AC+ is only $29. If you plan to use the APP daily (especially now, working from home for who knows how long) it is worth it. As often as I am re-charging them, no idea the impact it has on battery degradation over 2 years. I damaged both mesh screens in my tips last Friday by doing something stupid. New replacement tips covered by AC+, sent for free, arrived on Monday.
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Apple AirPods Firmware
- Thread starter whoisyourdaddy
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I would just use a credit card, like Chase, that extends the warranty by one year. I see no reason to pay Apple for one year more. Then again, it looks like AppleCare provides 2 years and up to two accident protection incidents.
The only reason I bought AppleCare is because it covers battery degradation below 80% with no deductible. A credit card extended warranty is not likely to cover that, or if it does, I'd have to spend more than $29 worth of my time in dealing with them.
Also, being a first generation product, I expect these will have some more hiccups than usual - in fact I've just replaced two replacement buds today for the rattling issue that's somewhat common. Normally I don't bother with AppleCare on my iPhones or tablets.
Right - curious how battery life will be on most of these at the 2 year (or is it 3 year with applecare?) mark....
Obviously if it means getting a brand new set vs. having a pair that are worthless that's totally worth the $29.
If however, the vast majority of airpod pros still have > 80% and I won't be able to warranty them then it's a lot harder to justify.
I’m making a bet it will be less than 80%. The batteries are both very tiny, and because of how much I wear them compared to the life on a full charge, they will see a lot of cycles, as many as 2 per day. Both of these are major factors in how long a battery lasts - and we’ve been seeing this with the original AirPods already.
I didn’t take AppleCare because AppleCare only replaces the individual components as required so the case or either pod. The the batteries in the pods are so small that with regular daily use, they will start to lose their efficiency after 12 to 18 months. So if a pod dies after 15 months and you have it replaced then you’re going to find the battery in the one year pod running down a lot quicker than the new one.
Not sure I follow. Under a warranty replacement for degraded batteries, I would think Apple would replace both earphones (and/or the case), not just a single earphone.
For reference, my original AirPod’s batteries (buds, not case) noticeably declined around the 18 month mark.
I persisted with them for another 2 months before I spoke to Apple phone support, who then created a fault ticket for me to bring them into an Apple store, who then replaced both buds at no charge (due to Australian consumer law, which adds a 2nd year warranty on devices such as AirPods).
I’d expect similar degradation in the AirPods Pro batteries, so covering yourself for a second year would be smart.
I persisted with them for another 2 months before I spoke to Apple phone support, who then created a fault ticket for me to bring them into an Apple store, who then replaced both buds at no charge (due to Australian consumer law, which adds a 2nd year warranty on devices such as AirPods).
I’d expect similar degradation in the AirPods Pro batteries, so covering yourself for a second year would be smart.
if both batteries degrade under 80% then yes but if one degrades faster than the other to under 80% then they would only change that one pod. I am sure that’s how it works
My reading of AC+ is that it provides cover for a maximum of two claims for accidental damage. Not sure if that means you have squandered one claim on an item costing chickenfeed.
Also I wonder how anyone proves the battery capacity is below 80%. But priced at only £29 I will be buying AC+ when I get closer to the 60 day deadline.
For anyone that is wondering- I believe firmware 2D3 was released sometime yesterday or last night. I had one replacement AirPod running 2D3 and one running 1A691. I used the right one (running 1A691 at the time) yesterday afternoon. And then put it back in the case and between now and then it updated to run 2D3. I imagine others who were caught in the 2D3 replacement debacle will hopefully start seeing similar results.
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AirPods are notoriously clumsy when it comes to updating. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have and yours just haven’t updated yet. Either way though, somehow mine did update to it overnight. So if they didn’t release it then they must have given me some sort of special privilege for some reason.
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I haven't gotten to use them much yet. And honestly, I'm not sure if I could tell much of a difference anyways. Primarily because I haven't been able to use my left and right AirPods together in 3 weeks due to them being on different firmwares since I first requested a replacement set. The biggest difference to me right now is the fact that they are synced again which is amazing. I was planning on contacting Apple today to have them send me my 3rd replacement left AirPod in hopes that it wouldn't be running 2D3 by some miracle. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that now.
Yeah! That would be awesome. I have the 2nd Gen. AirPods so that was never an issue for me. That also might be why I'm seeing the update and not you. I should have led with that, ha. Hopefully it will get rolled out to everyone soon and you and others with the AirPod Pros will have working ANC again.
I have 2nd gen too and I didn’t get it yet and I have been doing the trick of charging with the lid open and connected. Maybe one AirPod updated the other or Apple only released it to iCloud accounts with a ticket support about that issue or to pair of AirPods where one has already 2D3?
Take one out of the case and close it. This way the iPhone is only connected to one AirPod and will show you the firmware of that one.
Mine last about 40-45min on an active call with the Airpods Gen 1. Other than that, only the battery life was problematic in my uses. Everything else still worked fine.