Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro, AirPods, and AirPods Max

[Canyda]

My BFP updated this morning during my outdoor walk. My APP2 haven't updated yet, but I also really haven't had them connected to my phone that much.

 

[Prpolo]

Apple today introduced new 5E135 firmware for the AirPods 2, the AirPods 3, the original AirPods Pro, the AirPods Pro 2, and the AirPods Max, up from the 5E133 firmware that was released in April.

Apple does not offer immediately available release notes on what's included in refreshed firmware updates for the AirPods‌, but the company does maintain a support document with release information.

There is no standard way to upgrade the ‌AirPods‌‌ software, but firmware is installed over-the-air while the ‌‌AirPods‌‌ are connected to an iOS device. Putting the ‌‌‌‌‌AirPods‌‌‌‌‌ in the case, connecting the ‌‌‌‌‌AirPods‌‌‌‌‌ to a power source, and then pairing the ‌‌‌‌‌AirPods‌‌‌‌‌ to an iPhone or an iPad should force the update after a short period of time.

You can check your ‌‌‌AirPods‌‌ or ‌‌‌‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌‌‌‌‌ firmware by following these steps:

• Connect your ‌‌AirPods‌‌ or ‌‌‌‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌‌‌‌ to your iOS device.
  
• Open the Settings app.
  
• Tap General.
  
• Tap About.
  
• Tap ‌‌‌‌‌AirPods‌‌‌‌‌.
  
• Look at the number next to "Firmware Version."

If we find notable changes after the firmware updates are installed, we'll update this article, but the software likely includes performance improvements and bug fixes.

Article Link: Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro, AirPods, and AirPods Max

I’m still having problems with the stereo image drifting, but before it only drifted to the right. Now the image drifts to the left as well. At this point I don’t think Apple can fix this, or doesn’t want to dedicate resources into fixing it.

 

[perryke]

I have an AirPod 2 with a wireless case. My AP2 Firmware is updated to FE135. The current case number is 2.0.6. What is the latest case firmware number?

 

[allseeingi’s]

Following the methods suggested I tried updating mine on Wednesday but without success .
Last night before putting them and the case on charge I checked and the update had been applied , not sure when but am thinking there must be an easier way to complete this when updates are due .

 

[Lioness~]

I'm still amazed that Apple persisting the avoidance of manually being able to upgrade the AirPods.
Ok, usually the AirPods upgrades after a while when placed near a device. But if we have more then one device close, which many of us have, it can take awhile.

Why not to be able to upgrade on demand as all other updates we do with our devices? Pls Apple!

 

[Lerenard3000]

Ok so yesterday I had issues connecting my airports pro 2 it was the first time they just bipped and didn’t connect properly multiple times just saying…

 

[Fatboy71]

I followed the advice from ray or about taking my APM off “find my”. I was having similar problems especially the decline in standby but also loosing some 30 Percent per 2-3 hours of viewing both not what I was expecting. Well now with the find my disabled I watched for nearly 3 hours and was down only 3 percent for that time. I am now expecting that 10-15 percent in 24 hour drop will also go away it appears that the APM uses too much power when “find my” is enabled at least upon this limited experiment based on what raynor said.

Of course I also upgraded the firmware so maybe that helped as well but we shall see

I also found info on what happens when “Find My” is turned off here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Airpodsmax/comments/rx9hlk

“Overnight battery drain solution - turn off FindMy
I haven’t seen this posted before, so I thought I’d share:
As many others have reported, the AirPods Max loses some battery overnight before going to deep sleep, even while in the smart case. I’ve seen people report up to 12%. Personally, I see around 8-9%.
This is caused by the FindMy feature. I tried turning it off and now I see around 1% overnight drain! So if you don’t need the FindMy feature, try turning it off.
You find it under Settings-Bluetooth-AirPods Max (while it is connected)
Update: It’s also worth noting that even if you turn off the feature, you’ll still be able to track where you last used the headphones. As far as I can tell, turning it off just disables tracking while in the case (and not plugged in).
Update 2: Ok, so after some testing and reading the replies here, it seems that it is slightly inconsistent. From my own testing, the battery drain each night has been 0-1%, with the exception of the first time I tried it and once a couple of nights ago. So to recap:

• Turn off FindMy at Settings-Bluetooth-AirPods Max (while it is connected)
• Make sure the AirPods are in the smart case (this is important!)
• If after a few nights it is still having "normal" battery drain, try a reboot or even a factory reset (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211904) Then turn off FindMy again if it is on again.”

Just to update:

After trying switching off Find My the other day, and then it switching itself back on when I next connected. It got me thinking about purposely switching it off, before putting the APM back in the case when I have finished using them for the day.

For the last three nights I have purposely switched off Find My (I was using the APM on my Mac on the three occasions, so I switched it off on there).

The first night, I noted down the remaining battery of the APM. It was 91 percent. When I went to use them some 20 hours later it was still on 91 percent. The last time this happened was with firmware 4A400.

I repeated the above for two more nights, and on those two nights I lost 1 percent on one night and zero on the other (so practically no loss at all in battery life). A bit of a faff, but it does seem to show that Find My is the culprit for the battery drain.

Also, my APM have not updated to the latest firmware yet, and are still on 5E133. But when they do finally update to the latest firmware, I won't switch off Find My, and I will see if the new firmware solves the battery drain. If it does not, then I will keep switching off Find My when I have finished using them for the day (or when I remember to). Shouldn't need to do this, as Find My should remain off it the owner has chosen to switch it off.

 

[newyorksole]

Just to update:

After trying switching off Find My the other day, and then it switching itself back on when I next connected. It got me thinking about purposely switching it off, before putting the APM back in the case when I have finished using them for the day.

For the last three nights I have purposely switched off Find My (I was using the APM on my Mac on the three occasions, so I switched it off on there).

The first night, I noted down the remaining battery of the APM. It was 91 percent. When I went to use them some 20 hours later it was still on 91 percent. The last time this happened was with firmware 4A400.

I repeated the above for two more nights, and on those two nights I lost 1 percent on one night and zero on the other (so practically no loss at all in battery life). A bit of a faff, but it does seem to show that Find My is the culprit for the battery drain.

Also, my APM have not updated to the latest firmware yet, and are still on 5E133. But when they do finally update to the latest firmware, I won't switch off Find My, and I will see if the new firmware solves the battery drain. If it does not, then I will keep switching off Find My when I have finished using them for the day (or when I remember to). Shouldn't need to do this, as Find My should remain off it the owner has chosen to switch it off.

bruhhh! I have been trying to figure out for like 2-3 weeks why my APM battery drains overnight and while in the case.

I FINALLY was able to get the firmware to update on Thursday after several attempts.

battery drain issue is COMPLETELY solved. thank the LORD. 😂

I was like… there’s no way that Automatic Head Detection and Find My are causing this drain.

I’m so glad it’s fixed and everything is up to date. what an annoyance.

 

[newyorksole]

I'm still amazed that Apple persisting the avoidance of manually being able to upgrade the AirPods.
Ok, usually the AirPods upgrades after a while when placed near a device. But if we have more then one device close, which many of us have, it can take awhile.

Why not to be able to upgrade on demand as all other updates we do with our devices? Pls Apple!

yeah and what’s crazy is I literally never care about firmware updates since I usually don’t have issues. but I had the APM battery drain issue and was so frustrated going thru all of the methods to get the damn thing to update.

glad I know what to do now to force it, but Apple really needs to make it easier.

 

[Fatboy71]

bruhhh! I have been trying to figure out for like 2-3 weeks why my APM battery drains overnight and while in the case.

I FINALLY was able to get the firmware to update on Thursday after several attempts.

battery drain issue is COMPLETELY solved. thank the LORD. 😂

I was like… there’s no way that Automatic Head Detection and Find My are causing this drain.

I’m so glad it’s fixed and everything is up to date. what an annoyance.

That's good to know. Hopefully I will have the battery drain issue fixed with the latest firmware too, and then to not have to turn off Find My every day when I have finished using them for the day, in order for them to NOT drain while in the case.

 

[Janschi]

ANC is a lot worse on my APP 2. There is a supermarket which I go to almost everyday after work and before mine got updated to the latest firmware, I could never hear the hum from the freezers. But today for the first time I used them after the update, I could hear slight hum from the freezers. Also I could hear people talking so much more than before. For example in the metro, I could hear people talking about 4~5 meters away from me which I never did before. I know this might only be my case though. But I’m sure it’s not placebo. I’ve had my APP 2 for quite a few months now and I use them almost everyday so the change was quite noticeable. I’m also a professional musician. I’d say I have got a pair well trained ears to hear those differences.

Welcome to the APP1 dilemma, where ANC got "updated" after all news outlets posted superb reviews about ANC on Gen1.

 

[dk001]

Welcome to the APP1 dilemma, where ANC got "updated" after all news outlets posted superb reviews about ANC on Gen1.

I will say my APP1 after this update, the ANC does not work nearly as well as it did.

 

[BlackJacques]

I will say my APP1 after this update, the ANC does not work nearly as well as it did.

My app2 have worse ANC after updating as well. Very disappointing.

 

[rjjacobson]

No improvement with the reset/disconnect issue with APM with 5E135. Just had it happen again.

@gleepskip

I had not encountered this more than once in time previous to this firmware update now it is happening a lot. I recall somewhere that there was discussion about how easily the APM connects to your devices, I can walk in with it and it wil connect right away to my 16 inc M2 Pro MacBook Pro or my iPhone besides my iPad Pro I am wondering if my newer 14 ProMax and my brand new 16 inch M2 Pro MacBook Pro are overpowering my late 2018 12.9 iPad Pros connection. What ever the case it is getting worse.

UPDATE: I also found that for these disconnect problems someone recommended turning of the auto connection feature and chose option for APM to connect to the device it it was last device connected to. See screen shot below. Since I used this mostly with iPad for video streaming so far I chose this option for now. We will see if problems go away. Especially if the issue is the auto connection switching devices which seems to be more logical than anything.

 

[rasmusfunder]

I have greatly improved air and sparkle in the treble after updating ... anyone else hear this on APP2?

 

[gleepskip]

@gleepskip

I had not encountered this more than once in time previous to this firmware update now it is happening a lot. I recall somewhere that there was discussion about how easily the APM connects to your devices, I can walk in with it and it wil connect right away to my 16 inc M2 Pro MacBook Pro or my iPhone besides my iPad Pro I am wondering if my newer 14 ProMax and my brand new 16 inch M2 Pro MacBook Pro are overpowering my late 2018 12.9 iPad Pros connection. What ever the case it is getting worse.

UPDATE: I also found that for these disconnect problems someone recommended turning of the auto connection feature and chose option for APM to connect to the device it it was last device connected to. See screen shot below. Since I used this mostly with iPad for video streaming so far I chose this option for now. We will see if problems go away. Especially if the issue is the auto connection switching devices which seems to be more logical than anything.

Thanks for the tip. I've haphazardly used this in the past, but I'm being more intentional this time to test if it works around the issue. It ought not be necessary, but I'd much prefer a little inconvenience of forcing connections if I change devices than having the headphones make distracting reset and reconnect noises. My ADD doesn't need any additional encouragement!

 

[rjjacobson]

Thanks for the tip. I've haphazardly used this in the past, but I'm being more intentional this time to test if it works around the issue. It ought not be necessary, but I'd much prefer a little inconvenience of forcing connections if I change devices than having the headphones make distracting reset and reconnect noises. My ADD doesn't need any additional encouragement!

You are welcome. There seems to be many little quirks with the APM like this some days too much fiddling for such a expensive piece of equipment.

 

[dfwiddoc]

Just to update:

After trying switching off Find My the other day, and then it switching itself back on when I next connected. It got me thinking about purposely switching it off, before putting the APM back in the case when I have finished using them for the day.

For the last three nights I have purposely switched off Find My (I was using the APM on my Mac on the three occasions, so I switched it off on there).

The first night, I noted down the remaining battery of the APM. It was 91 percent. When I went to use them some 20 hours later it was still on 91 percent. The last time this happened was with firmware 4A400.

I repeated the above for two more nights, and on those two nights I lost 1 percent on one night and zero on the other (so practically no loss at all in battery life). A bit of a faff, but it does seem to show that Find My is the culprit for the battery drain.

Also, my APM have not updated to the latest firmware yet, and are still on 5E133. But when they do finally update to the latest firmware, I won't switch off Find My, and I will see if the new firmware solves the battery drain. If it does not, then I will keep switching off Find My when I have finished using them for the day (or when I remember to). Shouldn't need to do this, as Find My should remain off it the owner has chosen to switch it off.

Try plugging in a MacBook or other desktop/laptop device and plugging the APM or APP into one of its thunderbolt/USB C ports and wait a few minutes. If that doesn’t work, play some sound through them via the Mac for at least 30 seconds while they’re plugged into it and then put them back into their case and wait. Has never failed for me. Works to plug them into a charged iPad often as well. Good luck!

 

[Fatboy71]

Try plugging in a MacBook or other desktop/laptop device and plugging the APM or APP into one of its thunderbolt/USB C ports and wait a few minutes. If that doesn’t work, play some sound through them via the Mac for at least 30 seconds while they’re plugged into it and then put them back into their case and wait. Has never failed for me. Works to plug them into a charged iPad often as well. Good luck!

Thanks for the help, appreciate it

I've just checked my APM now and they have been updated to the latest firmware now.
I'm going to try leaving Find My switched ON, with this latest firmware update, to see if the battery drain issue while in the case is fixed/better than it was.

I have been seeing a significant improvement in the battery drain issue recently, by switching off Find My, before I finish using the APM for the day and then putting them in the case.

Doing this, I have seen a 0-2 percent drop over a 20 hour period, rather than a 10 percent (or sometimes higher) drop over the same time period when leaving Find My switched on.

 

[rjjacobson]

Thanks for the help, appreciate it

I've just checked my APM now and they have been updated to the latest firmware now.
I'm going to try leaving Find My switched ON, with this latest firmware update, to see if the battery drain issue while in the case is fixed/better than it was.

I have been seeing a significant improvement in the battery drain issue recently, by switching off Find My, before I finish using the APM for the day and then putting them in the case.

Doing this, I have seen a 0-2 percent drop over a 20 hour period, rather than a 10 percent (or sometimes higher) drop over the same time period when leaving Find My switched on.

Yeah that helps but I have to remember to do it as I am going to bed after watching videos and am not always thinking clearly at 11 PM LOL.

On the other front now with firmware update the amount of those annoying disconnects when the APM jumps to my 14 ProMax or M2 Pro 16 macbook. I had turned the settings for connection to “connect when last connected to this ipad” which it was night before, but hardly starting video and it jumped to the iphone (which was set for automatic connect to the APM). I could not get it to reconnect with that setting on iPad until I also set the iphone to “connect when last connected to this iphone”. But the ipad still would not reconnect so I had to put APM in the case, take out and then it would connect, and I set back to automatic for ipad. And I was good for rest of night but not sure why I am having this problem now (after a month of use with no problem) other than the new firmware? Makes no sense but I am finding the APM to be the most touchy device to use sometimes a pain.

 

[Fatboy71]

Yeah that helps but I have to remember to do it as I am going to bed after watching videos and am not always thinking clearly at 11 PM LOL.

On the other front now with firmware update the amount of those annoying disconnects when the APM jumps to my 14 ProMax or M2 Pro 16 macbook. I had turned the settings for connection to “connect when last connected to this ipad” which it was night before, but hardly starting video and it jumped to the iphone (which was set for automatic connect to the APM). I could not get it to reconnect with that setting on iPad until I also set the iphone to “connect when last connected to this iphone”. But the ipad still would not reconnect so I had to put APM in the case, take out and then it would connect, and I set back to automatic for ipad. And I was good for rest of night but not sure why I am having this problem now (after a month of use with no problem) other than the new firmware? Makes no sense but I am finding the APM to be the most touchy device to use sometimes a pain.


View attachment 2201053

I have my iPhone, iPad, Mac set to "when last connected" as I found when I have them set on automatic, it would sometimes connect to my iPad, when I was using my Mac, as all three devices tend to be in close proximity to each other, and for this reason the APM would sometimes connect to the wrong device, presumably due to them been close proximity of each other/the APM.

 

[rjjacobson]

I have my iPhone, iPad, Mac set to "when last connected" as I found when I have them set on automatic, it would sometimes connect to my iPad, when I was using my Mac, as all three devices tend to be in close proximity to each other, and for this reason the APM would sometimes connect to the wrong device, presumably due to them been close proximity of each other/the APM.

Yeah for moment macbook farther away got my iphone set that way now, ipad automatic probably need to do my macbook if that connects next time. this head phone should have come with an instruction manual LOL