# How to see every AirPods battery on Linux, and why only one showed: LibrePods

LibrePods brings AirPods features to Linux and Android. With two AirPods connected, the Linux tray showed whichever updated last. A per-device registry fixes it, plus a smarter Android volume duck.

Published: 2026-11-05

**LibrePods** is an open-source app that brings AirPods features (battery levels, ear detection, noise-control modes, Conversational Awareness) to **Linux and Android**. On Linux, if you connected more than one pair of AirPods, the tray tooltip showed **only whichever device sent the latest update**. My change ([#676](https://github.com/librepods-org/librepods/pull/676), in review) keeps a per-device registry so every connected pair's battery shows on hover. A second change ([#675](https://github.com/librepods-org/librepods/pull/675), in review) adds an Android option so volume only ducks for Conversational Awareness when **both** AirPods are in.

## How do you check AirPods battery on Linux?

Out of the box, Linux shows Bluetooth headphones as a generic audio device. Apple's battery and ear-detection data comes over Apple's own accessory protocol (AACP) on an L2CAP connection, which the desktop doesn't speak. LibrePods does: install it, pair your AirPods through your normal Bluetooth settings, and its tray icon shows battery levels and lets you change modes.

## Why did only one device show?

The tray manager had a single `updateBatteryStatus(status)` call. Every update from any device replaced the tooltip, so with two pairs connected you saw whichever spoke last.

## How does the per-device tray work?

`TrayIconManager` now keeps a list of devices keyed by **Bluetooth MAC address**:

* `updateDeviceBattery(key, name, status)` registers or updates a device
* `updateDeviceName(key, name)` replaces the label when the AirPods report their name
* `setActiveDevice(key)` chooses which device's percentage the tray icon shows
* `removeDevice(key)` drops a device on disconnect, instead of resetting the whole tray

The tooltip adapts:

| Connected | Tooltip                                                                     |
| --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 0         | empty                                                                       |
| 1         | the original `Battery Status: …` format, so single-pair users see no change |
| 2+        | one line per device (`<name>: <status>`), active device first               |

Two smaller fixes came with it. The device is labelled with its BlueZ name straight away, so there's a name before Apple's metadata arrives. And a **guard ignores BLE broadcast packets while a live connection is active**. Those broadcasts are anonymised, and matching them against stored keys could let a paired-but-disconnected device overwrite the live device's battery.

**Known limit:** LibrePods holds one live AACP connection at a time, so a second pair shows its **last known** values rather than live ones. Supporting several live sockets is a much bigger refactor, left out of scope.

## What does the Android change do?

Conversational Awareness lowers your media volume when you start talking. With **one** AirPod in, you can usually already hear the person, so the duck is just annoying.

The new setting, **"Only when both AirPods are worn"** (off by default), ignores the "started speaking" event when fewer than two buds are in your ears. The **volume-restore path is never gated**, so volume can't get stuck low:

| Setting       | One AirPod       | Both AirPods |
| ------------- | ---------------- | ------------ |
| Off (default) | ducks            | ducks        |
| On            | **doesn't duck** | ducks        |

## What I liked about this one

Both changes are small, keep existing behaviour as the default, and are explicit about what they don't do. That's what makes a first PR to a hardware-adjacent project easy to review. More upstream work is on my [projects page](https://aliahmed.si/projects/).

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Written by Ali Ahmed · [Original article](https://aliahmed.si/blog/airpods-battery-linux-librepods/)