can continue to cause more damage to your device, you will want to consider this issue first. Have your Powerbeats 3 been exposed to excessive moisture or liquid? Did they go through the wash or did you drop them in the pool?

If you do know that something like this has happened, you will want to discontinue trying to charge them at this time. This could cause more damage. Set your Beats in a safe dry place and let them dry out for 24 to 48 hours depending on the level of exposure.

Once they have had a chance to dry out, you can then try plugging them in and charging them. If it works you are good to go. If you can’t think of any way they could have been exposed to liquid, you can skip this process and try the next possible issue and solution.

Cable

One of the most common issues found when charging any device is probably a bad cord. Our charging cords go through a lot. They are in our pockets, purses, backpacks, cars, and everywhere else. They can take a beating.

Powerbeats 3 use a micro USB cable which is a very common charging cable. If you have a spare one laying around you can try it or you can purchase a new one for fairly cheap. You could even borrow one from a friend.

Try using the other cable and see if you still have the issue. If they do start charging without a problem, then you will know that you just have a bad cable and you can simply replace it.

Charger

Chargers are probably the second most popular issue found when running into charging issues with any device. Try using a different charger or a USB port on a computer. If you then see the device begin to charge you will know that you have a bad charger and you can replace it.

Simple Restart

We often don’t think about it but sometimes our devices just need to be shut down and restarted. Just like your phone or a computer, devices like your Powerbeats have a processor with software running inside them. 

After being on for long periods of time, there is a chance that glitches may occur. Sometimes a simple restart will fix a problem like this one. This is easy to do, just hold the power button down for 1 second to turn them off. Hold it down again for 1 second to turn them back on.

Once restarted, try plugging the charging cord back in again and see if they begin charging.

Reset the Device

If a simple restart did not work, then you may want to try resetting them completely back to their factory settings. Sometimes a saved setting or other configuration parameters may be causing the device to have issues. Resetting the device can often clear the corrupt setting.

Keep in mind that this will reset all of your saved settings, and you will have to re-pair them to your devices again, but you should be able to easily adjust everything back to the way you like it once they are charging and working again. Just follow the two steps below to reset your Beats.

Step 1: Hold down the power and volume down button for 10 seconds.

Step 2: Once you see the LED indicator flash, release the buttons and your Powerbeats will start back up.

You can now try charging them again and hopefully, this will have solved the problem.

Update Firmware

One possibility is that your Beats do not have the latest firmware update. Firmware is the software that runs on your Powerbeats’ processor and controls how they work. Previously you had to update them with an application but that application has now been retired.

If you connect your Beats to an iPhone, iPad, or Macbook, they will get updated automatically if needed. The only caveat is that you need to make sure that your Apple device has the latest update. So you may want to make sure that yours has the latest updated OS.

Once you have updated your device with the latest OS, reconnect your Beats to it, and then it will automatically update its firmware. Hopefully, your charging issue will be resolved.

If you only connect your Powerbeats 3 to an Android device, then you will still need to download the application to manually do the update. Apple support can provide you with more information on updating your firmware if needed.

Drain the battery

Sometimes the software in a device can glitch because it has trouble determining how much charge a battery has. So completely draining the battery can sometimes help get it back on track. 

Just disconnect your Beats from the charger and let it sit for a day or two. I know it can be hard to not be able to use them for a while but hopefully, this will get them charging again. Once the battery has been completely drained, try plugging them back in and see if they will charge.

Device Failure or Damage

It’s possible that your device has a defect and has failed or it was damaged and that is preventing it from charging. If none of the above solutions have helped, it may be time to have them repaired or replaced. 

If they are still under warranty or you have Apple Care, you are in luck. You can take them to the Apple store to have them looked at or you can send them in to have them checked out.

Final Words

If your Powerbeats 3 are blinking red and white while charging, it means that they are not charging for some reason. I hope that one of the solutions I have provided above can help you determine and fix the problem.

Let me know if you find any other solutions that worked for you. I would love to hear from you.