POMUIC W23 Earbuds Setup: Pairing, Controls, Reset & Specs

You just pulled a pair of POMUIC W23 Wireless Earbuds out of a small, pocket-sized charging case. The box promised "one-step pairing," "40 hours of playback," and "IPX7 waterproof," but the folded paper manual inside explains almost none of it. You are not alone. Budget true-wireless earbuds in the $20 to $30 range routinely ship with documentation that reads like a rough translation, leaving owners to reverse-engineer basic functions like volume control and factory resets through trial and error.

This guide is the manual the W23 should have had. We walk through exactly how to pair the earbuds, what every touch gesture does, what the key hardware numbers actually mean for daily use, how to read the LED display on the case, and how to recover when one bud stops connecting. Everything here is grounded in the real hardware: a Bluetooth 5.3 chipset, 13.4mm dynamic drivers, an IPX7 water-resistance rating, and a USB-C charging case with a digital LED readout.

What You Are Actually Getting

The earbuds are a half in-ear true-wireless design. Unlike buds that jam a silicone tip deep into your ear canal, the shell is smooth hard plastic that rests in the outer ear, the same approach popularized by Apple's flagship line. This choice trades passive noise isolation for long-wearing comfort and situational awareness.

The hardware confirmed across the product listing, user manuals, and retailer pages:

• Bluetooth 5.3 — the wireless standard that connects the buds to your phone, laptop, or tablet.
• 13.4mm dynamic driver — the speaker inside each bud, unusually large for this price class.
• IPX7 waterproof rating — protection against sweat, rain, and brief submersion.
• 40 hours total playback — roughly 6 to 7 hours from the buds themselves, plus three to four additional full charges from the case.
• USB-C charging — the same cable used by most modern phones and laptops.
• LED digital display — a small screen on the case showing battery percentage and per-bud charge levels.
• ENC microphones — Environmental Noise Cancellation for phone calls only. There is no Active Noise Cancellation for music listening.

Pairing the Earbuds the Right Way

The most common problem with any true-wireless set is not a hardware defect. It is a pairing sequence done in the wrong order. These earbuds use a two-radio architecture: the two buds first pair with each other over a private link, and only then does the primary bud connect to your phone. If you take one bud out of the case before the two have found each other, only that side will connect.

Follow this sequence exactly the first time:

1. Charge first. Place both earbuds in the case, close the lid, and plug the USB-C cable in for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Both buds need enough power to complete their internal handshake.
2. Keep your phone's Bluetooth off. Open the case lid and remove both earbuds at the same time. One will flash, then the flashing pattern changes or stops on one bud. That visual shift confirms the two have paired to each other.
3. Turn your phone's Bluetooth on. Go to your device's Bluetooth settings.
4. Select "W23" from the available-devices list. If a pop-up asks for permission to access contacts, accept it. Some Android phones require this for call audio to route correctly.

After this initial sequence, the earbuds will auto-reconnect to the last paired device whenever you remove both buds from the case. You should not need to repeat the full process unless you switch phones or perform a factory reset.

If only one bud connects

This is the single most reported issue, and it is almost always a pairing-order problem rather than a defect. The fix:

1. "Forget" or unpair the device from your phone's Bluetooth menu.
2. Turn your phone's Bluetooth off.
3. Place both earbuds back in the case and close the lid for five seconds.
4. Open the lid and remove both buds together.
5. Re-enable Bluetooth on your phone and select "W23" again.

The Complete Touch Control Map

The buds have no physical buttons. Every function is driven by a capacitive touch pad on the outer face of each one. The gestures are not printed clearly in the stock manual, so here is the full map:

Gesture	Left bud	Right bud
Play / Pause	Single tap	Single tap
Next track	—	Double tap
Previous track	Double tap	—
Volume up	—	Long press (hold)
Volume down	Long press (hold)	—
Answer / end call	Single tap	Single tap
Reject call	Long press 2 seconds	Long press 2 seconds
Voice assistant	Triple tap	Triple tap

The volume gestures deserve a warning. Because volume is a long press, a slightly-too-long hold on the left bud will skip to the previous track instead of lowering the volume. If you find yourself accidentally skipping songs, you are holding a fraction of a second too long. The touch pad is sensitive; a firm, deliberate tap works better than a hesitant brush.

Using a single bud

Either bud can be used independently. After the initial pairing, removing just one bud from the case will connect that bud to your phone on its own. This is useful for phone calls when you want to keep one ear open, or for workplace listening where full isolation is impractical. The unused bud stays asleep in the case and does not drain meaningfully.

What the Numbers Actually Mean

The 13.4mm driver

Driver size is the single biggest physical determinant of how an earbud sounds. Most budget earbuds ship with 8mm to 10mm drivers. The 13.4mm driver is roughly 30 to 60 percent larger by diameter, which means it can move substantially more air. The practical result is stronger bass response and a sense of fullness that smaller drivers struggle to produce. You will not get the separation or detail of a $150 pair, but for podcasts, pop, and hip-hop the sound punches above the price.

Bluetooth 5.3

Bluetooth 5.3 is the current mainstream standard for true-wireless earbuds. Compared to older 5.0 and 5.1 versions, it offers:

• More stable connections — fewer dropouts in crowded 2.4 GHz environments like offices, gyms, and transit.
• Lower power consumption — a meaningful contributor to the 40-hour total battery claim.
• Faster frequency hopping — the radio switches channels more quickly when it encounters interference, reducing audible stutter.

The effective range is about 10 meters (33 feet) in open space. Walls, microwaves, and dense Wi-Fi traffic will reduce that. If you walk from room to room in a house, expect some degradation through two or more walls.

IPX7 waterproofing

IPX7 is a formal ingress-protection rating. Breaking it down:

• IP stands for Ingress Protection.
• X means the product was not rated for solid-particle (dust) protection. Fine dust is unlikely to harm the electronics, but sand and grit are best avoided.
• 7 is the water rating: the earbuds can survive full submersion in up to 1 meter (about 3 feet) of fresh water for 30 minutes.

In practical terms, the earbuds are safe for sweat, heavy rain, accidental drops in puddles, and even a quick rinse under a tap. They are not designed for swimming. Pool chemicals, soap, and shower steam degrade the nano-coating over time, and the pressure of a swimming stroke can exceed what the seal is rated for.

ENC microphones, calls only

These earbuds use Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) on their microphones. ENC is a software-based system that uses multiple microphones to isolate your voice from background noise during phone calls. It is not the same as Active Noise Cancellation, which uses microphones and inverse sound waves to cancel ambient noise for the listener. There is no ANC here. If you want to block out a busy cafe while listening to music, the half in-ear design and the absence of ANC mean you will hear a good deal of it.

Battery Life and the LED Display

The "40 hours" figure on the product page is a combined number, not a single-charge claim. The real-world breakdown:

• Earbuds alone: 6 to 7 hours of playback at moderate volume.
• Charging case: holds enough charge for three to four additional full charges of both buds.
• Total: roughly 40 hours of listening before the case itself needs to be plugged in.

The case charges over USB-C. A full charge of both buds and the case takes approximately two hours from empty.

Reading the LED display

The small LED screen on the case is genuinely more useful than the three-dot indicator systems found on many competitors.

• The large number (for example, "90") is the percentage of charge remaining in the case itself. Think of it as the fuel tank.
• The two small bar graphs on either side show the current charge level of the left and right earbuds. When you place the buds in the case, these bars animate as the buds recharge.

You can glance at the case and know, at a glance, whether you have enough charge for a run, a commute, or a full workday, without pulling out your phone.

How It Stacks Against the 2026 Budget Field

The sub-$30 true-wireless market is crowded. Released in early 2023, this model now faces competition from newer sets with updated chipsets and larger batteries. Here is how it compares to several real alternatives currently listed:

Model	ASIN	Price	Key advantage
W23	B0BTGRSQHP	~$29.99 (at launch)	LED display, 13.4mm driver, IPX7
Fhumsh Wireless Earbuds	B0HDHBQ98Q	$23.99	50-hour total playback, LED display
MOZOTER Bluetooth 5.3	B09M6F1X6P	$14.39	4-microphone array, deep bass tuning
PMOPDSNNE 40H	B0GZDZMKZ8	$7.78	Aggressive price, noise-canceling claim
Wekily Wireless Earbuds	B0F8Q269VV	$12.99	LED power display, 2025 refresh

The strongest remaining advantages are the 13.4mm driver (larger than most competitors in this range) and the IPX7 rating (many budget buds stop at IPX5). The weaknesses are the absence of ANC and the half in-ear fit, which will not suit listeners who want isolation. If battery life is the top priority, the Fhumsh B0HDHBQ98Q's 50-hour claim is worth a look. If price is the only factor, the PMOPDSNNE at $7.78 undercuts everything, but build quality and driver size are meaningfully lower.

When One Bud Stops Working

Even with correct pairing, true-wireless earbuds occasionally get stuck: one bud will not connect, the touch pad becomes unresponsive, or the set will not pair to any device. The fix is a factory reset.

Factory reset procedure

1. "Forget" the device from your phone's Bluetooth settings.
2. Turn your phone's Bluetooth off.
3. Place both earbuds in the charging case.
4. With the case lid open, press and hold the touch area on both earbuds simultaneously for 5 to 10 seconds.
5. Watch for the LED indicators to flash in a new pattern, typically alternating red and blue.
6. Close the lid and wait five seconds.
7. Open the lid, remove both buds together, and re-pair from scratch.

This resolves the vast majority of connectivity issues. The reset clears the internal pairing memory and forces the two buds to re-establish their private link before reconnecting to your phone.

When a reset does not help

If a factory reset does not restore function, the remaining possibilities:

• One bud is genuinely dead. If one bud will not charge (the LED bars on the case do not animate when it is placed inside), the battery or charging contact in that bud may have failed. Contact support. The set was sold with a warranty.
• Charging contacts are dirty. Wipe the metal contacts on the buds and inside the case with a dry cotton swab. Sweat and pocket lint are the most common cause of charging failures.
• The case battery is fully depleted. If the case has been sitting empty for weeks, its battery may have dropped below the recovery threshold. Plug it in for 30 minutes before attempting to reset.

More Things to Know

A few questions come up often enough that it is worth answering them here in plain terms, folded into the same notes you would otherwise keep searching for.

Compatibility. The earbuds pair with any Bluetooth 5.0-or-later device, including iPhones, iPads, Android phones, Windows laptops, and Macs. The voice-assistant gesture (triple tap) activates Siri on iOS and Google Assistant on Android.

Charging method. The case charges via USB-C only; there is no wireless charging pad support. This surprises some buyers because a few competing cases in this price range do include wireless charging, so it is worth confirming before you rely on a pad.

Running fit. The IPX7 rating means sweat and rain are not a concern. The half in-ear fit, however, is less secure than a silicone-tipped bud. Some runners report it stays in place during jogging; others find it works loose during sprints or on uneven terrain. If security is your priority, a tip-based bud will fit more firmly.

Dropouts in the gym or office. Bluetooth 5.3 handles interference better than older standards, but it cannot eliminate it. Gyms and offices are saturated with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and other Bluetooth devices. If dropouts are frequent, keep your phone in the same room as your ears, or switch to a wired connection for stationary listening.

Knowing when they are charged. Place both buds in the case and watch the LED bar graphs. When both bars stop animating and remain solid, the buds are at 100 percent. The large number on the display shows the case's remaining charge.

Call quality. Acceptable, not exceptional. The ENC microphones do a reasonable job of isolating your voice in moderate noise. In a loud environment, callers may report that you sound distant or muffled. For frequent calls in noisy settings, a dedicated call headset or a bud with stronger noise handling will perform better.

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These earbuds are not a premium set, and they do not pretend to be. They are a competent, well-specified budget option whose biggest weakness is the documentation that ships in the box. With the pairing sequence, touch-gesture map, and reset procedure above, you should be able to get the most out of them without ever digging through a forum thread. Charge them, pair them correctly the first time, and the hardware does the rest.