Disable audio normalization. It’s not ideal, but it will likely fix your issue in most cases.
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AirPods Pro 3 Coming Next Week With Multiple New Features
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Wake up? I think Apple is very awake and very aware of what they do.
white AirPods are iconic and easily recognizable, if you use them, you are a walking advertisement for them, and that’s definitely intended.
They might release colors other than white once they have reached market saturation, which it seems they almost did.
But until then, classic Apple.
It couldn’t be that the bottom mics slowly get dirty, or that the batteries slowly decrease in performance and that ANC can’t draw as much power as it needs without dramatically reducing battery life?
To be honest, my first pair sometimes seemed abysmally bad, being able to clearly hear the road 20 floors down usually doesn’t happen. Reseting them did the trick for some time.
I don’t disagree that ANC may work less with time, but I’m not convinced Apple actually gimps their AirPods with time.
In that case they could, maybe would but definitely should have released generation 3 last year, give gen 2 hearing aid functionality and 3 everything else, including the new iOS 26 features.
As @Cayden pointed out, cleaning might help. I’ve cleaned mine with the online Apple tutorial and it actually worked without breaking them. A tutorial they only just released THIS year, strangely enough.
Could have saved themselves the struggle by releasing gen 3, so yeah. Very unlikely Apple wants to get sued for millions of „faulty“ units by pushing updates that downgrade them.
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I noticed a similar trend with my AirPods (both first and second gen), then I learned how to properly clean them (including the microphone on the very bottom of the stem), and now the noise cancelling is just as good as the day I got them.
I suggest you go check your AirPods settings — "ear detection", "automatic connection", etc... — I’ve handled several pairs, and they’ve always been blazing fast to connect.
If only someone used these for sports, hm. Maybe they would make use of that feature…
Expecting to see audio improvements, heart rate monitoring and changes to case design. Think Apple will maintain the same price as the current version.
My wired earbuds that came bundled with my original iPhone SE are still going.
Majority of people are used to the fake bass sound coming from beats, soundbars and portable speakers and they don't accept anything else; if it's not there, it sounds flat (like all bookshelf speakers).
Maybe it was true 10-15 years ago but everyone makes them white for a very long time.
AirPods rant – now smaller, now even more useless
How about making the product more useful instead?
Ideas Apple ignores:
How about making the product more useful instead?
- It’s a hassle to pull out my phone just to check battery status – why?!
- Sometimes I only use them with my Apple Watch. How do I check battery then?
- Even when I do use my phone, it takes ~30 seconds before battery info shows. Most times I give up and dig into Bluetooth settings.
- Why is there no noise cancellation when using just one earbud?
- Why has noise cancellation gotten worse over time? Biking with them used to block wind noise. Now? Not really.
Ideas Apple ignores:
- Make the case bigger and put 5 LEDs to show battery.
- Make it even bigger and add a mini-screen with podcast info.
- Stop letting my car steal the audio. If I want sound in the AirPods, keep it there.
- Let me pair to one device only. I don’t ever want my AirPods hijacked by my Mac while I’m listening to a podcast.
You might want to try the "hearing test" bud... You certainly shouldn't need to "crank the max volume" unless you're completely deaf and even then, you might want to give your ears a rest
That has never happened me once. Admittedly I don’t own any, but I digress.
I agree. After the age of 50, people’s ability to hear high frequencies diminishes compared to when they were younger. Consequently, individuals who used to listen loudly since childhood are already experiencing hearing loss.
Literally all I want is for them to fix the issue where one of the AirPods randomly stops charging. It happens almost daily, and you only find one charged when you return.
I hope this means that Apple will update the PowerBeats Pro 2 firmware to allow Hearing Aid, Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness seeing as how some have speculated that Apple intentionally held back on these features so that the flagship AirPod Pro’s would look better. Apparently they’ve added features in the past in the same way. So now that the AirPods Pro 2’s will have heart rate monitoring maybe the PowerBeats will get Hearing Aid etc.
I dropped mine in the toilet and they still work without an issue (yeah, I also washed them with water afterwards LMAO). I wouldn’t worry about sweat.
You’re not the only one waiting for next gen Max, although other than lossless I’m struggling to think of what I might want from them over and above my current pair of lightning Max. Max for office & home indoor listening, APP2 for lunchtime walks, mowing and anything else where the Max are unsuitable/risk of damage.
Hang on; one thing I would like from Max v2 - sweatproof cushions! The current cushions are comfortable but soak up sweat and get unpleasant after a few months. I have 2 sets of cushions, one on whilst the other goes through the wash.
I really just want better battery life on the pods, even if it’s at the expense of the overall battery life with the case.
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You can check this by tapping on battery percentage in control center or any battery percentage complication.
You can set up a Home Screen widget to show battery life. Or, leave the AirPods in the case and open the case near the phone to show battery percentage for case and each pod. If it’s not popping up after 2-3 seconds, it might be time to reset the AirPods and re-pair to your iPhone.
You can set that up in AirPods settings > accessibility.
Added in iOS 26
You can turn off automatic audio switching by checking When Last Connected to This iPhone/Mac under AirPod settings on your Mac/iPhone.
I did this standing up to get off an airplane and didn’t notice one popped out until too late.
I suffered moderate to severe hearing loss after a serious brain injury at 3 years old. I would like more volume please.
I would love black too. I used flesh colored nail polish to paint both pair of mine to make them less noticeable in public. I have SHS and wear mine all the time. (Excuse the ugly face in the picture
