I have this happen outside of flights. Cupping your finger over the ANC mic is enough to trigger it.
The new tips (that’s my guess, at least) also transmit vibrations into your ears much more than the old tips or third party memory foam tips. This results in a popping noise when walking or moving around, and a horrible thumping sound when running with them in. I think the latter is partially caused by the “reduce loud noises” feature incorrectly identifying vibrations from heel strikes as loud noise.
I’m glad I’m apparently not the only one experiencing these issues. I hope they’re software fixable. I filed a bug report, but radio silence on that, of course. I would sing the praises of the second gen AirPods Pro to anyone who would listen, but the 3rd gen have been a huge disappointment. I had to buy a different set of headphones for running, whereas the second gen were my daily drivers. And I’ve been through three pair of the third gen, so it’s not a one-off issue.
I have been able to trigger it when fumbling around with adjusting the fit. If I run my finger over the top of the body I can get a brief squeal out of them. Happened just a few seconds ago. I also have noticed on multiple occasions that if I take them both out of my ears and cup them in the same hand, they squeal audibly enough to hear faintly from a couple feet away. The skin contact sensor is very sensitive.
However, unlike a lot of other commenters in this thread, I feel like the APP3 are a huge leap forward from the APP2 and have had zero regrets with the upgrade (other than the forced iOS 26 upgrade, but I feel like that's inevitable anyway.) They stay in much better, the fit is more comfortable, the battery life is better, the ANC probably drops background noise another 10db subjectively, and most of all, the sound quality is absolutely stellar. I have owned several midrange headphones and a portable DAC and I find myself preferring the AirPods over them. I haven't worn my Sennheisers since I got the APP3.
Just curious, which Sennheisers did you give up on in favor of APP3?
I have over-the-ear Momentum 3 and love it, but if APP3 provides better sound quality and better ANC I might consider switching as Momentum 3, while I love it, is bulky, heavy, and started to wear off and break down.
Drop x Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee through a Qudelix 5K. Both are great pieces of kit, the Qudelix especially. The onboard parametric EQ combined with AutoEQ is fantastic. However, after running a hearing test and enabling Hearing Assist, the EQ on the Airpods is incredible and everything sounds very natural. I have no idea how they managed to get this much soundstage and bass out of these things. I also have a pair of Grado SR 80, and have a soft spot for Koss KSC 75.
FWIW I got mine at Costco and their return policy is top notch, and I believe they include AppleCare+ with the purchase. I had bought my APP2 fairly recently before the APP3 were released, experienced buyers remorse, but had kept them in like new condition with the box and accessories, and had no problem exchanging them.
I have an HD450 BT pair and they’re my first ones that have ANC— I’ve found it a game changer for long flights. The only bummer is that wearing cans interferes with a neck brace like trtl; on that basis alone I’d be interested in trying ones that were in-ear style.
What parts are breaking down on yours? The earpads are of course replaceable, and if you had the awful loose yoke problem I’m guessing you wouldn’t be so calm.
Cushions (yeah replacable but not super cheap), the cable that connects one earpiece to other, the bit connecting the earpieces, the hinges around the earpieces.
Literally everything. The sound is still great and battery is awesome. But I doubt it will last long.
(Just to be clear: I've used it A LOT over the years, and is already worth every penny I spent on it)
Huh. For what it’s worth, the Chinese lambskin (not generic “leather”!) pads that you can get for ~$15 from Aliexpress, Geekria, etc. work as well as the official ones in my experience. (For other headphones, you can’t always get generic replacement pads made of the same materials.) The only difference I’ve been able to discern is the L/R labels are printed using a different technique.
Let me have a look. Do you think the material is of good quality and healthy (no weird questionable materials for wearing/skin contact for long time with sweat etc)?
I’ve spent a few weeks with mine and, as best as I can tell, they’re indistinguishable from the original ones, except the dye of the L/R markings is on top of the cloth rather than inside it. These ones (black lambskin, currently 14 USD): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005961714330.html.
> (other than the forced iOS 26 upgrade, but I feel like that's inevitable anyway.)
I'm using my Airpods Pro 3 with iOS 26 yes, but I stayed on macOS 15 (THANK GOD!) and I saw nothing unusual about using the new Airpods there except for the missing artwork.
On macOS there were some issues but I can't say exactly because I returned my AirPods Pro 3.
Other than the missing artwork and label, with AirPods Pro 3 on iOS 18 you also can't see the battery level, you can't take a Hearing Test, and more. After iOS 18.7.1 was released and didn't address any of these issues I reached out to Apple who said they wouldn't be adding any further support to iOS 18. So I returned my AirPods Pro 3, an easy decision. Just not worth the hassle for me.
What about iOS 26 kept you away? I was hesitant when I got APP3, but was pleasantly surprised by how many longstanding issues with responsiveness and functionality it fixed for me (iPhone 15 Pro Max user).
I assume it's because of Liquid Glass. It's absolutely undercooked as a design system, but Apple knows which way its bread is buttered. So Liquid Glass on iOS is where it's the least bad, and I switched there knowing that. It was exactly as I thought: a regression in most places, but still manageable because Apple is laser-focused on the iPhone.
I didn't upgrade my Mac and at this point I'm wondering if I'll ever be tempted to update until I see what they do with macOS 27.
I guess you could ask "what about iOS 26 would make me want to upgrade?" My answer: nothing. Definitely not to get a slower and bugger UI, nor to get full support for headphones I could simply return for a full refund. I'm using iPhone 16 Pro.
The horrible thumping is purely a fit issue. The solution to the thumping when running is to either size down the tips or to slightly dislodge the tips from your ear.
It’s not ideal, I’ll grant you that.
While we may have some overlap in issues, I would say that the Airpods Pro 3 are incredible. I’ve ditched my Airpods Max entirely. The noise cancellation works too well, the sleep detection is a godsend, and the battery life is so good. I use my airpods to sleep. before, i’d always wake up to dead airpods. now, they have like 70% batteries when i wake up, because the sleep detection kicks in.
Seems odd to call it a fit issue when the solution is to make the fit worse by dislodging them from your ear. If it's a fit issue then improving the fit should make it go away!
I’ve tried with every set of tips except for the xs, same thumping with all of them. Zero issues running almost daily with the second gens for several years. I think it’s more than fit—either oversensitive ANC or something with the composition of the tips themselves. Oddly enough, it’s not present in both ears every time. Sometimes both, sometimes just one, rarely neither. I’ve stopped gathering data because I switched to a different set of headphones.
I’ll grant you that the ANC in the third gen is fantastic. I just felt like the second gen fit themselves into my routine, whereas I have to fiddle and futz with the third gen to get them just-so so that they don’t inhibit my routine.
What you mean? How people are manage to run with noise cancelation? Or how it works that they don’t loose them?
I run with my AirPods Pro 2 and have no issues. I have some other in-ear buds where fit is also no issue but thumping sounds while running make them unusable.
Years ago I was a convert to open ear bone conduction by Shokz (then Aftershokz) but the band was a little annoying and now I use the Huawei Freeclips which I am very happy with. Bose also have an open ear product.
My priority with exercise is peripheral awareness so I would never compromise that with in-ears anymore
I understand. I think it very much depends on the environment. I usually run in parks not on the street. I also trust my eyes more than my ears when doing runs on more trafficked routes. The Apple AirPods have a great transparent mode. I tried bone conducting headphone and it wasn’t for me. I know that the new models are kind of hybrids now. But I also love the fact that I can listen to myself. I had tons of headphones over the years. And I think for me the AirPods Pro 2 are just the most versatile.
Well in a big city sounds can be deceiving. Also depends how trained your hearing is. I guess I would have a hard time in case I end up going blind. In any case, what I meant is, that I use my eyes, and by that also turn my head, to look over my shoulder to check for cars etc. In most cases it’s best to have eye contact with a car driver who currently takes a turn to make sure their actually seeing you.
I am blind. So no eye contact with drivers. And I am still alive, despite usually going alone as pedestrian. However, I guess I benefit a lot from the austrian "Vertrauensgrundsatz", which basically translates as "principle of trust". When acquiring a drivers license, you are drilled to take extra care of disabled or obviously incapacitated pedestrians. That basically means, if you hit a blind person, or even an obviously drunk person, you are at fault, no matter what.
It’s hard to argue with you about that. I think you’re right about the tip composition being the issue. Also, there’s definitely an alien feel to APP3.
I find it interesting you describe the issue like that. I had my airpod pro 1st gens go out on me in a way that was very similar to that, with the popping noises as you walk and move around. I figured out that when I put them in “normal mode” i.e., totally disabling the noise cancellation microphone, it mostly went away. I just figured something had happened to/with the external microphones and/or the noise cancellation processing was not happening correctly. It was basically impossible to test this theory I had, but I wondered if it was an update that introduced a bug.
I can’t recall now at this point, but I do recall the feeling that the different ways I played with and tested to understand the cause and symptoms of the noise, left me with a feeling that it was not a physical/hardware issue.
I suspect Apple even knows, with as many problems they’ve had with the AirPod pros; but that’s another story… when they had to replace mine one bud at a time, about 6 complete sets, i.e., over about 10 replacements or so… during the pandemic nonsense.
I've been able to get this same issue when I am laying in bed and lay on my side where my APP rub against the pillow. I've been able to reliably make the screeching sound by putting one airpod in my hand and tumbling it around or opening and closing my hands.
I still love my APP3, and still have my APP2, but have not made a change back to them. I think they feel so much better in my hear with the new tips, and sound way better.
I frequently use my AirPods Pro when working in my shop. Previously the APP2 did a great job of reducing loud tool noise and I could mostly still listen to music or podcasts at reasonable levels.
With the APP3, they are largely the same except with the louder tools (circular saw, cordless grinder) they produce a horrific feedback instead of canceling the noise. So much so that I switched back to my APP2 (which do not have this issue in back-to-back testing).
This REALLY irks me, as the APP3 are what forced the upgrade to iOS 26 (which is terribly misguided and under-baked), so I'm stuck with all of Apple's foibles and none of their wins.
Feel like I got punched in the gut and my lunch money stolen. Not a good feeling Apple.
I resisted, did not upgrade, and I have to suffer through Apple's spiteful treatment of my AirPods as "just another Bluetooth device". You can't even see the battery status, the battery widget will show three headphones (!). I find their attitude annoying and disturbing. There was no reason to degrade the experience.
In case anyone says "but new iOS is required to make use of the fancy new features/protocols/whatever" — that is not true for functionality that existed in AirPods 2. I know, because they didn't have the time to break things on the Mac, so my Airpods 3 work exactly the same on the Mac as Airpods 2 did: they show battery status as expected.
I'll say, I recommend my Honeywell sync earmuffs for the workshop. They block more noise, have a physical volume knob and accessible buttons, and best of all, the microphone is also noise cancelling directly, meaning you can usually have a conversation with someone while using a power tool or mowing the lawn without much issue. APP2 or 3 for me has never been able to displace these.
Thanks for the recommendation, you're probably correct that I should be using a product specifically designed for the environment. I'll check them out.
Fwiw sometimes I wear my APP2 inside my cheap passive 3M earmuffs haha. For an hour or two of use it’s been comfortable enough that I can listen and also attenuate loud tool noise e.g. a weed trimmer.
Of course you don’t get any speech boost to enable conversation with this setup. But no one else around me has passthrough either so I turn off my tools to talk the old fashioned way. :)
Interestingly, I have yet to find I have the horrible feedback problem people are talking about in this thread with my APP3, but I do in my Honeywell syncs, about 1 day in 3.
And as I wear glasses all hearing protection in the earmuff style block less noise than the APP3 - though I normally wear both.
My personal rule is that the sound level should be comfortable without ANC. So, if the sound is physically dampened sufficiently by the earbuds or headphones even when ANC is disabled, I'm happy.
ANC is more for comfort than safety from what I understand.
I can't say that the feedback causes damaging levels of noise, and its possible that my hearing is still protected, but the feedback that is produced is so uncomfortable that I involuntarily pulled them out of my ears.. which is not a great reaction with power tools in hand.
Looking at the ANSI Datasheet, it seems like it's not really suited to the sounds coming from all power tools since they can reach or exceed 110 dBA:
> The Hearing Protection feature is not suitable for protection against extremely loud impulse sounds, such as gunfire, fireworks, or jackhammers, or against sustained sounds louder than 110 dBA.
I suppose if you know your tools operate at 110 dBA or lower levels, you're good to go. The feedback is bizarre though... Hopefully Apple resolves that with a firmware update!
Edit: It looks like it can safely attenuate sound at 110 dBA for 16 to 63 hours. That's impressive!
Active noise cancellation does not provide noise reduction and active noise cancellation headphones generally don't have official NRRs.
Closed headphones or foam ear plugs would be better than earbuds with ANC. People have tried to create informal amateur NRR ratings for many consumer headphones, but since it's your only pair of ears in my opinion it makes sense to go for officially rated hearing protection.
If you have sensitive ears you can tell ANC works by playing audio and that it's far from perfect. In very loud environments there's also the risk that a damaged earbud will squeal or feedback, disabling noise protection and exposing your ear to the full brunt of the loud noise.
I'm not, and should probably get a more specific product as recommended by abakker.
I can say I've used ANC in-ear and over-ear of various implementations for years without experiencing discomfort typically associated with ANC 'pressure'.
I feel a bit the same. I rushed out to upgrade for the better noise cancelling, apparently better mic quality and live translation feature.
All three have been a miss. Noise cancelling is much the same and seems to leak higher pitch noises more. Mic is more or less still bad and the live translation only works in doors in a quiet room.
And I resent the upgrade to 26 and all of the bugs like phantom notifications.
They’re still good ear buds and the noise cancelling is valuable but I shouldn’t have made the upgrade from the 2 pros.
Ahh lastly, it seems the case battery depletes much faster now too.
Apple has done some really shady marketing about live translation because it's also supported on the AirPods Pro 2. It's clear they don't want people to know that to drive the upgrade to the 3s.
100% agree with the required update to 26, I was hugely bummed when I discovered I had to update my devices to pair them.
I've had the opposite experience with noise cancelling though, the APP3 feel like magic when I'm working with power tools - better than any other (passive) ear protection I've tried in Noise Cancellation mode, and still enough protection in Transparency mode that I can use my circular saw without any discomfort. I did experience a little of what you're mentioning the other day, but only when my Airpods (and head) were close to the tool. I thought it might be back EMF.
I have no complaints with my APP3 other than the forced iOS upgrade. I feel like they fit much better than the APP2, I have had far fewer incidences of them working their way out. And sound quality is a huge leap forward IMO. Best IEMs I have ever heard.
> 100% agree with the required update to 26, I was hugely bummed when I discovered I had to update my devices to pair them.
Interesting, I had no issue pairing despite not being on iOS 26. The only things I noticed was that they didn't show up in the Find My app (which is pretty bad) and that I didn't get the shortcut to the airpods settings on the main setting page and had to go through the bluetooth menu instead, otherwise I could pair and do everything I normally did. Tbh, I didn't even notice an issue until I read online about the two things I mentioned...
When I tried to pair mine out of the box it initiated an "Update to iOS 26!" workflow and wouldn't let me pair until I did. Also, after I updated my iPhone and paired them to my iPad Pro, still on iPadOS 18, they just showed up as generic bluetooth headphones with none of the ANC or Hearing Assist features available.
Apple always releases a point release for the last version at the same time as a new major release. It's possible you had to install either 26 or the new point release for 18, but the UI doesn't explain you have that option.
Huh, that's a good counter point. Perhaps something has changed between APP2 and APP3 that make them more susceptible to EMF, or maybe I have a bad pair. I'll attempt a replacement and see where we land.
For myself, the two features (which are not iOS 26 related) are being able to see them in FindMy, and having access to case sound and battery notification volume options.
Anecdotally, my APP3 have worked much better then expected when I worked with a drill and jigsaw this weekend. No weird noises and much more NC than the 2 had.
Might be worth trying different ear tips or asking for a replacement if software updates don’t improve it.
hearing aids, in general, have the some problems and they operate on similar principles - sound is isolated physically, and the outside world is transmitted digitally to the ear/ANC when needed.
Interesting. I have roughly 50,000 flight miles on the new AirPods Pro 3, and while I do prefer them to the 2s, I too have some annoyances with the left AirPod. In my case it never feels like it fits my ear canal quite right, to the point that I thought I might want different size tips - after trying all the tips, that's not it. The seal is in fact good, but the different feel is noticeable.
The noise cancellation also feels a bit more variable - when it's good it's significantly better, but sometimes I get cycles or loops where the algo doesn't seem to be working right.
I was mulling over getting custom tips, but it's a good reminder it might just be easier to downgrade.
I feel like I'm in-between sizes or something. The medium Apple eartips are more comfortable but tend to sit farther out of my ear canal and feel like they're working their way out. The small eartips stay in more securely, but sit uncomfortably far into my ear canal and lose seal when talking or putting my head in certain positions. I eventually settled on the mediums and have become accustomed to the feeling of them "falling out" even when they're not.
But yes, odd to hear that other people also have issues with the left ear fit, because they must be identical shapes. I wonder if human physiology averages to the left ear being smaller or something. Although I feel like the right ear falls out more easily if I switch to the small tips...
None of the Apple tips work for me, they all leak outside noise and slip out of my ears. I've tried nearly every 3rd party tip on the market, the AZLA ones are the best but with caveats. The Xelastic tips [0] provide the best comfort, noise cancellation and stay in your ears perfectly, but they wear out and become too soft quickly - like every two to three months. The Max tips [1] are durable, stay in properly, and are so comfortable it's easy to forget you have ear buds in. They're not so great at the noise cancellation though so I tend to use these as my every day tips and swap them for the Xelastics when I'm going on a flight or somewhere where the ANC is more important. I haven't tried the Crystal ones yet.
Edit: I didn't know the Crystal ones existed until posting this, so ordering some now to see if they're the best of both worlds. If I remember, I'll report back.
I buy Comply 600 Core Series (size medium), tear the comply foam off the plastic tube, then place the foam around the Apple silicone tips (size large).
None of the Apple tips on their own seal correctly, nor do any of the numerous third-party tips that I've tried, including hybrid silicone/foam tips.
I get about 6 months out of the foam and they fit in the charging case modified like this.
I had a fit issue with Airpods Pro 2 in my left ear. It would always pop out after 20 minutes of rowing. I tried different ear tips, but none of them really worked. ANC is only medium-important to me, so I'm using Airpods 4 with ANC.
Concurring with sibling, AZLA does make good aftermarket tips. I have my Airpods Pro 2 in my work bag and still use their "crystal" tips.
I've never had in-ears that use the same size tips. I always just assumed I was the oddball with weirdly mis-sized ears, but I'm pretty sure everyone has it to some degree and just always accept one subpar fit rather than use differently sized tips.
Wow you fly a lot! These things are out what, 2 months? :O
Doesn't that get exhausting? I used to have a job where I'd be on a plane every week and I couldn't hack it. It's supposed to be liberating to travel but basically just seeing the inside of a plane, taxi, meeting room and hotel room every day it was more like a moving prison. Sometimes I'd sneak out to walk through these strange places. But often I'd be forced to attend boring business dinners.
My last business flight was in 2018 and I don't miss it at all :) I even cancelled my corporate amex since I never use it anymore. And these guys keep asking for copies of ID and stuff for tax records or something (completely stupid because yes I'm still the same person duhhh) so in the end I just rolled my eyes and told them to stuff it where the sun don't shine :P
It can be tiring - and I don’t do it all the time. The reason to travel at all for work is fundamentally relational; I find if I am happy with the relationships the travel on balance is a net positive: it lets me work on what I want to and meet and befriend super interesting people.
That slight difference in agency and relational availability turns into a giant gap in feelings though, I agree. I’ve done the kind of travel you describe in my younger days and found it a mix of masochistically engaging and depression inducing.
Ah I see, I thought this was like a constant thing like it was for me. My flights were all regional so it wasn't so bad in terms of flight time, but it did take over my life. For example, I often had to be at a meeting at 10-11am monday morning in a country 3 hours flight away. So that meant leaving my house at 1am, driving 2.5 hours to the airport, hurrying through the airport, taking a 6am flight and rushing into a taxi to just get there in time.
By that time my whole weekend would be ruined of course and my week would start with a deep lack of sleep.
And I'm not a relationship guy, I'm a bit autistic so any business gathering means heavy stress for me, no positives.
I'm glad that "let's fly over and have a meeting" culture has been dampened a LOT since the pandemic. At least in the company I work at. It used to be basically a power move, for a manager to get a whole room of seats filled with people flying over to their meeting. Often there was hardly any need for us to be there in the first place. It was just a power move for someone to feel important.
But I'm glad you enjoy it at least some of the time!
To be fair I had like 300 flight miles July-September, but us PE guys occasionally do work for a living! I currently have deals in Japan and UK and family in the west coast of the US so it’s a realistic number.
A wild guess as to what is happening. I haven’t actually tested this hypothesis so I could be completely wrong.
In feedback systems, the gain is a function of frequency, and typically decreases when going from low frequency to high frequency. This is often accompanied by a phase delay.
So if the overall gain of the system is high enough, there will be some high frequency where the gain is 1, and the phase is 180 degrees. This would result in positive feedback, amplifying noise at that frequency.
Maybe that’s what’s happening in the latest AirPods? If Apple is aggressive cranking up the gain of the noise cancellation system, there’s some high frequency where the noise gets amplified rather than suppressed.
The solution would be to either reduce the gain (which reduces the noise cancellation), or to add some differential gain in the system which pushes out the unity gain frequency to higher frequencies.
If they were calibrated assuming a certain distance from the microphone that "hears" what the wearer's ear is hearing and the ear itself, then it's possible a change in air density could position the area of highest constructive interference at the eardrum instead of the intended destructive interference for some frequencies.
The pressure difference shouldn’t be significant enough in modern jets? Cabin altitude is around 6000-8000’ - we would hear complaints from a few major cities. Humidity is much lower in aircraft though.
The speed of sound varies with air temperature, which is what the linked graph shows.
Technically the speed of sound does vary with density, but as you change altitude there's also a change in pressure which exactly cancels that out. In the end only temperature and gas composition alter the speed of sound.
As long as you're inside the plane (and hopefully it's not 217 K or -70 °F, per the graph) then the speed of sound should be unchanged.
"if A is the gain of the amplifying element in the circuit and β(jω) is the transfer function of the feedback path, so βA is the loop gain around the feedback loop of the circuit, the circuit will sustain steady-state oscillations only at frequencies for which:
1: The loop gain is equal to unity in absolute magnitude, that is, |βA|=1, and
2: the phase shift around the loop is zero or an integer multiple of 2π: ∠βA=2πn,n∈{0,1,2,…}"
I just had a thought, it's possible to completely disable ANC in settings, turning them into "dumb" bluetooth headphones. (Enable "Off Listening Mode" in Airpods Settings and the option will become available in Control Center.) If some of us who are able to replicate this effect consistently could try turning ANC off and seeing if the effect still occurs, that would narrow it down to being feedback related from Transparency/ANC or being something external like back EMF.
I just tested this myself and the two ways that I am able to get consistent squealing (stroking the upper body when in-ear and cupping them in the hand) both fail to replicate when ANC is off. So this does point to a feedback issue.
My other thought is that the APP3 may have microphones located next to the drivers in the ear canal, both for measuring fit, and for the new "own voice amplification" feature that appears in hearing control center if you enable Hearing Assistance. Maybe vibration is leaking through the body to the inner microphone.
I had to return my AirPods Pro 3. I upgraded from AirPods 4 with ANC and they were worse in every department I could see. I assume battery life is better, but I've never ran out of battery anyway.
I've never much got on with in-ear rubber tips, and these were no different to any I've tried, despite reviews stating they were super comfortable.
My left ear is also worse to get it fitting right than my right ear. I have tried every size provided, none seem right. A grimace in the gym is enough to unseat even the most secure fit/seal, in either ear.
My main gripes specifically with AirPods Pro 3, which I've not seen in any other review;
- Because the rubber tips vary in size, the case has to accommodate the largest. This means if you're using small tips, there's a lot of spare room, which means the AirPods can easily be mis-seated, breaking the charge connection.
- The case is substantially bigger than AirPods 4 with ANC. I would say ~40%.
- The volume swipe on the stalk action is very tricky to trigger.
- Any stalk action is a bad idea when it's so easy to unseat them. I skip songs with a double press regularly, and nearly every time I had to push in and rotate after.
That's a shame since it's literally impossible to get that deep sub bass or punchy mid bass without a seal. But if you're not into genres that sound better with that, then you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
> This means if you're using small tips, there's a lot of spare room, which means the AirPods can easily be mis-seated, breaking the charge connection.
I've used many headphones - probably upwards of 10 pairs cross 5 brands - in my day with rubber tips that can accommodate multiple sizes. This has never been a problem for me with any brand. I've switched to open ear headphones (over-ear for flights) since last year so my knowledge base is aging.
Is the magnetic action in Apple's case not strong enough, maybe?
Something interesting occurs to me. Many of the anecdotes about the squealing on flights says the noise goes away when yawning. Yawning lifts the soft palate and equalizes ambient pressure behind the eardrum in the sinuses. Air pressure is lower in a pressurized airplane cabin than on the ground and is usually more dynamic as well. I wonder if an air pressure gradient forms in the ear canal when in the air that exacerbates the ANC feedback issues that users (myself included) are experiencing on the ground. I feel like there must be some interaction between the multiple microphones due to vibration transmitted through the body of the Airpods.
Since it seems to be an ANC issue it should be fixable in software.
I discovered another way to remove this problem - Initiate a screen recording and it's gone. I was doing this to report a TestFlight app bug on a flight I was experiencing and wow did the ANC improve so much.
I've flown twice with my new AirPods Pro 3, and both times I had this exact experience; high pitched and loud feedback. They were properly cleaned, and had a "good seal" according to the settings wizard.
Glad to see I'm not the only one at least, and hopefully this will be possible to fix as a software update, rather than having to replace the AirPods.
During the operation of engines that emit loud noises such as lawnmowers and pressure washers, I've had similar experiences. With the lawnmower, the deafening roar reached both ears the moment the blade struck a stone. Using the pressure washer, it was highly unpleasant to hear the loud abnormal noise, possibly caused by splashes or wet components touching the microphone. I believe the abnormal noise from the lawnmower could be resolved with a software update.
Does it matter which side of the plane you are on or how close to the wing (engines) you are? I could imagine an audio difference between left and right if you were sitting at a window near an engine.
Just got back from another flight, where my seat was in the middle of airplane (3 set of rows). No issues whatsoever. One thing I’ve noticed, if I press AirPods harder, I do start hearing hissing in my ears.
with buds, whichever connects first (usually right) is the master, and the other bud connects to that one as the slave, instead of connecting directly to the source device. probably has something to do with that
I've been on ~4-5 flights since upgrading to the Airpods Pro 3 from the 2 and haven't experienced this, though I had occasionally experienced a similar whine on my Pro 2 that seemed to have been resolved in a software update sometime back.
I am surprised by the general negative sentiment for the 3s in this thread. They've felt like a straight and clear upgrade to me. Better fit, better ANC, and much improved battery life. I typically wear mine almost all day so comfort is hugely important to me.
I think the general neagtivity might be from a $250 set of headphones that aren’t great in all situations.
It’s not just an apple problem, but expensive tech just doesn’t seem to work well. generally apple were kinda the gold standard, now they’re having issues like a lot of tech.
I'm surprised of the general positivity of the previous version, also $250. When the Airpods Pro 2 had been out, it seemed like there was non-stop complaining about how every firmware update made the ANC worse, the sound quality was worse than Sony, continual clicks and rattles, and how they were designed for battery failure.
Just goes to show how negative opinions travel fast.
Not every expensive device works well, but the tech products that typically work best tend to not be the cheapest ones. There is plenty of subpar expensive tech, but much less top-tier inexpensive stuff.
Of course, that doesn't mean it can't suffice for the average user.
Same here, and I wonder if this is down to shifting pressure in the ear-nose-throat axis. The fact that yawning seems to remediate the issue, and also is a way to equalize pressure, makes me suspicious.
Same. I've been on a number of long haul flights since getting my 3's and they have been great. They do fit very different than the 2's, and took me a few hours to get used to them.
I understand though that not everyone wins the ear hole lottery. For some the 2s may fit better than the 3's and vice versa. It's interesting to me that Apple made such a large fit change without considering 2's are simply better for some people fit wise.
> It's interesting to me that Apple made such a large fit change without considering 2's are simply better for some people fit wise.
I immediately ran out and bought aftermarket foam tips for my 2's since the silicone ones never stayed in. Apple is likely trying to fix that kind of problem (and may have done so on average entirely successfully) but now you're seeing the people that it doesn't work for show up in these comments. This comment section is going to be biased towards complaining about the 3's so you can't really judge if what they did was effective or not on average, only that clearly it wasn't perfect.
I used to be first to try out new Apple products. Now I wait for OS upgrades and will let others try new Apple products or major software updates. Too many times Cupertino has let users down with poorly tested software. This problem with the Airpods- it should have been caught if this many people are experiencing the same problem.
I bought the airpod pro 3 and returned it after a couple of days. It would make a loud crunching sound every time I move my mouth, probably due to the memory foam moving inside my ear canal. Never experienced anything similar on pro 1 or pro 2.
This entire cycle of Apple releases is riddled with puzzling defects - the super scratchable iPhone Pros, the condensation issues on the Air lenses, the Airpod fit and weird noise cancelling issues. I don't recall this level of weird basic defects since the first unibody macs or the butterfly keyboard debacle. Wonder what caused it...
Pushing to release something every year. That's a really dumb strategy. Managers forgot about the golden triangle of: "good, cheap, fast", out of which you can pick only two, but they have decided to pick only "fast".
I'm using some Apple products, and I'm concerned about the drop in quality. Soon they won't differ much from yet another, Chinese company.
Is it the noise cancellation making a feedback sound, or is it the pressure differential in the ear canal pulling the ear drum back to produce a white noise?
He said that it goes away when he yawns, so I'm thinking it might be the pressure differential.
Yawning alters the conformation of the external auditory canal by displacing the mandible, which articulates with the tympanic plate of the temporal bone adjacent to the canal.
The seal might be so good that a small pressure differential happens as cabin pressure drops, which causes some issue with the microphone or speaker. Yawning might break that seal, or otherwise cause pressure equalization. Why only the left one? Apple might put some kind of special signal diagnostics or sensors in that side that bugs out under those conditions, or maybe human anatomy on the left side is consistently subtley different in a set of people.
Because this doesn't happen to everybody it could be some kind of "instrument effect" where the particular shape of someone's ear canal, and the interaction with their ear drum and the speakers and sensors in the app creates this tone, likely assisted by the constant driving signal of air cabin white noise.
> The seal might be so good that a small pressure differential happens as cabin pressure drops
That's my guess. I'm very sensitive to pressure changes and I know that cabin pressure on most planes is not constant even when cruising. It's in a range that most people won't notice but it definitely fluctuates near constantly within that band.
Anecdotal, one of my colleagues was sounding surprisingly clear on one of the calls, and I had to ask him what is he using. Turns out whose were AirPods Pro 3, so my first impression with their microphone is quite amazing. Comparable to "studio mics from MBP" from a generation or two ago. He shared noise cancellation is also great.
It might also be because newer Bluetooth codecs being used. I think Apple doesn't publish a lot of documentation about it (or it isn't obvious, at least...)
Could be the case, but it is very obvious if someone is using Pros 1 or 2, the audio is really bad. This was honestly such a jump that I somehow wish my Pros 1 to break so I can get new ones :D Can't upgrade from a perfectly working set of headphones, although they are more than four years old and probably my 2nd most used device after the phone.
I can reproduce this by covering one of the exterior mics used for ANC when there is a decent amount of background noise in the environment. It results in feedback that causes a high pitch ringing.
The AirPods Pro 2 don’t have this same issue. I can’t reproduce the same behavior regardless of how I cover the exterior on the pro 2s.
I suspect this is fixable in firmware. What I heard on a long haul flight was the faint sound of the plane's engines traveling back and forth down a paper towel tube; a hollow, cavernous sound. It must be so tricky to nail these algorithms, but with the data of millions, it should be easier to triangulate and address.
i disagree here - having a feedback loop that makes loud noise instead of cancelling is fundamental failure of their ANC algorithm. There's basically no protection mechanism incase of divergence.
my response was to the 'it should be an easy fix' sentiment. trying to address feedback loop without negatively affecting cancellation performance is extremely challenging, because for a mic/algorithm there's generally no way to determine if the error microphone is picking up a loud event in the environment or if the cancellation soundwave is incorrectly phased and instead of canceling its just adding more noise.
I don't think it was ever common, since earphones weren't that popular until people started calling them "earbuds", but the term was historically used in at least some circles in the U.S. The 1988 Radio Shack catalog [1] seems to mention "earphone" 57 times, including two mono earphone products.
That’s interesting, although that seems to be a different usage than OP mentioned. It seems to be used interchangeably with headphones as it’s also being used to describe cables and jacks.
I'm reasonably certain that I am about as old if not slightly older than the invention of in-ear headphones. I'm also reasonably certain that I have always used "headphones" to refer to any small portable speaker designed to inject sound directly into the ears. I'm absolutely certain I have never used the term "earphones", although "ear buds" was/is a common synonym for in-ear headphones.
Then the US English is winning out because we never said earphones over here. I’m much older so have a clear memory of when they hit the market. We said earbud for a while but that was a momentary distinction and it seems we’ve mostly reverted to our generic term of headphones (which lacks any distinction on form factor ) so we use it for pretty much any and all cases.
I actually think the AirPods naming helped this as it’s kind of a clunky product name that’s nearly a misnomer if you consider iPod is still a part of our vernacular. I don’t hear people saying “where are my AirPods?” Instead it’s “where are my headphones?” Had it been called AirBuds then maybe it would have stuck since ear buds was a thing.
As I think back, I feel like earbud is distinctly tied to the corded iPod accessory. As that died out, so has the term.
This nipple is adapted for insertion into the ear, and is ordinarily covered with a rubber cover to lessen the friction against the orifice of the ear.
Hahaha. To be fair, I do have a record table and my speakers are of the non-smart variety with copper wires connecting them to Cambridge Audio amplifiers. So you could easily be talking about me too.
Something happened today as I was closing my car door, where I had the Airpods (Pro 3 as well) make this low but extremely loud rumble-like sound. Something related to pressure and seal, perhaps?
I could replicate it immediately at will. ANC on, nothing playing, sat on the driver seat and closed my door with a little bit of force.
I also have this. I haven’t tried with cars, but the ANC seems to really amplify some deep bass sounds from the environment. To the point I hear things I wouldn’t ever notice before (e.g. different states of my air conditioner).
The problem is it comes through as an extremely loud rumble, usually in only one ear at a time.
Not a high pitched squeal, but a low pitched rumble. Goes away if I remove and reinsert, but immediately comes back in short order.
I can make it go away but only by using tips that don’t fit as well, and therefore don’t reduce noise as well (and also fall out of my ears while running).
I was temped to upgrade from my 2nd gen AirPodPros which I use since they launched. Still use the same set. But I wanted to wait for some real world reviews. I also have the Max and love them. But sound quality and ANC is not as great as in the In-Ears which is rather funny. I have no real need to switch yet. But I actually thought to give them a try at around Christmas. But I planned to use mine for running and air travel as well…
I've not noticed them feeding back while listening but it happens whenever I put them in the case together for a split second. I also get a drop-out every time I walk past certain spots in my apartment building hallway because of what I'm guessing are ultrasonic sensors on fragrance dispensers or light fixtures. Definitely buggier than the previous version but the improvements in sonic accuracy and noise cancellation are well worth the inconvenience IMO.
I have this issue intermittently just when walking around, at sea level! I can make them start screaming just by holding them even - The Airpods 2 do not have the same issue.
I have experienced this as well. However, I wasn't sure where I should report it. Warranty? Bug?
I'm fairly new to the Apple ecosystem, so it's quite confusing. I've tried raising an issue with warranty, but I could absolutely not find a place to do it(I had a few tries, installed some app, but I wasn't able to create anything that wouldn't be visited in the shop, just a support request)
I am surprised that Apple did not test in a way that revealed these problems (testing around a variety of loud noises, and especially testing on airplanes, where the product is used a lot).
And I am surprised that, if they did do the testing, they shipped anyway.
But I am becoming less and less surprised via-à-vis Apple problems, because they seem to be occurring with increasing frequency.
Same exact experience here and also with the left AirPod. Everything goes well until the AirPods get just a little bit wet or greasy (say, in the rain, after a run, or a few hours into wearing them) — then the seal loosens and I get a painful high-pitched hum when trying to put it back in it is place. I wonder how safe that sound is bc its pretty uncomfortable.
The seal also changes with any significant jaw movement (which I also do a lot in-flight normally) — noticeable degradation of noise cancellation, which then goes away (not sure if its the foam or anc adjusting).
Tried to use my AirPods Pro 2 earhooks, which partially solved it - although at the cost of that crispy sound. Found best to just wipe the AirPods dry/gently blow around the grills before adjusting (which makes them unusable for running unless you’re willing to stop all the time).
Such a shame every APP iteration has some noticeable flaw. And especially when they solved a similar problem between the first and the second gen.
This just sounds like the fallacy of ignoring corner / minority use cases.
A minority of users might encounter a flaw in a corner case, but if that's an important corner case, it's a defect: IE, Airpods might only be used on flights 1% of the time, but for the people who use them on flights, it's a very important (and hyper-critical) use case.
Other other brands dynamically do this, so you don't need to do any recalibration manually. Bose Ultra headphones, for instance, seem to do this dynamically all the time. You can tell this happens since the ANC slowly ramps up as you get a better seal on your ears.
:( I recently lost my APP1 and was going to buy new airpods this week. I guess I'm going to look elsewhere until Apple improves their quality. I'm one of the few that are bothered by ANC, so I don't use it. But I also don't want to buy/support a subpar product release.
This is not an ad, just personal experience, but I went through two pairs of AirPod Pro 2s in the last couple of years and both developed problems outside of warranty. I bought a pair of Earfuns from Amazon and they’re honestly pretty great. 95% of the sound quality and functionality of AirPod pros for about 25% of the price.
Yes actually. That was one of my biggest annoyances with non-Apple earbuds in the past, but these actually do seamlessly connect to all my Apple devices and switch quickly and reliably to the active device.
Thanks and same, the ones I'd tried previously were very annoying to get and stay connected when I wanted them to and not when I didn't want them to.
I actually ordered the airpod pro 3s the day before seeing this thread. If they don't blow me away I'll be returning them and getting these.
Although I don't know how I'm going to test the flight problem. I don't have any coming up in the next couple weeks. Might have to return even if they do blow me away :/
So this is a tactic? My iphone and macbook recently just started acting up with bt connections to my Bose QC45. Used all of these for about 3 years with no problems, two weeks or so ago, i need to re-pair the headphones every time i want to use them (they connect fine but the audio gets send to… /dev/null?). Not upgraded anything in the past Months. Weird
If you don't use ANC, then why is an ANC issue that only appears on flights a reason for you to not buy a product? If someone said they have weird ears and the AirPods Pro 3 simply doesn't fit their ears, would that be a reason for you to not buy it even though it fits yours?
- I can't jog with the APP3: the new tips transmit too much of the impact vibration into my ear, creating a painful noise sensation that can not be healthy. Same for walking sometimes! It makes me walk carefully and weirdly.
- Certain type of noise, like strongly vibrating idioit cars and idiot motorbikes also create some very painful feedback noise that makes me take them out when I need them most.
- I too experienced this horrible screeching, but I wasn't doing anything specialy. Cupping them made it worse, taking the out and in again did not help. I put them back in the case and a few hours later this issue disappeared.
To me, the APP3 feel half broken and dangerous, I regret buying them, I wish I would have bought just another set of APP2.
It was one of the most anticipated Apple upgrades of all times and they dropped the ball.
I’ve experiencing this same issue on every flight now using APP3, and considering returning. Tried multiple different ear tip sizes. Reset and re-paired. It’s not just pressure changes, as it occurs at steady altitude in addition to ascending and descending. I’m very surprised Apple didn’t catch this issue by testing the ANC on aircraft more extensively during product testing, since that is an extremely common use case for ANC headphones. They also generate weird popping/thumping noises while running, or tinny echoes sometimes while scratching my head. Hopefully there is a software fix. AP1 ANC worked just fine (until case failed to charge left earbud).
I’ve never understood the hype around AirPods noise cancellation. It’s been noticeably worse than Bose from the beginning and I just keep going back to Bose. I don’t know how others may rank, but it’s just that I was using Bose noise cancellation headphones since before Apple got into headphones and as much as I like the form factor of AirPods every time I use them on a flight or something I feel like I’m punishing myself for not using the Bose ones. Have always been curious if I’m alone in this as so many people sing praises for AirPod Pros, anyone else relate?
Can you imagine a post on HN where someone says "when Bose announced QuiteComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen I was so excited!".
Apple has a serious reality distortion field about it. For normal products this would have been a return. See recent "Apple allows icon opacity adjustment".
Not OP but I have had a set of the bose noise canceling earbuds that I have worn 5 days a a week for over 5 years now and absolutely love them. Noise canceling is excellent, comparable to the over-the-ear-style.
My main complaint is the onboarding process really pushes you to install their app. It is entirely unnecessary (can configure them by various tap codes) but still annoying they don't tell you that until you install the app...
I have both. Over the ear is better but the earbuds that are 10+ years old are also better than recent APP2. I’ve not tried 3 and probably won’t.
The form factor is ridiculous by APP2 standards. There’s a corded stick that I assume has all the components in it as back then they wouldn’t fit in earbuds themselves. That’s apples main innovation. But, honestly, when I’m on a flight I will take a 10% performance boost over a slicker design or smaller form factor. My guess is they’re at least 50% better and only slightly inferior to over the ear ones.
All said, I usually just take my over the ear bose on a flight. I got the APP2 specifically for that purpose but they are awful in my opinion. About once a year I make the mistake of trying them out again and immediately regret it before the plane even starts taxiing.
Now I wonder, what could "cleverness-shaped ears" possibly look like? Also funny: my ears can't hold earphones, they just eject them every time I change my facial expression or talk or what-not.
Anecdotal, but recently gave up on AirPods and moved over to Beats Fit Pro to get similar feature parity with my iPhone. Thus far, the Beats fit way better than either my AirPod 2 or AirPod Pro 1's ever did. ANC and the lack of an extra mic are ever so slightly worse, but the battery life and fit are so much better. My $250 AirPod Pros had to be exchanged for a battery defect within 3 months and were regularly falling out during runs... I don't think I will be buying AirPods again, but anyone struggling with them should scope the Beats line.
God I have a similar problem with APP3 on flights only. They seem to allow in this deep rumble vibration that my APP2 did not :( Otherwise the APP3 are much better in office, home, etc.
Without playing any music the ANC is stellar, but this bug means the buds are basically unusable as they require reseating in the ear, or toggling to transparency and back to ANC, after a few seconds of listening (if in an environment which has any sort of constant low freq noise)
In my case (although I have not yet flown with APP3) the ANC works great, however, transparency mode (and adaptive mode) have issue with a noise. In a silent room I hear quiet noise in transparency mode (not present in ANC nor in "Off") which wasn't present in APP1. I tried different tips
Also, transparency mode felt more "natural" in APP1 in comparison to APP3. Currently it feels like a downgrade from APP1 (unfortunately my pair of APP1 broke recently), because I used transparency a lot and it feels worse
I recently went into an Apple store to try the new 3’s with my 2’s ready for a side-by-side comparison. I had heard mixed reviews about sound quality, fit, and the ANC. I was prepared to hear at best an incremental improvement, but boy was I surprised. To my ears, the sound stage is so much wider and the ANC is noticeably better. The fit is definitely different though and it took a bit of trial and error to get the correct size tips.
Glad to hear it's not just me. Happened repeatedly on my flights I took last week. I have had all 3 generations of the Pros, this is the first time experiencing this. Also left AirPod only.
This high pitched noise issue happened to me last week using noise cancellation on a flight, but I was using Airpods 4 (not Pro). I think this problem isn't only limited to the Pro models
I’ve also had this sound on my 3s, but only when handling them before putting them in my ears. I’d say it’s happened at least 10-15 times, and every time I’ve thought it’s so loud it’d do damage if it was in my ears.
Anecdotally I’ve done four 11+ hour flights with them so far and they’ve been super solid on the plane - no issues there.
I became fed up with my airpods (and bluetooth earbuds in general) and switched to some great (albeit definitely not new and definitely not high end) IEMs and couldn't be happier. I was worried about losing the noise canceling but it turns out to not matter in the slightest with IEMs with proper tips on them, the isolation is unbelievable. Not dealing with battery life and charging issues anymore is worth it alone. The absurd price difference is a great bonus too.
Yup, it's pretty impressive how good IEMs can be at isolating you from sounds with good fitting tips. I am fond of the SpinFit W1 tips, they were much better than whatever stock tips came with mine and they seal really well.
I got some Comply tips and they're great. Was weary of the idea of foam tips at first. I am pretty used to the feeling of earplugs though and it hasn't been an issue. Frankly they're TOO good sometimes, I've been startled by people trying to get my attention more than once.
"In Ear Monitor". Its named for its use by musicians to listen to the mix while they perform, but now it just refers to the style of isolation via mechanical means (foam or silicon seal) and the way the cable folds back over the top of the ear.
"In-ear monitor", fancy buzzword for earbud afaict (I am definitely not a part of the audiophile scene and am not sure if there is actually a difference there, except maybe they insert very deep in the ear canal and have excellent isolation).
They're musicians' tools. Playing live music is absolutely destructive to your hearing, and ear protection is required. IEMs are a combination of protective equipment (many are designed the same way as concert earplugs) and earphone, so you can hear a clear signal from the mixing board at a safe volume, while shutting out the house speakers' insane noise levels.
Before IEMs were common, the norm was (hopefully) ear plugs and having monitoring speakers pointed at the musicians from the floor.
IEMs can be made in the concert earplug style, which is usually a center pair with 3-4 layers of rubber domes like typical earbuds. Or you can pay more and have custom molds made of your ears, so ones can be made to perfectly fit.
"Monitor" also has certain implications in audio. Usually something designed for monitoring will have a flat frequency response, while most consumer gear has aggressive EQ curves that do things like boosting bass. (Most people will think monitors "sound bad," while the lack of sound tampering is essential for performance and mixing.)
I had something similar happen after sleeping a few times with my first-gen airpods pro. I think something must have gotten filled with earwax or something, because the noise cancelling got more and more broken and had more sudden sharp sounds until they were unusable
But since then I've had two pairs of airpods pro 2 and bought the 3s on the first day, and I've had no such issues with any of them, including sleeping, and flying twice with the 3's so far. YMMV
I use these at night, sleeping with them on. I experienced this screeching intermittently for like a week, and then it went away almost completely. Now, it only happens if I lay down in a very specific way. It's probably related to the strength of the seal in my case, and maybe at higher altitudes and different pressures the seal is affected in a similar way.
The seal might have improved for me the more I used the same eartips
There's already [edit: multiple] comments here that are blaming human anatomy, despite the competition not having this issue. No need for Apple to claim it.
It amazes me what people are willing to suffer merely because Apple makes it. Flights are one of the core ANC competencies, it boggles the mind that this wasn't found during testing.
Wonder if it's humidity related. Besides the lower pressure, commercial aircraft are usually single digit % humidity due to use of dry bleed air to pressurize the cabin. Besides the effect on sealing, I wonder if there's an effect on acoustics that the ANC has to contend with. It would possibly explain some of the other people facing the same issues at home.
I've had this exact same issue as described but only on longer runs where I've had them in my ears for longer than 3 or 4 hours. When I figured out I could just turn off the pass through or noise cancellations and it'd go away I was relieved but it doesn't seem reserved for pressurized plane cabins. Never had this issue on previous generations.
> This entry was written at 33,000 feet while flying over the Canadian Rockies.
Respect the commitment to the craft!
Also useful / timely knowledge for me, thank you. I have a big international trip with multiple longhaul flights coming up and was debating if I should upgrade my airpods or consider something else (e.g. overear headphones). Do folks have overear recommendations?
Pro 3 is a step backwards, there are these ANC noise issues not only on flights but also during heal-strikes when running down a hill, a staticky thump rather than high-pitched.
I've also had other more rare feedback issues. The Pro2s basically never had feedback issues unless you actually rubbed the outside of them.
I've noticed a big problem with AirPods Pro 3 on the NYC subway. Maybe my fit isn't right, but Adaptive/Transparent mode is a lot less "transparent" with really loud background noise - I can tell I'm listening to a processed signal rather than the natural muted sound of the AirPods Pro 2.
Love my APP3, upgraded from APP2 and have only one regret... no Comply Foam tips available yet. Why does Apple not go all-in on memory foam, I dunno, but at least the APP2 version was so much better it's not even funny.
With the Apple XS tips, which otherwise fit well for me, any yawn means the APP3 fall out.
Just one data point, but I was on a flight this weekend and AirPods Pro 3 worked fine for me with ANC. No feedback or other noises, just a slight bit of wind noise when the overhead air duct was directed straight at my head (so I angled the duct slightly away from me).
I have the samsung buds pros and I've noticed a high pitched screech when I put the buds in and I figured it's related to how noise cancelling works. I bet basicappleguy wouldn't hear the noise if the ANC is turned off as a test.
The Airpods 2 have a whistle problem for me. Any time someone whistles or anything makes a loud noise I would feel a pressure on my ear that was quite unpleasant and stemming from the airpod. Haven’t tried the 3 but I wonder if it is related.
put the APP3 through a washing machine recently by accident and they had the high pitched feedback if NC was used until they were fully dry after a couple of days. Have also put APP2 through washing machine before but never had this
I completely gave up on APP; previous generation had crackling issues that (eventually) led to a recall. I’ve settled on Sony, which offers great sound quality and effective noise cancellation.
I tried AP Pro 3 but decided to return them in favor of my v2. The v2 felt more comfortable in my ear and were good enough. I was also disappointed the heartbeat monitor only works while exercising.
AirPods Pro 2 was already perfect. I don't know why Apple chose to "upgrade" it whereas AirPods Max, AirTags, and the Studio Display are all over due for an upgrade.
Of course you do. If they do not constantly upgrade, there are no new sales. Charts must go up, not stay flat. As an example, the venerable Technics 1200 turntable only had a few version releases for fairly minor cosmetic usability items. The core functionality did not change since it was designed. Those versions came with years in between. You buy a pair of those, and you only replaced them when they were stolen. If something broke, you repaired it. Apple's share holders will not be happy with buy once keep forever items.
I don't think it is as simple as saying the demand for constant growth is the reason for this.
Even if a manufacturer was a non-profit, if they make a product that never upgrades and can be repaired indefinitely, eventually the demand for new products will drop enough that they simply can't afford to keep making new ones. You can't maintain a manufacturing pipeline for small amounts of product, because there are fixed costs that can't be reduced with reduced production.
Unrelated: Apple appears to be cursed with the left ear. 2nd gen has an issue as well. The left ear bud will stop charging randomly. There are a lot of really dumb suggestions for fixing this, however the real issue is a bent pin in the case. I had 2 v2 pros, and fixed another 5 on top of my second one (first one died in the washer) by taking a pair of tweezers and bending the pin in the case upwards. Every single website I read suggested dirty contacts, performing a factory reset, etc. NOPE! Unbend the pin. Gently, mind you. Since I did that, both of my pairs of pros (one belongs to my wife, however she doesn't like earbuds) have worked flawlessly.
I get this in every day life, but it comes whenever I have to adjust the pods in my ears. But frankly I kinda expected these to pretty much suck until someone comes out with fully foam tips, at which point my problem will be completely solved as I no longer will have a need to adjust them
I use them mainly for running, and after I accidentally put my Pro 2s through a washer/dryer cycle, I ordered the Pro 3s, but I've noticed they feel heavier in the ears and make this annoying loud thumping sound every time my foot hits the ground, making them almost unusable for my primary purpose
Also sometimes I fall asleep in bed with them while listening to a podcast, and have experienced the same painfully loud screeching as described by the article when the microphones brush against the pillow
Sidenote from an observer since I don't use AirPods (or any other Apple device, for that matter). I've been seeing more "Apple design problem" articles around the latest release cycle. It seems out of line for a company whose main advantage is attention to detail and UX (which you pay dearly for).
I'm always reminded of dystopian stories by Doctorow et al. when the frequency of brand name usage exceeds a certain threshold, and this article certainly did that.
I experienced the same thing first time I took them onboard a plane. The APP has so far been a disappointment for me. They do have much better NC, but at the cost of issues like this and worse sound quality
I've run into similar interference issues when building real-time audio processing systems. The AirPods Pro's use of Bluetooth 5.3 in the 2.4GHz band makes them particularly susceptible to Wi-Fi interference, especially on planes where you have dozens of devices competing in a metal tube.
One mitigation strategy we found effective was implementing dynamic frequency hopping with adaptive channel selection. By monitoring RSSI levels and packet loss rates across different channels (typically seeing -85 to -95 dBm on crowded channels vs -65 to -75 dBm on clear ones), we could proactively switch to less congested frequencies. This reduced dropout rates by about 70% in high-interference environments.
The real challenge is balancing frequency agility with audio latency - each hop adds ~2-3ms of overhead. Has anyone experimented with using the 5GHz band for wireless audio? The higher frequency would mean more attenuation but potentially much less interference.
Use normal ass headphones that cost $5, problem solved even better. I think wireless earbuds are the dumbest product ever made. They are worse than normal headphones in every way.
> surprised it took author this long to realize it
I don't think "realize" is the right word here. "Realize" would require them to have been affected by this issue but unaware. Instead, they were not affected with their previous models, only with the new ones.
I have 1tb of data on icloud, including all my photos. Moving to a different platform is literally not an option (I was a happy Dropbox paid user until they decided to shut down the photos app, and Google Photos is a huge no no for multiple reason). The only alternative I can think of is self-hosting, which on itself is a nightmare, or a home NAS (not an option for me specifically). The lock-in is real.
Dropbox recently broke (accidentally or intentionally) hosted images/thumbnails from their Paper docs product (which they're quietly but noncommittally killing off) and that was a good wakeup for me to stop trusting hosted storage. And I'm saying this as a former Dropbox engineer of ~6 years who has plenty of free Dropbox storage for life. The brain drain and profitability crunch is real.
Recently bought a 14TB HDD and downloaded my entire Dropbox, Google Photos, and Lightroom photos. Planning to set up an off-site copy as well, and will probably build out a proper NAS within a few years.
Dropbox is just hard to trust. I used to pay for it, until they suddenly decided to shut down the photos app. Then the password app, recently. I don’t expect Apple to shut down Photos any time soon, so I find it easier to trust them with my data
which alternative platform exists? Onedrive is absolutely awful (it gets stuck in sync and crashes on Mac frequently), Google Drive/Photos doesn't respect your privacy and actually changes the resolution of your photos. The only alternative is Dropbox, which doesn't have a photos app anymore, or a bunch of disjointed small apps that together would cost multiples of what I pay for iCloud.
Name me one service outside of Google and Apple that’s seamlessly tied to your devices. Once you buy into the system you’re basically stuck. Apple is quickly becoming Oracle.
Not sure what the OP meant but I too feel locked into them. I dislike both the company and in some cases the product, but they currently provide the least bad option - almost certainly for laptops and probably for phones.
I feel like a provider having the 'lest bad option' is a LOT different than 'locked in'. Locked in means that you are forced to keep using an inferior product even if a better option exists because you can't move your data; not having a better option is something else.
Lock-in usually just refers to a situation where switching costs are (perceived to be) higher than the net benefit, within some reasonable payoff period. It can include things like high cost to extract data, but it can also include things like network/social effects.
The latter is a huge reason companies strive to establish "platforms" and suites of connected apps - even if competition is cheaper/better in a vacuum, it still may not be worth the effort to switch if you're already established within an ecosystem. The goal is vendor lock-in even if they're not holding your data hostage (though they might do that too).
Yeah, I agree with that. I didn’t mean to imply that it had to be impossible to move your data.
However, I do think that it has to mean something besides “there are no other good providers of a service”. Integrations, platforms, etc make sense as being “locked in”, but not “no one else provides the service”
To me, the key would be, “if you were starting from scratch and weren’t using any service at all, would you choose a different one than what you actually currently use?”
If the answer is “I would still choose the one I am using”, then I don’t think that is locked in.
it means that the cost of moving from X is too high (be it in terms of time, cost or lack of suitable alternatives).
In the case of iCloud, for most people, it's probably a combination of convenience (no other tool is so well integrated with the OS) and cost (you can sorta replicate the combo of photos + files + vpn + fake emails, but it'll be more expensive and complex to maintain)
Is it optional? When there is basically Apple and Android? If you add family to the mix then you’re basically stuck with Apple ecosystem. It’s actually nice until something goes wrong and you realize their customer service is awful. They’ve gotten too big. It’s basically a big black box and you’re trapped.
I have this happen outside of flights. Cupping your finger over the ANC mic is enough to trigger it.
The new tips (that’s my guess, at least) also transmit vibrations into your ears much more than the old tips or third party memory foam tips. This results in a popping noise when walking or moving around, and a horrible thumping sound when running with them in. I think the latter is partially caused by the “reduce loud noises” feature incorrectly identifying vibrations from heel strikes as loud noise.
I’m glad I’m apparently not the only one experiencing these issues. I hope they’re software fixable. I filed a bug report, but radio silence on that, of course. I would sing the praises of the second gen AirPods Pro to anyone who would listen, but the 3rd gen have been a huge disappointment. I had to buy a different set of headphones for running, whereas the second gen were my daily drivers. And I’ve been through three pair of the third gen, so it’s not a one-off issue.
I have been able to trigger it when fumbling around with adjusting the fit. If I run my finger over the top of the body I can get a brief squeal out of them. Happened just a few seconds ago. I also have noticed on multiple occasions that if I take them both out of my ears and cup them in the same hand, they squeal audibly enough to hear faintly from a couple feet away. The skin contact sensor is very sensitive.
However, unlike a lot of other commenters in this thread, I feel like the APP3 are a huge leap forward from the APP2 and have had zero regrets with the upgrade (other than the forced iOS 26 upgrade, but I feel like that's inevitable anyway.) They stay in much better, the fit is more comfortable, the battery life is better, the ANC probably drops background noise another 10db subjectively, and most of all, the sound quality is absolutely stellar. I have owned several midrange headphones and a portable DAC and I find myself preferring the AirPods over them. I haven't worn my Sennheisers since I got the APP3.
Just curious, which Sennheisers did you give up on in favor of APP3?
I have over-the-ear Momentum 3 and love it, but if APP3 provides better sound quality and better ANC I might consider switching as Momentum 3, while I love it, is bulky, heavy, and started to wear off and break down.
Drop x Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee through a Qudelix 5K. Both are great pieces of kit, the Qudelix especially. The onboard parametric EQ combined with AutoEQ is fantastic. However, after running a hearing test and enabling Hearing Assist, the EQ on the Airpods is incredible and everything sounds very natural. I have no idea how they managed to get this much soundstage and bass out of these things. I also have a pair of Grado SR 80, and have a soft spot for Koss KSC 75.
FWIW I got mine at Costco and their return policy is top notch, and I believe they include AppleCare+ with the purchase. I had bought my APP2 fairly recently before the APP3 were released, experienced buyers remorse, but had kept them in like new condition with the box and accessories, and had no problem exchanging them.
I have an HD450 BT pair and they’re my first ones that have ANC— I’ve found it a game changer for long flights. The only bummer is that wearing cans interferes with a neck brace like trtl; on that basis alone I’d be interested in trying ones that were in-ear style.
What parts are breaking down on yours? The earpads are of course replaceable, and if you had the awful loose yoke problem I’m guessing you wouldn’t be so calm.
Cushions (yeah replacable but not super cheap), the cable that connects one earpiece to other, the bit connecting the earpieces, the hinges around the earpieces.
Literally everything. The sound is still great and battery is awesome. But I doubt it will last long.
(Just to be clear: I've used it A LOT over the years, and is already worth every penny I spent on it)
Huh. For what it’s worth, the Chinese lambskin (not generic “leather”!) pads that you can get for ~$15 from Aliexpress, Geekria, etc. work as well as the official ones in my experience. (For other headphones, you can’t always get generic replacement pads made of the same materials.) The only difference I’ve been able to discern is the L/R labels are printed using a different technique.
Let me have a look. Do you think the material is of good quality and healthy (no weird questionable materials for wearing/skin contact for long time with sweat etc)?
I’ve spent a few weeks with mine and, as best as I can tell, they’re indistinguishable from the original ones, except the dye of the L/R markings is on top of the cloth rather than inside it. These ones (black lambskin, currently 14 USD): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005961714330.html.
> (other than the forced iOS 26 upgrade, but I feel like that's inevitable anyway.)
I'm using my Airpods Pro 3 with iOS 26 yes, but I stayed on macOS 15 (THANK GOD!) and I saw nothing unusual about using the new Airpods there except for the missing artwork.
On macOS there were some issues but I can't say exactly because I returned my AirPods Pro 3.
Other than the missing artwork and label, with AirPods Pro 3 on iOS 18 you also can't see the battery level, you can't take a Hearing Test, and more. After iOS 18.7.1 was released and didn't address any of these issues I reached out to Apple who said they wouldn't be adding any further support to iOS 18. So I returned my AirPods Pro 3, an easy decision. Just not worth the hassle for me.
What about iOS 26 kept you away? I was hesitant when I got APP3, but was pleasantly surprised by how many longstanding issues with responsiveness and functionality it fixed for me (iPhone 15 Pro Max user).
I assume it's because of Liquid Glass. It's absolutely undercooked as a design system, but Apple knows which way its bread is buttered. So Liquid Glass on iOS is where it's the least bad, and I switched there knowing that. It was exactly as I thought: a regression in most places, but still manageable because Apple is laser-focused on the iPhone.
I didn't upgrade my Mac and at this point I'm wondering if I'll ever be tempted to update until I see what they do with macOS 27.
I guess you could ask "what about iOS 26 would make me want to upgrade?" My answer: nothing. Definitely not to get a slower and bugger UI, nor to get full support for headphones I could simply return for a full refund. I'm using iPhone 16 Pro.
Yep, I have the same exact story with the 2. Most times I move my right to fit in my ear it squeals.
The horrible thumping is purely a fit issue. The solution to the thumping when running is to either size down the tips or to slightly dislodge the tips from your ear.
It’s not ideal, I’ll grant you that.
While we may have some overlap in issues, I would say that the Airpods Pro 3 are incredible. I’ve ditched my Airpods Max entirely. The noise cancellation works too well, the sleep detection is a godsend, and the battery life is so good. I use my airpods to sleep. before, i’d always wake up to dead airpods. now, they have like 70% batteries when i wake up, because the sleep detection kicks in.
Seems odd to call it a fit issue when the solution is to make the fit worse by dislodging them from your ear. If it's a fit issue then improving the fit should make it go away!
I’ve tried with every set of tips except for the xs, same thumping with all of them. Zero issues running almost daily with the second gens for several years. I think it’s more than fit—either oversensitive ANC or something with the composition of the tips themselves. Oddly enough, it’s not present in both ears every time. Sometimes both, sometimes just one, rarely neither. I’ve stopped gathering data because I switched to a different set of headphones.
I’ll grant you that the ANC in the third gen is fantastic. I just felt like the second gen fit themselves into my routine, whereas I have to fiddle and futz with the third gen to get them just-so so that they don’t inhibit my routine.
Personal preference ofc but I'll never understand how people run with in-ear buds...
What you mean? How people are manage to run with noise cancelation? Or how it works that they don’t loose them?
I run with my AirPods Pro 2 and have no issues. I have some other in-ear buds where fit is also no issue but thumping sounds while running make them unusable.
Years ago I was a convert to open ear bone conduction by Shokz (then Aftershokz) but the band was a little annoying and now I use the Huawei Freeclips which I am very happy with. Bose also have an open ear product.
My priority with exercise is peripheral awareness so I would never compromise that with in-ears anymore
I understand. I think it very much depends on the environment. I usually run in parks not on the street. I also trust my eyes more than my ears when doing runs on more trafficked routes. The Apple AirPods have a great transparent mode. I tried bone conducting headphone and it wasn’t for me. I know that the new models are kind of hybrids now. But I also love the fact that I can listen to myself. I had tons of headphones over the years. And I think for me the AirPods Pro 2 are just the most versatile.
Weird POV considering your ears do 360 degrees which your eyes will never be able to do.
Well in a big city sounds can be deceiving. Also depends how trained your hearing is. I guess I would have a hard time in case I end up going blind. In any case, what I meant is, that I use my eyes, and by that also turn my head, to look over my shoulder to check for cars etc. In most cases it’s best to have eye contact with a car driver who currently takes a turn to make sure their actually seeing you.
I am blind. So no eye contact with drivers. And I am still alive, despite usually going alone as pedestrian. However, I guess I benefit a lot from the austrian "Vertrauensgrundsatz", which basically translates as "principle of trust". When acquiring a drivers license, you are drilled to take extra care of disabled or obviously incapacitated pedestrians. That basically means, if you hit a blind person, or even an obviously drunk person, you are at fault, no matter what.
I mean people have different degrees of hearing.
It’s hard to argue with you about that. I think you’re right about the tip composition being the issue. Also, there’s definitely an alien feel to APP3.
> incorrectly identifying vibrations from heel strikes as loud noise
You should be thankful you get a free reminder to stop heel striking
/uj figured a little running BS hear could be fun
YOU WERE A HEEL STRIKER TOO BEFORE I FOUND YOU! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNZ_6rQvaq0
Ha, I figured someone would give me shit for that. I blame my comically oversized feet and comically undersized hamstrings.
Heel striking is fine, most pros do it, I do too. It is great joke fodder, though!
The consistency of the complaints across different units really suggests it's not a manufacturing defect, but something fundamental
I find it interesting you describe the issue like that. I had my airpod pro 1st gens go out on me in a way that was very similar to that, with the popping noises as you walk and move around. I figured out that when I put them in “normal mode” i.e., totally disabling the noise cancellation microphone, it mostly went away. I just figured something had happened to/with the external microphones and/or the noise cancellation processing was not happening correctly. It was basically impossible to test this theory I had, but I wondered if it was an update that introduced a bug.
I can’t recall now at this point, but I do recall the feeling that the different ways I played with and tested to understand the cause and symptoms of the noise, left me with a feeling that it was not a physical/hardware issue.
I suspect Apple even knows, with as many problems they’ve had with the AirPod pros; but that’s another story… when they had to replace mine one bud at a time, about 6 complete sets, i.e., over about 10 replacements or so… during the pandemic nonsense.
>I have this happen outside of flights. Cupping your finger over the ANC mic is enough to trigger it.
It's some kind of feedback. For some reason though I don't remember the first model having the issue.
You’re holding them wrong.
You’re poking your ear wrong.
I've been able to get this same issue when I am laying in bed and lay on my side where my APP rub against the pillow. I've been able to reliably make the screeching sound by putting one airpod in my hand and tumbling it around or opening and closing my hands.
I still love my APP3, and still have my APP2, but have not made a change back to them. I think they feel so much better in my hear with the new tips, and sound way better.
I have the high pitched noise with the 2nd gen pros when I sleep on my side. It's not just an issue with the 3's.
I frequently use my AirPods Pro when working in my shop. Previously the APP2 did a great job of reducing loud tool noise and I could mostly still listen to music or podcasts at reasonable levels.
With the APP3, they are largely the same except with the louder tools (circular saw, cordless grinder) they produce a horrific feedback instead of canceling the noise. So much so that I switched back to my APP2 (which do not have this issue in back-to-back testing).
This REALLY irks me, as the APP3 are what forced the upgrade to iOS 26 (which is terribly misguided and under-baked), so I'm stuck with all of Apple's foibles and none of their wins.
Feel like I got punched in the gut and my lunch money stolen. Not a good feeling Apple.
> the APP3 are what forced the upgrade to iOS 26
I resisted, did not upgrade, and I have to suffer through Apple's spiteful treatment of my AirPods as "just another Bluetooth device". You can't even see the battery status, the battery widget will show three headphones (!). I find their attitude annoying and disturbing. There was no reason to degrade the experience.
In case anyone says "but new iOS is required to make use of the fancy new features/protocols/whatever" — that is not true for functionality that existed in AirPods 2. I know, because they didn't have the time to break things on the Mac, so my Airpods 3 work exactly the same on the Mac as Airpods 2 did: they show battery status as expected.
Are you saying they REMOVED functionality that was previously in place? That is indeed spiteful if so.
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I'll say, I recommend my Honeywell sync earmuffs for the workshop. They block more noise, have a physical volume knob and accessible buttons, and best of all, the microphone is also noise cancelling directly, meaning you can usually have a conversation with someone while using a power tool or mowing the lawn without much issue. APP2 or 3 for me has never been able to displace these.
Thanks for the recommendation, you're probably correct that I should be using a product specifically designed for the environment. I'll check them out.
Fwiw sometimes I wear my APP2 inside my cheap passive 3M earmuffs haha. For an hour or two of use it’s been comfortable enough that I can listen and also attenuate loud tool noise e.g. a weed trimmer.
Of course you don’t get any speech boost to enable conversation with this setup. But no one else around me has passthrough either so I turn off my tools to talk the old fashioned way. :)
Interestingly, I have yet to find I have the horrible feedback problem people are talking about in this thread with my APP3, but I do in my Honeywell syncs, about 1 day in 3.
And as I wear glasses all hearing protection in the earmuff style block less noise than the APP3 - though I normally wear both.
Are you sure that the perceived reduction in noise corresponds to a reduction in damaging sound pressure levels?
I know about destructive interference in theory, but was always curious about the perceptual vs real SPL.
Whenever I’ve tried ANC (Bose) it’s always hurt my ears, even when quiet.
My personal rule is that the sound level should be comfortable without ANC. So, if the sound is physically dampened sufficiently by the earbuds or headphones even when ANC is disabled, I'm happy.
ANC is more for comfort than safety from what I understand.
I can't say that the feedback causes damaging levels of noise, and its possible that my hearing is still protected, but the feedback that is produced is so uncomfortable that I involuntarily pulled them out of my ears.. which is not a great reaction with power tools in hand.
Apple does market 'Hearing Protection' as a feature of the AirPods Pro. https://support.apple.com/en-us/120850
Looking at the ANSI Datasheet, it seems like it's not really suited to the sounds coming from all power tools since they can reach or exceed 110 dBA:
> The Hearing Protection feature is not suitable for protection against extremely loud impulse sounds, such as gunfire, fireworks, or jackhammers, or against sustained sounds louder than 110 dBA.
I suppose if you know your tools operate at 110 dBA or lower levels, you're good to go. The feedback is bizarre though... Hopefully Apple resolves that with a firmware update!
Edit: It looks like it can safely attenuate sound at 110 dBA for 16 to 63 hours. That's impressive!
Active noise cancellation does not provide noise reduction and active noise cancellation headphones generally don't have official NRRs.
Closed headphones or foam ear plugs would be better than earbuds with ANC. People have tried to create informal amateur NRR ratings for many consumer headphones, but since it's your only pair of ears in my opinion it makes sense to go for officially rated hearing protection.
If you have sensitive ears you can tell ANC works by playing audio and that it's far from perfect. In very loud environments there's also the risk that a damaged earbud will squeal or feedback, disabling noise protection and exposing your ear to the full brunt of the loud noise.
Apple provides SNR values for ANC on the APP3 https://regulatoryinfo.apple.com/hearingprotection/details/6...
> foam ear plugs
I tried them for several weeks, everyday and ended up with annoying ear infections. Also they are quite uncomfortable to wear when sleeping.
I'm not, and should probably get a more specific product as recommended by abakker.
I can say I've used ANC in-ear and over-ear of various implementations for years without experiencing discomfort typically associated with ANC 'pressure'.
I feel a bit the same. I rushed out to upgrade for the better noise cancelling, apparently better mic quality and live translation feature.
All three have been a miss. Noise cancelling is much the same and seems to leak higher pitch noises more. Mic is more or less still bad and the live translation only works in doors in a quiet room.
And I resent the upgrade to 26 and all of the bugs like phantom notifications.
They’re still good ear buds and the noise cancelling is valuable but I shouldn’t have made the upgrade from the 2 pros.
Ahh lastly, it seems the case battery depletes much faster now too.
Apple has done some really shady marketing about live translation because it's also supported on the AirPods Pro 2. It's clear they don't want people to know that to drive the upgrade to the 3s.
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Seems like you should try and get a replacement
100% agree with the required update to 26, I was hugely bummed when I discovered I had to update my devices to pair them.
I've had the opposite experience with noise cancelling though, the APP3 feel like magic when I'm working with power tools - better than any other (passive) ear protection I've tried in Noise Cancellation mode, and still enough protection in Transparency mode that I can use my circular saw without any discomfort. I did experience a little of what you're mentioning the other day, but only when my Airpods (and head) were close to the tool. I thought it might be back EMF.
I have no complaints with my APP3 other than the forced iOS upgrade. I feel like they fit much better than the APP2, I have had far fewer incidences of them working their way out. And sound quality is a huge leap forward IMO. Best IEMs I have ever heard.
> 100% agree with the required update to 26, I was hugely bummed when I discovered I had to update my devices to pair them.
Interesting, I had no issue pairing despite not being on iOS 26. The only things I noticed was that they didn't show up in the Find My app (which is pretty bad) and that I didn't get the shortcut to the airpods settings on the main setting page and had to go through the bluetooth menu instead, otherwise I could pair and do everything I normally did. Tbh, I didn't even notice an issue until I read online about the two things I mentioned...
When I tried to pair mine out of the box it initiated an "Update to iOS 26!" workflow and wouldn't let me pair until I did. Also, after I updated my iPhone and paired them to my iPad Pro, still on iPadOS 18, they just showed up as generic bluetooth headphones with none of the ANC or Hearing Assist features available.
Apple always releases a point release for the last version at the same time as a new major release. It's possible you had to install either 26 or the new point release for 18, but the UI doesn't explain you have that option.
Huh, that's a good counter point. Perhaps something has changed between APP2 and APP3 that make them more susceptible to EMF, or maybe I have a bad pair. I'll attempt a replacement and see where we land.
i own app3 and have not updated it asks you and warns you some ai features won't work but they pair and function fine after that.
For myself, the two features (which are not iOS 26 related) are being able to see them in FindMy, and having access to case sound and battery notification volume options.
Having to jump to iOS 26 just to use the new hardware, only to find out it's not up to par, makes it feel like a double hit
Anecdotally, my APP3 have worked much better then expected when I worked with a drill and jigsaw this weekend. No weird noises and much more NC than the 2 had.
Might be worth trying different ear tips or asking for a replacement if software updates don’t improve it.
hearing aids, in general, have the some problems and they operate on similar principles - sound is isolated physically, and the outside world is transmitted digitally to the ear/ANC when needed.
you need to stay up to date to protect against 0 click hacks in the wild
Interesting. I have roughly 50,000 flight miles on the new AirPods Pro 3, and while I do prefer them to the 2s, I too have some annoyances with the left AirPod. In my case it never feels like it fits my ear canal quite right, to the point that I thought I might want different size tips - after trying all the tips, that's not it. The seal is in fact good, but the different feel is noticeable.
The noise cancellation also feels a bit more variable - when it's good it's significantly better, but sometimes I get cycles or loops where the algo doesn't seem to be working right.
I was mulling over getting custom tips, but it's a good reminder it might just be easier to downgrade.
I feel like I'm in-between sizes or something. The medium Apple eartips are more comfortable but tend to sit farther out of my ear canal and feel like they're working their way out. The small eartips stay in more securely, but sit uncomfortably far into my ear canal and lose seal when talking or putting my head in certain positions. I eventually settled on the mediums and have become accustomed to the feeling of them "falling out" even when they're not.
But yes, odd to hear that other people also have issues with the left ear fit, because they must be identical shapes. I wonder if human physiology averages to the left ear being smaller or something. Although I feel like the right ear falls out more easily if I switch to the small tips...
None of the Apple tips work for me, they all leak outside noise and slip out of my ears. I've tried nearly every 3rd party tip on the market, the AZLA ones are the best but with caveats. The Xelastic tips [0] provide the best comfort, noise cancellation and stay in your ears perfectly, but they wear out and become too soft quickly - like every two to three months. The Max tips [1] are durable, stay in properly, and are so comfortable it's easy to forget you have ear buds in. They're not so great at the noise cancellation though so I tend to use these as my every day tips and swap them for the Xelastics when I'm going on a flight or somewhere where the ANC is more important. I haven't tried the Crystal ones yet.
[0] https://store.azla.co.kr/collections/sednaearfit-series/prod...
[1] https://store.azla.co.kr/collections/airpod-pro-ear-tips/pro...
Edit: I didn't know the Crystal ones existed until posting this, so ordering some now to see if they're the best of both worlds. If I remember, I'll report back.
The only thing that works for me is DIY tips.
I buy Comply 600 Core Series (size medium), tear the comply foam off the plastic tube, then place the foam around the Apple silicone tips (size large).
None of the Apple tips on their own seal correctly, nor do any of the numerous third-party tips that I've tried, including hybrid silicone/foam tips.
I get about 6 months out of the foam and they fit in the charging case modified like this.
I tried that one too but they'd squeeze themselves out as the Apple tips' silicon is the smoothest substance known to humanity.
I had a fit issue with Airpods Pro 2 in my left ear. It would always pop out after 20 minutes of rowing. I tried different ear tips, but none of them really worked. ANC is only medium-important to me, so I'm using Airpods 4 with ANC.
Concurring with sibling, AZLA does make good aftermarket tips. I have my Airpods Pro 2 in my work bag and still use their "crystal" tips.
Weirdly, I have fit issues in my left ear, too, like others. Very odd.
I've never had in-ears that use the same size tips. I always just assumed I was the oddball with weirdly mis-sized ears, but I'm pretty sure everyone has it to some degree and just always accept one subpar fit rather than use differently sized tips.
Exact same issues here with my APP3s. (Except it's my right ear)
Wow you fly a lot! These things are out what, 2 months? :O
Doesn't that get exhausting? I used to have a job where I'd be on a plane every week and I couldn't hack it. It's supposed to be liberating to travel but basically just seeing the inside of a plane, taxi, meeting room and hotel room every day it was more like a moving prison. Sometimes I'd sneak out to walk through these strange places. But often I'd be forced to attend boring business dinners.
My last business flight was in 2018 and I don't miss it at all :) I even cancelled my corporate amex since I never use it anymore. And these guys keep asking for copies of ID and stuff for tax records or something (completely stupid because yes I'm still the same person duhhh) so in the end I just rolled my eyes and told them to stuff it where the sun don't shine :P
It can be tiring - and I don’t do it all the time. The reason to travel at all for work is fundamentally relational; I find if I am happy with the relationships the travel on balance is a net positive: it lets me work on what I want to and meet and befriend super interesting people.
That slight difference in agency and relational availability turns into a giant gap in feelings though, I agree. I’ve done the kind of travel you describe in my younger days and found it a mix of masochistically engaging and depression inducing.
Ah I see, I thought this was like a constant thing like it was for me. My flights were all regional so it wasn't so bad in terms of flight time, but it did take over my life. For example, I often had to be at a meeting at 10-11am monday morning in a country 3 hours flight away. So that meant leaving my house at 1am, driving 2.5 hours to the airport, hurrying through the airport, taking a 6am flight and rushing into a taxi to just get there in time.
By that time my whole weekend would be ruined of course and my week would start with a deep lack of sleep.
And I'm not a relationship guy, I'm a bit autistic so any business gathering means heavy stress for me, no positives.
I'm glad that "let's fly over and have a meeting" culture has been dampened a LOT since the pandemic. At least in the company I work at. It used to be basically a power move, for a manager to get a whole room of seats filled with people flying over to their meeting. Often there was hardly any need for us to be there in the first place. It was just a power move for someone to feel important.
But I'm glad you enjoy it at least some of the time!
That amount of flying in ~2 months sounds more like a pilot or flight attendant.
Edit: Or an exaggeration I hope! The guy looks to be in private equity.
To be fair I had like 300 flight miles July-September, but us PE guys occasionally do work for a living! I currently have deals in Japan and UK and family in the west coast of the US so it’s a realistic number.
A wild guess as to what is happening. I haven’t actually tested this hypothesis so I could be completely wrong.
In feedback systems, the gain is a function of frequency, and typically decreases when going from low frequency to high frequency. This is often accompanied by a phase delay.
So if the overall gain of the system is high enough, there will be some high frequency where the gain is 1, and the phase is 180 degrees. This would result in positive feedback, amplifying noise at that frequency.
Maybe that’s what’s happening in the latest AirPods? If Apple is aggressive cranking up the gain of the noise cancellation system, there’s some high frequency where the noise gets amplified rather than suppressed.
The solution would be to either reduce the gain (which reduces the noise cancellation), or to add some differential gain in the system which pushes out the unity gain frequency to higher frequencies.
An even wilder guess: the speed of sound varies with air density.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound#Altitude_variat...
If they were calibrated assuming a certain distance from the microphone that "hears" what the wearer's ear is hearing and the ear itself, then it's possible a change in air density could position the area of highest constructive interference at the eardrum instead of the intended destructive interference for some frequencies.
The pressure difference shouldn’t be significant enough in modern jets? Cabin altitude is around 6000-8000’ - we would hear complaints from a few major cities. Humidity is much lower in aircraft though.
The speed of sound varies with air temperature, which is what the linked graph shows.
Technically the speed of sound does vary with density, but as you change altitude there's also a change in pressure which exactly cancels that out. In the end only temperature and gas composition alter the speed of sound.
As long as you're inside the plane (and hopefully it's not 217 K or -70 °F, per the graph) then the speed of sound should be unchanged.
Sounds like you are stating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkhausen_stability_criterion (1921):
"if A is the gain of the amplifying element in the circuit and β(jω) is the transfer function of the feedback path, so βA is the loop gain around the feedback loop of the circuit, the circuit will sustain steady-state oscillations only at frequencies for which:
1: The loop gain is equal to unity in absolute magnitude, that is, |βA|=1, and 2: the phase shift around the loop is zero or an integer multiple of 2π: ∠βA=2πn,n∈{0,1,2,…}"
But you said "phase is 180 degrees" which is 1π, while Barkhausen instead says integer multiple of 2π.
Found an article which talks about the phase margin, referencing 80 degrees (pi). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_margin
I just had a thought, it's possible to completely disable ANC in settings, turning them into "dumb" bluetooth headphones. (Enable "Off Listening Mode" in Airpods Settings and the option will become available in Control Center.) If some of us who are able to replicate this effect consistently could try turning ANC off and seeing if the effect still occurs, that would narrow it down to being feedback related from Transparency/ANC or being something external like back EMF.
I just tested this myself and the two ways that I am able to get consistent squealing (stroking the upper body when in-ear and cupping them in the hand) both fail to replicate when ANC is off. So this does point to a feedback issue.
My other thought is that the APP3 may have microphones located next to the drivers in the ear canal, both for measuring fit, and for the new "own voice amplification" feature that appears in hearing control center if you enable Hearing Assistance. Maybe vibration is leaking through the body to the inner microphone.
Own voice amplification is nothing new and has been present at least since iOS 18 and hence was/is present in Airpods Pro 2 as well.
That doesn’t explain why the issue seems to be specific to left APPs.
I had to return my AirPods Pro 3. I upgraded from AirPods 4 with ANC and they were worse in every department I could see. I assume battery life is better, but I've never ran out of battery anyway.
I've never much got on with in-ear rubber tips, and these were no different to any I've tried, despite reviews stating they were super comfortable.
My left ear is also worse to get it fitting right than my right ear. I have tried every size provided, none seem right. A grimace in the gym is enough to unseat even the most secure fit/seal, in either ear.
My main gripes specifically with AirPods Pro 3, which I've not seen in any other review;
- Because the rubber tips vary in size, the case has to accommodate the largest. This means if you're using small tips, there's a lot of spare room, which means the AirPods can easily be mis-seated, breaking the charge connection.
- The case is substantially bigger than AirPods 4 with ANC. I would say ~40%.
- The volume swipe on the stalk action is very tricky to trigger.
- Any stalk action is a bad idea when it's so easy to unseat them. I skip songs with a double press regularly, and nearly every time I had to push in and rotate after.
> I've never much got on with in-ear rubber tips,
That's a shame since it's literally impossible to get that deep sub bass or punchy mid bass without a seal. But if you're not into genres that sound better with that, then you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
> This means if you're using small tips, there's a lot of spare room, which means the AirPods can easily be mis-seated, breaking the charge connection.
I've used many headphones - probably upwards of 10 pairs cross 5 brands - in my day with rubber tips that can accommodate multiple sizes. This has never been a problem for me with any brand. I've switched to open ear headphones (over-ear for flights) since last year so my knowledge base is aging.
Is the magnetic action in Apple's case not strong enough, maybe?
Something interesting occurs to me. Many of the anecdotes about the squealing on flights says the noise goes away when yawning. Yawning lifts the soft palate and equalizes ambient pressure behind the eardrum in the sinuses. Air pressure is lower in a pressurized airplane cabin than on the ground and is usually more dynamic as well. I wonder if an air pressure gradient forms in the ear canal when in the air that exacerbates the ANC feedback issues that users (myself included) are experiencing on the ground. I feel like there must be some interaction between the multiple microphones due to vibration transmitted through the body of the Airpods.
Since it seems to be an ANC issue it should be fixable in software.
I discovered another way to remove this problem - Initiate a screen recording and it's gone. I was doing this to report a TestFlight app bug on a flight I was experiencing and wow did the ANC improve so much.
That's pretty peculiar... the ANC worked still it just got rid of this issue? I don't have any guesses why that would be.
The acoustic importance mismatch may result in the wrong gain?
And now realizing a day later impedance got autocorrected to importance somehow :(
I've flown twice with my new AirPods Pro 3, and both times I had this exact experience; high pitched and loud feedback. They were properly cleaned, and had a "good seal" according to the settings wizard.
Glad to see I'm not the only one at least, and hopefully this will be possible to fix as a software update, rather than having to replace the AirPods.
During the operation of engines that emit loud noises such as lawnmowers and pressure washers, I've had similar experiences. With the lawnmower, the deafening roar reached both ears the moment the blade struck a stone. Using the pressure washer, it was highly unpleasant to hear the loud abnormal noise, possibly caused by splashes or wet components touching the microphone. I believe the abnormal noise from the lawnmower could be resolved with a software update.
In which ear(s)?
In my case, both.
Personally, the left ear.
Does it matter which side of the plane you are on or how close to the wing (engines) you are? I could imagine an audio difference between left and right if you were sitting at a window near an engine.
I did sit on both sides (one flight was next to wing) - did had same issue both times.
One thing that was common- I was sitting in a window seat.
Just got back from another flight, where my seat was in the middle of airplane (3 set of rows). No issues whatsoever. One thing I’ve noticed, if I press AirPods harder, I do start hearing hissing in my ears.
Seems pretty odd that all the reports are about the left ear.
with buds, whichever connects first (usually right) is the master, and the other bud connects to that one as the slave, instead of connecting directly to the source device. probably has something to do with that
Which would hint at a software issue. When it comes to ANC, both should behave identically
I've been on ~4-5 flights since upgrading to the Airpods Pro 3 from the 2 and haven't experienced this, though I had occasionally experienced a similar whine on my Pro 2 that seemed to have been resolved in a software update sometime back.
I am surprised by the general negative sentiment for the 3s in this thread. They've felt like a straight and clear upgrade to me. Better fit, better ANC, and much improved battery life. I typically wear mine almost all day so comfort is hugely important to me.
I think the general neagtivity might be from a $250 set of headphones that aren’t great in all situations.
It’s not just an apple problem, but expensive tech just doesn’t seem to work well. generally apple were kinda the gold standard, now they’re having issues like a lot of tech.
I'm surprised of the general positivity of the previous version, also $250. When the Airpods Pro 2 had been out, it seemed like there was non-stop complaining about how every firmware update made the ANC worse, the sound quality was worse than Sony, continual clicks and rattles, and how they were designed for battery failure.
Just goes to show how negative opinions travel fast.
Not every expensive device works well, but the tech products that typically work best tend to not be the cheapest ones. There is plenty of subpar expensive tech, but much less top-tier inexpensive stuff.
Of course, that doesn't mean it can't suffice for the average user.
Same here, and I wonder if this is down to shifting pressure in the ear-nose-throat axis. The fact that yawning seems to remediate the issue, and also is a way to equalize pressure, makes me suspicious.
Same. I've been on a number of long haul flights since getting my 3's and they have been great. They do fit very different than the 2's, and took me a few hours to get used to them.
I understand though that not everyone wins the ear hole lottery. For some the 2s may fit better than the 3's and vice versa. It's interesting to me that Apple made such a large fit change without considering 2's are simply better for some people fit wise.
> It's interesting to me that Apple made such a large fit change without considering 2's are simply better for some people fit wise.
I immediately ran out and bought aftermarket foam tips for my 2's since the silicone ones never stayed in. Apple is likely trying to fix that kind of problem (and may have done so on average entirely successfully) but now you're seeing the people that it doesn't work for show up in these comments. This comment section is going to be biased towards complaining about the 3's so you can't really judge if what they did was effective or not on average, only that clearly it wasn't perfect.
I used to be first to try out new Apple products. Now I wait for OS upgrades and will let others try new Apple products or major software updates. Too many times Cupertino has let users down with poorly tested software. This problem with the Airpods- it should have been caught if this many people are experiencing the same problem.
Apple doesn't deserve the share price it enjoys.
I bought the airpod pro 3 and returned it after a couple of days. It would make a loud crunching sound every time I move my mouth, probably due to the memory foam moving inside my ear canal. Never experienced anything similar on pro 1 or pro 2.
This entire cycle of Apple releases is riddled with puzzling defects - the super scratchable iPhone Pros, the condensation issues on the Air lenses, the Airpod fit and weird noise cancelling issues. I don't recall this level of weird basic defects since the first unibody macs or the butterfly keyboard debacle. Wonder what caused it...
Pushing to release something every year. That's a really dumb strategy. Managers forgot about the golden triangle of: "good, cheap, fast", out of which you can pick only two, but they have decided to pick only "fast".
I'm using some Apple products, and I'm concerned about the drop in quality. Soon they won't differ much from yet another, Chinese company.
Is it the noise cancellation making a feedback sound, or is it the pressure differential in the ear canal pulling the ear drum back to produce a white noise?
He said that it goes away when he yawns, so I'm thinking it might be the pressure differential.
Yawning alters the conformation of the external auditory canal by displacing the mandible, which articulates with the tympanic plate of the temporal bone adjacent to the canal.
The seal might be so good that a small pressure differential happens as cabin pressure drops, which causes some issue with the microphone or speaker. Yawning might break that seal, or otherwise cause pressure equalization. Why only the left one? Apple might put some kind of special signal diagnostics or sensors in that side that bugs out under those conditions, or maybe human anatomy on the left side is consistently subtley different in a set of people.
Because this doesn't happen to everybody it could be some kind of "instrument effect" where the particular shape of someone's ear canal, and the interaction with their ear drum and the speakers and sensors in the app creates this tone, likely assisted by the constant driving signal of air cabin white noise.
> The seal might be so good that a small pressure differential happens as cabin pressure drops
That's my guess. I'm very sensitive to pressure changes and I know that cabin pressure on most planes is not constant even when cruising. It's in a range that most people won't notice but it definitely fluctuates near constantly within that band.
Anecdotal, one of my colleagues was sounding surprisingly clear on one of the calls, and I had to ask him what is he using. Turns out whose were AirPods Pro 3, so my first impression with their microphone is quite amazing. Comparable to "studio mics from MBP" from a generation or two ago. He shared noise cancellation is also great.
Probably Airpods Pro 3 then and not Airpods 3. The latter have no noise cancellation.
yup, edited my comment, it was Pros
It might also be because newer Bluetooth codecs being used. I think Apple doesn't publish a lot of documentation about it (or it isn't obvious, at least...)
Could be the case, but it is very obvious if someone is using Pros 1 or 2, the audio is really bad. This was honestly such a jump that I somehow wish my Pros 1 to break so I can get new ones :D Can't upgrade from a perfectly working set of headphones, although they are more than four years old and probably my 2nd most used device after the phone.
At first I liked the noise cancellation on the AirPods 4 but after a while I started feeling weird. A weird, fullness in my head. Not very enjoyable.
I can reproduce this by covering one of the exterior mics used for ANC when there is a decent amount of background noise in the environment. It results in feedback that causes a high pitch ringing.
The AirPods Pro 2 don’t have this same issue. I can’t reproduce the same behavior regardless of how I cover the exterior on the pro 2s.
I suspect this is fixable in firmware. What I heard on a long haul flight was the faint sound of the plane's engines traveling back and forth down a paper towel tube; a hollow, cavernous sound. It must be so tricky to nail these algorithms, but with the data of millions, it should be easier to triangulate and address.
i disagree here - having a feedback loop that makes loud noise instead of cancelling is fundamental failure of their ANC algorithm. There's basically no protection mechanism incase of divergence.
If it's an algorithmic issue, can that not be changed?
my response was to the 'it should be an easy fix' sentiment. trying to address feedback loop without negatively affecting cancellation performance is extremely challenging, because for a mic/algorithm there's generally no way to determine if the error microphone is picking up a loud event in the environment or if the cancellation soundwave is incorrectly phased and instead of canceling its just adding more noise.
Completely off topic, but when did people start calling earphones “headphones”?
Headphones are the cans that cup your ears and strap around or over the head. Hence their name.
Whereas earphones go inside your ear.
I'm not sure if this is a "when did people start" situation. I have never heard a layman use "earphones" in casual conversation.
People definitely used to. Or at least in the UK they did.
Yeah, might be a UK thing. In Canada/the US I've only ever heard "headphones" and "earbuds" (a specific kind of headphone).
That would explain my surprise then. :)
Another example of us being separated by a common language. I don't think this has ever been common in the US.
I don't think it was ever common, since earphones weren't that popular until people started calling them "earbuds", but the term was historically used in at least some circles in the U.S. The 1988 Radio Shack catalog [1] seems to mention "earphone" 57 times, including two mono earphone products.
[1] https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Radio-Sha...
That’s interesting, although that seems to be a different usage than OP mentioned. It seems to be used interchangeably with headphones as it’s also being used to describe cables and jacks.
I'm reasonably certain that I am about as old if not slightly older than the invention of in-ear headphones. I'm also reasonably certain that I have always used "headphones" to refer to any small portable speaker designed to inject sound directly into the ears. I'm absolutely certain I have never used the term "earphones", although "ear buds" was/is a common synonym for in-ear headphones.
I’m probably around 2 decades older than the invention of earphones and people definitely did used to call them that here in the UK.
Then the US English is winning out because we never said earphones over here. I’m much older so have a clear memory of when they hit the market. We said earbud for a while but that was a momentary distinction and it seems we’ve mostly reverted to our generic term of headphones (which lacks any distinction on form factor ) so we use it for pretty much any and all cases.
I actually think the AirPods naming helped this as it’s kind of a clunky product name that’s nearly a misnomer if you consider iPod is still a part of our vernacular. I don’t hear people saying “where are my AirPods?” Instead it’s “where are my headphones?” Had it been called AirBuds then maybe it would have stuck since ear buds was a thing.
As I think back, I feel like earbud is distinctly tied to the corded iPod accessory. As that died out, so has the term.
You are... 150 years old?
https://patents.google.com/patent/US454138A/en
This nipple is adapted for insertion into the ear, and is ordinarily covered with a rubber cover to lessen the friction against the orifice of the ear.
In my corner of the world, we call them "earbuds" as a subset of headphones.
Earphones sounds antiquated. I could picture my father saying, "Let me connect my earphones to my gramophone so I don't disturb your grandmother."
Hahaha. To be fair, I do have a record table and my speakers are of the non-smart variety with copper wires connecting them to Cambridge Audio amplifiers. So you could easily be talking about me too.
I use them interchangeably. Webster appears to back me up here. However, I only say earbud when referring to the type that's inserted into the ear.
i've never heard anyone say "earphones"
Something happened today as I was closing my car door, where I had the Airpods (Pro 3 as well) make this low but extremely loud rumble-like sound. Something related to pressure and seal, perhaps?
I could replicate it immediately at will. ANC on, nothing playing, sat on the driver seat and closed my door with a little bit of force.
I also have this. I haven’t tried with cars, but the ANC seems to really amplify some deep bass sounds from the environment. To the point I hear things I wouldn’t ever notice before (e.g. different states of my air conditioner).
The problem is it comes through as an extremely loud rumble, usually in only one ear at a time.
Not a high pitched squeal, but a low pitched rumble. Goes away if I remove and reinsert, but immediately comes back in short order.
I can make it go away but only by using tips that don’t fit as well, and therefore don’t reduce noise as well (and also fall out of my ears while running).
I was temped to upgrade from my 2nd gen AirPodPros which I use since they launched. Still use the same set. But I wanted to wait for some real world reviews. I also have the Max and love them. But sound quality and ANC is not as great as in the In-Ears which is rather funny. I have no real need to switch yet. But I actually thought to give them a try at around Christmas. But I planned to use mine for running and air travel as well…
I've not noticed them feeding back while listening but it happens whenever I put them in the case together for a split second. I also get a drop-out every time I walk past certain spots in my apartment building hallway because of what I'm guessing are ultrasonic sensors on fragrance dispensers or light fixtures. Definitely buggier than the previous version but the improvements in sonic accuracy and noise cancellation are well worth the inconvenience IMO.
I have this issue intermittently just when walking around, at sea level! I can make them start screaming just by holding them even - The Airpods 2 do not have the same issue.
AirPods Pro 1 had that issue
I have experienced this as well. However, I wasn't sure where I should report it. Warranty? Bug?
I'm fairly new to the Apple ecosystem, so it's quite confusing. I've tried raising an issue with warranty, but I could absolutely not find a place to do it(I had a few tries, installed some app, but I wasn't able to create anything that wouldn't be visited in the shop, just a support request)
"The issue would go away for me as soon as I yawn…"
So perhaps sealing your ears does not allow your ears to "pop" from the cabin pressure changes?
I am surprised that Apple did not test in a way that revealed these problems (testing around a variety of loud noises, and especially testing on airplanes, where the product is used a lot).
And I am surprised that, if they did do the testing, they shipped anyway.
But I am becoming less and less surprised via-à-vis Apple problems, because they seem to be occurring with increasing frequency.
Apple, take note.
Same exact experience here and also with the left AirPod. Everything goes well until the AirPods get just a little bit wet or greasy (say, in the rain, after a run, or a few hours into wearing them) — then the seal loosens and I get a painful high-pitched hum when trying to put it back in it is place. I wonder how safe that sound is bc its pretty uncomfortable.
The seal also changes with any significant jaw movement (which I also do a lot in-flight normally) — noticeable degradation of noise cancellation, which then goes away (not sure if its the foam or anc adjusting).
Tried to use my AirPods Pro 2 earhooks, which partially solved it - although at the cost of that crispy sound. Found best to just wipe the AirPods dry/gently blow around the grills before adjusting (which makes them unusable for running unless you’re willing to stop all the time).
Such a shame every APP iteration has some noticeable flaw. And especially when they solved a similar problem between the first and the second gen.
This just sounds like the fallacy of ignoring corner / minority use cases.
A minority of users might encounter a flaw in a corner case, but if that's an important corner case, it's a defect: IE, Airpods might only be used on flights 1% of the time, but for the people who use them on flights, it's a very important (and hyper-critical) use case.
Other brands let you recalibrate the ANC on an airplane. It's a thing. Do Apple not let you do this?
https://helpguide.sony.net/mdr/wh1000xm4/v1/en/contents/TP00...
Other other brands dynamically do this, so you don't need to do any recalibration manually. Bose Ultra headphones, for instance, seem to do this dynamically all the time. You can tell this happens since the ANC slowly ramps up as you get a better seal on your ears.
Ya
:( I recently lost my APP1 and was going to buy new airpods this week. I guess I'm going to look elsewhere until Apple improves their quality. I'm one of the few that are bothered by ANC, so I don't use it. But I also don't want to buy/support a subpar product release.
This is not an ad, just personal experience, but I went through two pairs of AirPod Pro 2s in the last couple of years and both developed problems outside of warranty. I bought a pair of Earfuns from Amazon and they’re honestly pretty great. 95% of the sound quality and functionality of AirPod pros for about 25% of the price.
Thanks for the report! This iteration of earphones will be the Honda civic of ears phones, not the BMW.
>and functionality of AirPod pros
Is the automatic connection and switching between devices equivalent?
Yes actually. That was one of my biggest annoyances with non-Apple earbuds in the past, but these actually do seamlessly connect to all my Apple devices and switch quickly and reliably to the active device.
Thanks and same, the ones I'd tried previously were very annoying to get and stay connected when I wanted them to and not when I didn't want them to.
I actually ordered the airpod pro 3s the day before seeing this thread. If they don't blow me away I'll be returning them and getting these.
Although I don't know how I'm going to test the flight problem. I don't have any coming up in the next couple weeks. Might have to return even if they do blow me away :/
So this is a tactic? My iphone and macbook recently just started acting up with bt connections to my Bose QC45. Used all of these for about 3 years with no problems, two weeks or so ago, i need to re-pair the headphones every time i want to use them (they connect fine but the audio gets send to… /dev/null?). Not upgraded anything in the past Months. Weird
Which model did you get btw?
EarFun Air Pro 4
If you don't use ANC, then why is an ANC issue that only appears on flights a reason for you to not buy a product? If someone said they have weird ears and the AirPods Pro 3 simply doesn't fit their ears, would that be a reason for you to not buy it even though it fits yours?
- I can't jog with the APP3: the new tips transmit too much of the impact vibration into my ear, creating a painful noise sensation that can not be healthy. Same for walking sometimes! It makes me walk carefully and weirdly.
- Certain type of noise, like strongly vibrating idioit cars and idiot motorbikes also create some very painful feedback noise that makes me take them out when I need them most.
- I too experienced this horrible screeching, but I wasn't doing anything specialy. Cupping them made it worse, taking the out and in again did not help. I put them back in the case and a few hours later this issue disappeared.
To me, the APP3 feel half broken and dangerous, I regret buying them, I wish I would have bought just another set of APP2.
It was one of the most anticipated Apple upgrades of all times and they dropped the ball.
I’ve experiencing this same issue on every flight now using APP3, and considering returning. Tried multiple different ear tip sizes. Reset and re-paired. It’s not just pressure changes, as it occurs at steady altitude in addition to ascending and descending. I’m very surprised Apple didn’t catch this issue by testing the ANC on aircraft more extensively during product testing, since that is an extremely common use case for ANC headphones. They also generate weird popping/thumping noises while running, or tinny echoes sometimes while scratching my head. Hopefully there is a software fix. AP1 ANC worked just fine (until case failed to charge left earbud).
I’ve never understood the hype around AirPods noise cancellation. It’s been noticeably worse than Bose from the beginning and I just keep going back to Bose. I don’t know how others may rank, but it’s just that I was using Bose noise cancellation headphones since before Apple got into headphones and as much as I like the form factor of AirPods every time I use them on a flight or something I feel like I’m punishing myself for not using the Bose ones. Have always been curious if I’m alone in this as so many people sing praises for AirPod Pros, anyone else relate?
Can you imagine a post on HN where someone says "when Bose announced QuiteComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen I was so excited!".
Apple has a serious reality distortion field about it. For normal products this would have been a return. See recent "Apple allows icon opacity adjustment".
are you comparing bose over-ear headphones to airpods or bose earbuds?
Not OP but I have had a set of the bose noise canceling earbuds that I have worn 5 days a a week for over 5 years now and absolutely love them. Noise canceling is excellent, comparable to the over-the-ear-style.
My main complaint is the onboarding process really pushes you to install their app. It is entirely unnecessary (can configure them by various tap codes) but still annoying they don't tell you that until you install the app...
I have both. Over the ear is better but the earbuds that are 10+ years old are also better than recent APP2. I’ve not tried 3 and probably won’t.
The form factor is ridiculous by APP2 standards. There’s a corded stick that I assume has all the components in it as back then they wouldn’t fit in earbuds themselves. That’s apples main innovation. But, honestly, when I’m on a flight I will take a 10% performance boost over a slicker design or smaller form factor. My guess is they’re at least 50% better and only slightly inferior to over the ear ones.
All said, I usually just take my over the ear bose on a flight. I got the APP2 specifically for that purpose but they are awful in my opinion. About once a year I make the mistake of trying them out again and immediately regret it before the plane even starts taxiing.
> stupidity-shaped left ears
Now I wonder, what could "cleverness-shaped ears" possibly look like? Also funny: my ears can't hold earphones, they just eject them every time I change my facial expression or talk or what-not.
I replaced the silicone tips with memory foam, which fixed this problem for me.
Anecdotal, but recently gave up on AirPods and moved over to Beats Fit Pro to get similar feature parity with my iPhone. Thus far, the Beats fit way better than either my AirPod 2 or AirPod Pro 1's ever did. ANC and the lack of an extra mic are ever so slightly worse, but the battery life and fit are so much better. My $250 AirPod Pros had to be exchanged for a battery defect within 3 months and were regularly falling out during runs... I don't think I will be buying AirPods again, but anyone struggling with them should scope the Beats line.
God I have a similar problem with APP3 on flights only. They seem to allow in this deep rumble vibration that my APP2 did not :( Otherwise the APP3 are much better in office, home, etc.
I along with many others, have been facing a low frequency noise leak when ANC is fully on and music is playing. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256148548?sortBy=rank
Without playing any music the ANC is stellar, but this bug means the buds are basically unusable as they require reseating in the ear, or toggling to transparency and back to ANC, after a few seconds of listening (if in an environment which has any sort of constant low freq noise)
In my case (although I have not yet flown with APP3) the ANC works great, however, transparency mode (and adaptive mode) have issue with a noise. In a silent room I hear quiet noise in transparency mode (not present in ANC nor in "Off") which wasn't present in APP1. I tried different tips
Also, transparency mode felt more "natural" in APP1 in comparison to APP3. Currently it feels like a downgrade from APP1 (unfortunately my pair of APP1 broke recently), because I used transparency a lot and it feels worse
I recently went into an Apple store to try the new 3’s with my 2’s ready for a side-by-side comparison. I had heard mixed reviews about sound quality, fit, and the ANC. I was prepared to hear at best an incremental improvement, but boy was I surprised. To my ears, the sound stage is so much wider and the ANC is noticeably better. The fit is definitely different though and it took a bit of trial and error to get the correct size tips.
Glad to hear it's not just me. Happened repeatedly on my flights I took last week. I have had all 3 generations of the Pros, this is the first time experiencing this. Also left AirPod only.
This high pitched noise issue happened to me last week using noise cancellation on a flight, but I was using Airpods 4 (not Pro). I think this problem isn't only limited to the Pro models
I’ve also had this sound on my 3s, but only when handling them before putting them in my ears. I’d say it’s happened at least 10-15 times, and every time I’ve thought it’s so loud it’d do damage if it was in my ears.
Anecdotally I’ve done four 11+ hour flights with them so far and they’ve been super solid on the plane - no issues there.
Edit: here’s what I mean - https://youtube.com/shorts/VvEjetlYwa8
I became fed up with my airpods (and bluetooth earbuds in general) and switched to some great (albeit definitely not new and definitely not high end) IEMs and couldn't be happier. I was worried about losing the noise canceling but it turns out to not matter in the slightest with IEMs with proper tips on them, the isolation is unbelievable. Not dealing with battery life and charging issues anymore is worth it alone. The absurd price difference is a great bonus too.
Yup, it's pretty impressive how good IEMs can be at isolating you from sounds with good fitting tips. I am fond of the SpinFit W1 tips, they were much better than whatever stock tips came with mine and they seal really well.
I got some Comply tips and they're great. Was weary of the idea of foam tips at first. I am pretty used to the feeling of earplugs though and it hasn't been an issue. Frankly they're TOO good sometimes, I've been startled by people trying to get my attention more than once.
What's an IEM?
"In Ear Monitor". Its named for its use by musicians to listen to the mix while they perform, but now it just refers to the style of isolation via mechanical means (foam or silicon seal) and the way the cable folds back over the top of the ear.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-ear_monitor
"In-ear monitor", fancy buzzword for earbud afaict (I am definitely not a part of the audiophile scene and am not sure if there is actually a difference there, except maybe they insert very deep in the ear canal and have excellent isolation).
They're musicians' tools. Playing live music is absolutely destructive to your hearing, and ear protection is required. IEMs are a combination of protective equipment (many are designed the same way as concert earplugs) and earphone, so you can hear a clear signal from the mixing board at a safe volume, while shutting out the house speakers' insane noise levels.
Before IEMs were common, the norm was (hopefully) ear plugs and having monitoring speakers pointed at the musicians from the floor.
IEMs can be made in the concert earplug style, which is usually a center pair with 3-4 layers of rubber domes like typical earbuds. Or you can pay more and have custom molds made of your ears, so ones can be made to perfectly fit.
"Monitor" also has certain implications in audio. Usually something designed for monitoring will have a flat frequency response, while most consumer gear has aggressive EQ curves that do things like boosting bass. (Most people will think monitors "sound bad," while the lack of sound tampering is essential for performance and mixing.)
The term "earbud" usually implies an earphone with no seal, while "IEM" implies one that seals to the ear canal.
I had something similar happen after sleeping a few times with my first-gen airpods pro. I think something must have gotten filled with earwax or something, because the noise cancelling got more and more broken and had more sudden sharp sounds until they were unusable
But since then I've had two pairs of airpods pro 2 and bought the 3s on the first day, and I've had no such issues with any of them, including sleeping, and flying twice with the 3's so far. YMMV
I use these at night, sleeping with them on. I experienced this screeching intermittently for like a week, and then it went away almost completely. Now, it only happens if I lay down in a very specific way. It's probably related to the strength of the seal in my case, and maybe at higher altitudes and different pressures the seal is affected in a similar way.
The seal might have improved for me the more I used the same eartips
Interesting, by description seems fixable in software. I wonder if Apple will disclose the root cause, would be awesome to see a proper writeup.
LOL, if they share any insight in this problem it will be along the lines of "you're wearing them wrong".
There's already [edit: multiple] comments here that are blaming human anatomy, despite the competition not having this issue. No need for Apple to claim it.
It amazes me what people are willing to suffer merely because Apple makes it. Flights are one of the core ANC competencies, it boggles the mind that this wasn't found during testing.
I had a buzzing problem with AirPods Pro 1. Apple replaced it (both headphones) after year and a half of use, for free.
Wonder if it's humidity related. Besides the lower pressure, commercial aircraft are usually single digit % humidity due to use of dry bleed air to pressurize the cabin. Besides the effect on sealing, I wonder if there's an effect on acoustics that the ANC has to contend with. It would possibly explain some of the other people facing the same issues at home.
I've had this exact same issue as described but only on longer runs where I've had them in my ears for longer than 3 or 4 hours. When I figured out I could just turn off the pass through or noise cancellations and it'd go away I was relieved but it doesn't seem reserved for pressurized plane cabins. Never had this issue on previous generations.
> This entry was written at 33,000 feet while flying over the Canadian Rockies.
Respect the commitment to the craft!
Also useful / timely knowledge for me, thank you. I have a big international trip with multiple longhaul flights coming up and was debating if I should upgrade my airpods or consider something else (e.g. overear headphones). Do folks have overear recommendations?
For what it’s worth I did not experience this issue on my most recent overseas flights, but I also only wore them at full altitude
I'm going back to the Airpods Pro 2.
Pro 3 is a step backwards, there are these ANC noise issues not only on flights but also during heal-strikes when running down a hill, a staticky thump rather than high-pitched.
I've also had other more rare feedback issues. The Pro2s basically never had feedback issues unless you actually rubbed the outside of them.
I've noticed a big problem with AirPods Pro 3 on the NYC subway. Maybe my fit isn't right, but Adaptive/Transparent mode is a lot less "transparent" with really loud background noise - I can tell I'm listening to a processed signal rather than the natural muted sound of the AirPods Pro 2.
Love my APP3, upgraded from APP2 and have only one regret... no Comply Foam tips available yet. Why does Apple not go all-in on memory foam, I dunno, but at least the APP2 version was so much better it's not even funny.
With the Apple XS tips, which otherwise fit well for me, any yawn means the APP3 fall out.
Just one data point, but I was on a flight this weekend and AirPods Pro 3 worked fine for me with ANC. No feedback or other noises, just a slight bit of wind noise when the overhead air duct was directed straight at my head (so I angled the duct slightly away from me).
The fact that it's mostly reported in the left AirPod is also oddly specific
I have the samsung buds pros and I've noticed a high pitched screech when I put the buds in and I figured it's related to how noise cancelling works. I bet basicappleguy wouldn't hear the noise if the ANC is turned off as a test.
The Airpods 2 have a whistle problem for me. Any time someone whistles or anything makes a loud noise I would feel a pressure on my ear that was quite unpleasant and stemming from the airpod. Haven’t tried the 3 but I wonder if it is related.
put the APP3 through a washing machine recently by accident and they had the high pitched feedback if NC was used until they were fully dry after a couple of days. Have also put APP2 through washing machine before but never had this
I completely gave up on APP; previous generation had crackling issues that (eventually) led to a recall. I’ve settled on Sony, which offers great sound quality and effective noise cancellation.
I tried AP Pro 3 but decided to return them in favor of my v2. The v2 felt more comfortable in my ear and were good enough. I was also disappointed the heartbeat monitor only works while exercising.
I'm curious for everyone who upgraded from a previous generation, what did you do with your old pair? AFAIK Apple doesn't do AirPods trade-in.
I get this same problem (whistling sound) coming from my AirPods Max headsets. I think it has something to do with partially obscuring the mic.
I've had the squeal with the first and second gen as well. But only after they fell into water when washing hands.
I have this exact problem, my colleague does not. I also noticed yawning helped. I gave my old AirPods to my ex :( I miss them.
Closed cell foam is used in the AirPods?
At the higher cabin altitude, the foam is going to expand slightly, messing up the fit?
I'm a little bougie I guess b/c I never use my AirPods Pro on planes.
I have Airpods Max for that. ;)
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I have had this happen while on the ground before in a room with a specific frequency of noise
I also have the high pitch noise issue on my Samsung galaxy buds 2 Pro
These problems don't happen to the chads who don't even bother trying Apple's stupid ear-tip stuff and just use Airpods 4 with noise canceling.
You screwed up by trying so hard to make fundamentally anti-ear designs with the pros.
didnt happen to me so far
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
AirPods Pro 2 was already perfect. I don't know why Apple chose to "upgrade" it whereas AirPods Max, AirTags, and the Studio Display are all over due for an upgrade.
> I don't know why Apple chose to "upgrade" it
Of course you do. If they do not constantly upgrade, there are no new sales. Charts must go up, not stay flat. As an example, the venerable Technics 1200 turntable only had a few version releases for fairly minor cosmetic usability items. The core functionality did not change since it was designed. Those versions came with years in between. You buy a pair of those, and you only replaced them when they were stolen. If something broke, you repaired it. Apple's share holders will not be happy with buy once keep forever items.
I don't think it is as simple as saying the demand for constant growth is the reason for this.
Even if a manufacturer was a non-profit, if they make a product that never upgrades and can be repaired indefinitely, eventually the demand for new products will drop enough that they simply can't afford to keep making new ones. You can't maintain a manufacturing pipeline for small amounts of product, because there are fixed costs that can't be reduced with reduced production.
I could always have more ANC, I want feedforward ANC so strong that I don’t have to listen to showtimers on the subway (still not there yet)
I flew to NYC and back last week and never experienced anything like this with mine shrug
The 3s have been an improvement on the 2s for me, especially in fit and feel in ear.
Unrelated: Apple appears to be cursed with the left ear. 2nd gen has an issue as well. The left ear bud will stop charging randomly. There are a lot of really dumb suggestions for fixing this, however the real issue is a bent pin in the case. I had 2 v2 pros, and fixed another 5 on top of my second one (first one died in the washer) by taking a pair of tweezers and bending the pin in the case upwards. Every single website I read suggested dirty contacts, performing a factory reset, etc. NOPE! Unbend the pin. Gently, mind you. Since I did that, both of my pairs of pros (one belongs to my wife, however she doesn't like earbuds) have worked flawlessly.
You can't buy different tips?
The same issue happens to me at my house.
I get this in every day life, but it comes whenever I have to adjust the pods in my ears. But frankly I kinda expected these to pretty much suck until someone comes out with fully foam tips, at which point my problem will be completely solved as I no longer will have a need to adjust them
I've had this issue with AirPods 2
I'm also very disappointed with the Airpods Pro 3
I use them mainly for running, and after I accidentally put my Pro 2s through a washer/dryer cycle, I ordered the Pro 3s, but I've noticed they feel heavier in the ears and make this annoying loud thumping sound every time my foot hits the ground, making them almost unusable for my primary purpose
Also sometimes I fall asleep in bed with them while listening to a podcast, and have experienced the same painfully loud screeching as described by the article when the microphones brush against the pillow
Sidenote from an observer since I don't use AirPods (or any other Apple device, for that matter). I've been seeing more "Apple design problem" articles around the latest release cycle. It seems out of line for a company whose main advantage is attention to detail and UX (which you pay dearly for).
I'm always reminded of dystopian stories by Doctorow et al. when the frequency of brand name usage exceeds a certain threshold, and this article certainly did that.
I experienced the same thing first time I took them onboard a plane. The APP has so far been a disappointment for me. They do have much better NC, but at the cost of issues like this and worse sound quality
And another headline making me not regret my purchase of the AirPods Pro 2 from a couple months ago.
Hearing Aid wearer here. Welcome to the occasional whine because something doesn't quite sit right.
ewaste
I've run into similar interference issues when building real-time audio processing systems. The AirPods Pro's use of Bluetooth 5.3 in the 2.4GHz band makes them particularly susceptible to Wi-Fi interference, especially on planes where you have dozens of devices competing in a metal tube.
One mitigation strategy we found effective was implementing dynamic frequency hopping with adaptive channel selection. By monitoring RSSI levels and packet loss rates across different channels (typically seeing -85 to -95 dBm on crowded channels vs -65 to -75 dBm on clear ones), we could proactively switch to less congested frequencies. This reduced dropout rates by about 70% in high-interference environments.
The real challenge is balancing frequency agility with audio latency - each hop adds ~2-3ms of overhead. Has anyone experimented with using the 5GHz band for wireless audio? The higher frequency would mean more attenuation but potentially much less interference.
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Use foam, problem solved.
Use normal ass headphones that cost $5, problem solved even better. I think wireless earbuds are the dumbest product ever made. They are worse than normal headphones in every way.
Not every way. For one thing, I've never had a pair of wireless headphones get ripped out of my ears because the cord got snagged.
It’s been doing this since AirPods Pro 1, surprised it took author this long to realize it.
> surprised it took author this long to realize it
I don't think "realize" is the right word here. "Realize" would require them to have been affected by this issue but unaware. Instead, they were not affected with their previous models, only with the new ones.
OT but Apple is getting worse and worse in all aspects. I hate the fact that I am locked into their monopoly.
You are locked in your mind only ...
I have 1tb of data on icloud, including all my photos. Moving to a different platform is literally not an option (I was a happy Dropbox paid user until they decided to shut down the photos app, and Google Photos is a huge no no for multiple reason). The only alternative I can think of is self-hosting, which on itself is a nightmare, or a home NAS (not an option for me specifically). The lock-in is real.
Dropbox recently broke (accidentally or intentionally) hosted images/thumbnails from their Paper docs product (which they're quietly but noncommittally killing off) and that was a good wakeup for me to stop trusting hosted storage. And I'm saying this as a former Dropbox engineer of ~6 years who has plenty of free Dropbox storage for life. The brain drain and profitability crunch is real.
Recently bought a 14TB HDD and downloaded my entire Dropbox, Google Photos, and Lightroom photos. Planning to set up an off-site copy as well, and will probably build out a proper NAS within a few years.
Dropbox is just hard to trust. I used to pay for it, until they suddenly decided to shut down the photos app. Then the password app, recently. I don’t expect Apple to shut down Photos any time soon, so I find it easier to trust them with my data
Why is moving to a different platform literally not an option? 1TB of data is tiny. You don't even need a NAS, 1TB is a trivial amount of data.
If you don't want to self host (which has actually become quite simple with immich), you could switch providers (even if you want to avoid google).
which alternative platform exists? Onedrive is absolutely awful (it gets stuck in sync and crashes on Mac frequently), Google Drive/Photos doesn't respect your privacy and actually changes the resolution of your photos. The only alternative is Dropbox, which doesn't have a photos app anymore, or a bunch of disjointed small apps that together would cost multiples of what I pay for iCloud.
Name me one service outside of Google and Apple that’s seamlessly tied to your devices. Once you buy into the system you’re basically stuck. Apple is quickly becoming Oracle.
Samsung?
Disclaimer: not touched a Samsung device in over a decade
Not sure what the OP meant but I too feel locked into them. I dislike both the company and in some cases the product, but they currently provide the least bad option - almost certainly for laptops and probably for phones.
I feel like a provider having the 'lest bad option' is a LOT different than 'locked in'. Locked in means that you are forced to keep using an inferior product even if a better option exists because you can't move your data; not having a better option is something else.
Lock-in usually just refers to a situation where switching costs are (perceived to be) higher than the net benefit, within some reasonable payoff period. It can include things like high cost to extract data, but it can also include things like network/social effects.
The latter is a huge reason companies strive to establish "platforms" and suites of connected apps - even if competition is cheaper/better in a vacuum, it still may not be worth the effort to switch if you're already established within an ecosystem. The goal is vendor lock-in even if they're not holding your data hostage (though they might do that too).
Yeah, I agree with that. I didn’t mean to imply that it had to be impossible to move your data.
However, I do think that it has to mean something besides “there are no other good providers of a service”. Integrations, platforms, etc make sense as being “locked in”, but not “no one else provides the service”
To me, the key would be, “if you were starting from scratch and weren’t using any service at all, would you choose a different one than what you actually currently use?”
If the answer is “I would still choose the one I am using”, then I don’t think that is locked in.
Locked in doesn't imply "inferior", nor it has anything to do with an option being better or worse.
Ok, it seems I don’t understand what locked in means then. What does it actually mean?
it means that the cost of moving from X is too high (be it in terms of time, cost or lack of suitable alternatives).
In the case of iCloud, for most people, it's probably a combination of convenience (no other tool is so well integrated with the OS) and cost (you can sorta replicate the combo of photos + files + vpn + fake emails, but it'll be more expensive and complex to maintain)
Yeah, VMWare post-acquisition is trying to help what the limits of lock-in are...
I mean... I did too, but you do know it's actually optional, right?
Is it optional? When there is basically Apple and Android? If you add family to the mix then you’re basically stuck with Apple ecosystem. It’s actually nice until something goes wrong and you realize their customer service is awful. They’ve gotten too big. It’s basically a big black box and you’re trapped.