AirPods Pro: Rattlegate

[japanime]

It's now been six weeks since Apple opened a case for my rattling, thumping, crackling APPs. I've had two "senior advisers" collect my credit card details for the express-replacement hold and tell me that a replacement would be shipped. I still haven't received them.

I bought AppleCare for this product, and am not pleased with the way Apple has mishandled it thus far.

 

[m0thr4]

I eventually gave up here in the UK after having left replaced, then right replaced, then left went again. Had to Karen my way to the manager but once I'd said I wanted a refund to them they couldn't have been more helpful in sorting out a refund, so I've downgraded to AirPods and pocketed the £90 difference.

I'm about to get my 2nd replacement pair via their "DIY" method (which involves a £170 hold on your credit card!). It also involved a 1 hours chat with Apple Support, with them taking me through resetting and cleaning the Airpods.

But that's their final chance... any more problems, and I'll be going into a store and asking for a refund.

Quick question: are most people finding the issue starts after around 4 months? I got my original pair in November 2019, and the rattle started around Feb 2020. My 1st replacement came in late March, and developed the rattle just two days ago (so early August).

 

[m0thr4]

Why would you have to pay anything for the repair? These are all still under warranty; this is not an accidental damage repair.

You have to be careful with this... unless you start by explicitly stating that you want them "replaced under warranty", Apple will default to an AppleCare replacement, for which you pay! I was caught out by this on my 1st replacement.
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[JCCL]

I'm about to get my 2nd replacement pair via their "DIY" method (which involves a £170 hold on your credit card!). It also involved a 1 hours chat with Apple Support, with them taking me through resetting and cleaning the Airpods.

But that's their final chance... any more problems, and I'll be going into a store and asking for a refund.

Quick question: are most people finding the issue starts after around 4 months? I got my original pair in November 2019, and the rattle started around Feb 2020. My 1st replacement came in late March, and developed the rattle just two days ago (so early August).

In my case I have only exchanged one Airpod once, the other has never developed the problem since I got it them in December. And the exchange I got in June continues working fine.

Still think this is a very low quality product that shouldn't have been put in the market with these issues.

 

[DCIFRTHS]

You have to be careful with this... unless you start by explicitly stating that you want them "replaced under warranty", Apple will default to an AppleCare replacement, for which you pay! I was caught out by this on my 1st replacement.
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That's a scummy thing for them to do.

 

[JCCL]

That's a scummy thing for them to do.

i replaced mine. Didn’t say anything and was replaced by warranty.Wasn’t asked to pay a dime

 

[Dave245]

I think there is a design fault with the AirPods Pro, My first set had an issue with the sound crackling and sounding like static, also the rattle sound when I go for a run. Now my second pair are having the exact same issue

It’s really annoying considering the Pros cost £249. Now I’m leaning towards picking up a pair of the Surface headphones 2 (when MS have them back in stock here in the U.K)

 

[G.McGilli]

Quick question: are most people finding the issue starts after around 4 months? I got my original pair in November 2019, and the rattle started around Feb 2020. My 1st replacement came in late March, and developed the rattle just two days ago (so early August).

Same for me. Bought in November when they came out - Mid February they developed the issue - replaced the first week of March.

2nd pair developed the same problem in July - had them replaced last week of July

3-4 months max for me before needing to be replaced.

I'm expecting to have them replaced again around Halloween.

 

[ef3ndi]

Oh, i thought i am the only one with this issue, mine started with the right APP, now it’s happening as well on my left one

 

[Duncan68]

It's now been six weeks since Apple opened a case for my rattling, thumping, crackling APPs. I've had two "senior advisers" collect my credit card details for the express-replacement hold and tell me that a replacement would be shipped. I still haven't received them.

I bought AppleCare for this product, and am not pleased with the way Apple has mishandled it thus far.

Are you in the US? That's not normal at all. I would send an email to Tim Cook's office or contact Apple Support on Twitter.

 

[Duncan68]

I finally got the right replacement for my APP. I still have the same charging case, but I now have replacements for both earphones.

It's astonishing how much better the sound quality is for music now that they both pass the ear fit test again. I think the firmware they're on has better sound quality than when I first got the APP last year.

But it's ridiculous how easily the mikes on these things blow out. You can't talk to someone, cough, sneeze or yell with these on. You can't have them in transparency mode and have a loud siren or motorcycle go by without risking damage.

And it's terrible that having to raise your voice because you're wearing a mask seems to be very risky, too.

So I have to keep a spare $200 in a hold express replacement fund for when they break again. Good thing my savings account has buckets, lol.

 

[japanime]

Are you in the US? That's not normal at all. I would send an email to Tim Cook's office or contact Apple Support on Twitter.

I'm in Japan, though I would suppose this sort of delay is not normal here either. Very frustrating.

 

[Millerzzz]

I saw the rumors early on with "rattlegate," thought everyone was just being a complainer, bought them in May, started having those exact "rattlegate" symptoms that everyone described 1-month into ownership, and now I'm just getting my first replacement. Luckily, I was able to get AC+ last-second because my purchase was within 90-days (the rep said they extended the time you can purchase AC+ in the U.S. due to COVID), SO...here's to the next 2 years of constant replacements! ?? I should have heeded the warnings, and now I've joined the club.

 

[frostbit3]

It's now been six weeks since Apple opened a case for my rattling, thumping, crackling APPs. I've had two "senior advisers" collect my credit card details for the express-replacement hold and tell me that a replacement would be shipped. I still haven't received them.

I bought AppleCare for this product, and am not pleased with the way Apple has mishandled it thus far.

Wow, that's not normal at all. I literally hit up apple via the Support chat, told them what was going on and within 30 minutes (Had to get passed the "have you tried doing XYZ") they generated the request for shipping a new one. Got the email minutes later, put my CC info it and had my replacement APP within 36 hours. Same with my last one a few months back.

 

[BaddAdvice]

I recently noticed the rattle on my APPs that I got on launch day. Chatted with an Apple rep and set up an appointment at my local Best Buy so I didn’t have to incur the hold on my CC. BB said they’d be sending mine in for a warranty replacement. That was Monday. All in all, the whole process only took a few minutes. Now I’m just waiting on the replacements. It’s too bad, because I really like the APPs for their ease of use and better than decent audio quality. But, that rattle just made them unlistenable.

 

[Duncan68]

The AirPods Pro is like the Jaguar of wireless earphones.

 

[0194839]

The AirPods Pro are like the Jaguar of wireless earphones.

What do you mean by that?

 

[Duncan68]

What do you mean by that?

It's great when all is well, but breaks down often.

 

[Sir Ruben]

I just checked back into this forum to see if the problem was fixed. I have a buyer for my 1st gen AirPods which would allow me to upgrade to these but reading the comments sounds like I would regret it. My current AirPods have never had an issue either.

Should I just wait until Apple (hardware) updates them with AirPods Pro 2? Sounds like constant replacements are pointless if there is some sort of fundamental flaw?

 

[japanime]

Are you in the US? That's not normal at all. I would send an email to Tim Cook's office or contact Apple Support on Twitter.

Wow, that's not normal at all. I literally hit up apple via the Support chat, told them what was going on and within 30 minutes (Had to get passed the "have you tried doing XYZ") they generated the request for shipping a new one. Got the email minutes later, put my CC info it and had my replacement APP within 36 hours. Same with my last one a few months back.

Well, it took nearly two months, but Apple finally replaced them for me. They weren't white-box replacements, either. They sent me a brand-new, shrink-wrapped box.

 

[ToyTrains]

So I bought my initial set of AirPods Pro back in February. In March the fit-test started failing on the left one (also lack of bass), and it was replaced at the Apple store. Once quarantine and remote work started my usage of these fell off quite a bit, but still used them for walking and outdoors.

In July a rattle started with the right one. I cleaned with blue-tak a few time which seemed to help, but it finally got so bad that this no longer made a difference. The only time it didn't rattle was when I was not moving. Also the fit-test started failing on the left one again.

Apple just sent me two replacements. Strangely they came in separate packages, and were each packaged differently. After some fooling around as they were on different firmware versions I finally got them to pair and am sending the others back. Just a hold from Apple on my card BTW.

I am seriously considering moving these on and finding a replacement, but am unsure. I owned the Sony XM3's at first and I found the treble response irritating, and the mic quality wasn't good enough. I've been watching the new releases but just haven't yet seen anything that comes close enough to these with the ANC/sound quality/mic quality.

The alternative of course is getting them replaced every three months or so, which is absurd.

 

[Duncan68]

So I bought my initial set of AirPods Pro back in February. In March the fit-test started failing on the left one (also lack of bass), and it was replaced at the Apple store. Once quarantine and remote work started my usage of these fell off quite a bit, but still used them for walking and outdoors.

In July a rattle started with the right one. I cleaned with blue-tak a few time which seemed to help, but it finally got so bad that this no longer made a difference. The only time it didn't rattle was when I was not moving. Also the fit-test started failing on the left one again.

Apple just sent me two replacements. Strangely they came in separate packages, and were each packaged differently. After some fooling around as they were on different firmware versions I finally got them to pair and am sending the others back. Just a hold from Apple on my card BTW.

I am seriously considering moving these on and finding a replacement, but am unsure. I owned the Sony XM3's at first and I found the treble response irritating, and the mic quality wasn't good enough. I've been watching the new releases but just haven't yet seen anything that comes close enough to these with the ANC/sound quality/mic quality.

The alternative of course is getting them replaced every three months or so, which is absurd.

The microphones seem to blow out really easily, like from coughing/sneezing or a loud siren from a fire truck going by. That's when the rattle begins.

And the fit test fails because debris gets into the large vents. Blu-tak works until it doesn't.

 

[bbates123]

Same issues for me. Squeaky left APP, had it replaced under warranty. A month later the same thing started happening to my right APP and I have a replacement coming for that one too. These have fallen out of my ears way more than my original Airpods ever did so maybe they're more suseptible to damage from drops? Whatever the case, this is probably the most disappointing product I've ever purchased from Apple from a quality standpoint. So happy I bought Applecare for these because I have a strong suspicion I'm going to need that extended warranty.

 

[MayaTlab]

The microphones seem to blow out really easily, like from coughing/sneezing or a loud siren from a fire truck going by. That's when the rattle begins.

I'm not sure that this is the right explanation. I had to exchange one of my APPs because it rattled straight out of the box. It was new.

 

[thadoggfather]

Has anyone had pairs that aren't susceptible to rattle gate?

Is it possible older models had it using older firmware to cause it to rattle, and ones that ship with later firmware are less likely to or?

How soon should this appear if its going to on average/

Is it caused by using them on phone calls or transparent mode more? Still curious about this problem