
The AirPods Pro “Rattlegate” - dewey
https://annoying.technology/posts/abea6876cf4f2e13/
======
personlurking
Wow. I've had this same problem for months. I spent over an hour on the phone
with Support just trying to describe the problem, until they came to the
conclusion that there was absolutely no way to send me new ones or to have me
send them my broken ones...because I live in Puerto Rico. The week prior,
Apple had sent me a new cable for my phone in 2 days flat, yet when I had a
problem, there was nothing they could do about it.

~~~
lmilcin
This is a very known feature of Apple, especially if you are subscribed to
Louis Rossmann's channel. Basically, Apple is going to treat you first class
only until you have a hardware problem.

Not just allergic to any hardware needing repair, Apple will go out of their
way to make your life miserable. At the very best their repair is to replace
most of your device for a hefty price, at worst they will flat out refuse to
help even if you offer them to pay out of your pocket but also put their legal
departments to work ensuring there is nobody else on the market to compete
with the service they don't provide, stop shipments of parts that don't
infringe on any trademarks or patents, and so on.

~~~
an_opabinia
I don't know dude, they've replaced like, 3 laptops for me, all the keyboards,
everything. They fix it all, no problem, everything is easy when it's
scheduled by appointment.

I'm never at fault for the issue though.

~~~
csomar
That's only for first-world countries with Apple stores. Without both of
these, you are out of luck.

~~~
dangelov
I had an MBP with a fried motherboard, out of warranty and paid for it to be
replaced out of pocket (400 eur or so). Some months later Apple contacted me
and WIRED money to my bank account to compensate the cost. This was for an
Early 2011 MBP and they had GPU replacement program for it after a lot of
reports about issues.

All of this in North Macedonia, with no Apple stores (but the fix was done at
an authorized reseller). To be honest I was kind of amazed they did that and
definitely left a lasting good impression of them.

~~~
csomar
Given I have some hardware trouble with my current MBP. Can you tell me what
the process for the refund is? (I'm being quoted $800 for a battery repair).

~~~
jlokier
Apple offers battery replacement at a fixed price for MBP at their service
centres, and the price is $129-$199 in the US depending on which model.

[https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service](https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service)

    
    
        MacBook Pro                               Out of Warranty
        16-inch MacBook Pro                             $199
        15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display         $199
        13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display         $199
        15-inch MacBook Pro                             $129
        13-inch MacBook Pro                             $129
        17-inch MacBook Pro (Vintage)                   $179
    
        MacBook Air                               Out of Warranty
        13-inch MacBook Air                             $129
        11-inch MacBook Air                             $129
    
        MacBook                                   Out of Warranty
        12-inch MacBook                                 $199

~~~
csomar
I'm not in the US.

~~~
jlokier
I wonder who downvoted.

I'm not in the US either.

Where I live Apple offers the same fixed-price battery replacement service but
in local currency.

But if I go to a non-Apple store, but an "approved seller" of Apple products,
they will quote a much higher price. I challenged them about this once, and
they said it wouldn't be cheaper anywhere else, so I showed them the Apple
page and they admitted that was much cheaper and I should go to the Apple
store.

I told you about the Apple service in case you were being ripped off and would
appreciate knowing about the Apple fixed price service, if you are in a
country where they do that.

US $ prices were provided because you quoted $800, presumably US $. Other
country prices are on the Apple website with a bit of searching. Look up
battery service.

Refund method was asked for, which is rather dependent on country. If you're
in a less-likely-for-HN country and asking how to get a refund it would make
sense to say which country.

------
kawfey
I just had my right airpod returned and replaced under warranty, it's only a
matter of time before the left goes.

It took me two hours to get a person on the phone, and we went through no less
than 3 reset cycles. :|

Then the advisor told me I have to return it in person to an apple store
(which is closed) or to an apple authorized repair store, and mentioned there
will be a $29 fee, but fortunately for me, she was reading the prices wrong.
Warranty returns/repairs should be free of cost. I asked for a supervisor, and
was connected to someone who actually knew what was going on. He said they
could mail the replacement and return packaging so I wouldn't have to come in.
Second advisor was so helpful and knowledgeable. I'm just babying my left
airpod before it goes.

~~~
Iwork4Google
Try using the official Apple Support App and chatting w them. They should send
you a replacement airpod pro the same way you got a cable. They will just
place a hold on your card for the amount of the replacement part until you
return the defective one. They ship with a pre-filled return label - at least
in the US

~~~
xylophonermore
Nope, chatting didn't help for me, it only added to the time wasting. I had
the same AirPod Pro problem and started with chat Not only did they not solve
it via chat (despite detailed troubleshooting notes I provided), they wasted a
lot of time asking me to try things that clearly had nothing to do w/ the
problem. After a long time of this, they said I'd have to call. Even with a
case number, I basically started from scratch on the phone, took about 1hr.
After all that, they did finally send me one replacement (right side only). It
fixed the problem, though I will say that now they perpetually unbalanced in
terms of ear pressure.

------
WildGreenLeave
I've gotten both my left and my right Airpod pro replaced on different
occasions. My right one after 4 months and my left one 1 month later. So far,
all of my friends/coworkers that own the pro's also got them replaced at some
point within 6 months, or are dealing with the 'Rattlegate' issue.

I am blown away by the quality of the pro, both positive and negative. How is
it that we are all paying $280 and still have to replace them every year.

One good point is, Apple is sending replacements out without any questions
asked other than 'is it making that sound?'. The replacement flow is really
smooth too: Call or chat -> CreditCard got charged -> Left or right
replacement is send via UPS -> You replace the specific side that isn't
working correctly -> You pack the broken one in the bag that is included ->
You return it for free at a UPS point. Obviously, this won't work anymore
after a year of use because after that they are out of warranty. (At least in
The Netherlands)

~~~
kabes
Isn't a 2 year warranty mandatory in the Netherlands/EU?

~~~
Sevrene
When I was trying to replace or return my 1 year and 2 week old Macbook Pro to
Apple due to what turned out to be a faulty logic board, Apple said it was too
late as their 1 year warranty had passed. But here in Australia we cannot just
sign our consumer rights away. I explained this very clearly, that I was not
seeking a return based on Apple's warranty but rather seeking a return based
on the consumer rights that govern my country and any businesses that wish to
do business here.

Many large companies have tried to skirt around these consumer rights, like
Steam and E.A who both rejected the notion that they even do business in
Australia, all to prevent issuing refunds. It's absurd. Telling a consumer
they have no right to a refund when they do is even against the law here, yet
Apple do it all the time.

Eventually I got to a senior representitve and they openly stated to me while
denying my claim "I don't know why you expect me to know the laws in
Australia". They bloody well should, though. Australia's consumer rights
watchdog even forced Apple to display a notice on their website to prevent
people being misled by Apple.

[https://www.apple.com/au/legal/statutory-
warranty/](https://www.apple.com/au/legal/statutory-warranty/)

------
SilasX
This is a pretty short (and poorly styled) blog post that just links a much
deeper dive, the latter of which should IMHO be where this submission links:

[https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airpods-pro-
rattlegate....](https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airpods-pro-
rattlegate.2233658/)

~~~
kthartic
> and poorly styled

I disagree. Good line spacing, comfortable page width (doesn't take up the
full width of my monitor), clean & concise, no 'junk' surrounding the content.
I'm not sure I see where you're coming from

~~~
dewey
Thanks, I wasn't sure if the parent comment referred to my writing or the blog
design. The latter we try to keep as minimal as possible, with no JS (Except a
tiny non-Google analytics snippet), ads, external fonts or other garbage on
the page.

~~~
SilasX
Those decisions are great! The choice of an ugly mono space font isn’t, and
isn’t relevant to those design goals.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23832054](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23832054)

~~~
neuromanser
As another reply mentioned, it does not specify any particular font, so the
choice of an ugly font is in fact yours. It looks pretty (to me) on my
computer...

~~~
SilasX
I explained why that’s not correct in a reply that was present at the time you
made that comment. The fact that it’s monospace is due to CSS; whatever font
family my browser picks, it will have to meet that criterion.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23832927](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23832927)

------
ajzinsbwbs
This happened to me four times in four months. Every time, it appeared one of
the microphones was broken, because I would hear a buzzing, rattling, or
clicking noise when in transparency or noise-canceling mode. The current set
have both been good for a two or three months.

At least Apple has great service. When the Apple store was open I could just
walk over there and get the broken AirPod swapped in minutes. After lockdown I
needed to call Apple support and get them to mail me one, which would take a
few days to show up.

~~~
borkt
Wow, so thats what it is? My Siri hasnt been working well and I just assumed
the two were unrelated. Roughly every other sentence I dictate to Siri has the
word 'Play' at the start of it as well, which must be related. I can wait 5
seconds after triggering siri to begin speaking and it is still prefixed with
'play'. No idea why but all these together sound like a support call is in
order.

------
drclau
I had this problem with both left and right AirPods. I got a replacement, and
a confirmation that it is a known issue. I currently live in Czechia, and
there’re no official Apple stores here, but this hasn’t been a problem. I just
had to wait a couple of days for the replacement.

Interestingly enough, I had a very similar issue with my Sony WH-1000XM3. They
would click and pop whenever I moved my head, touched them, or simply when a
door or window would open or close and produce a small change in air pressure.
They would click several times in a row, every time with less intensity,
before stopping. Extremely annoying. Just like with the Airpods, it would only
happen with ANC on. After a failed attempt to repair them in warranty, I just
insisted on getting a new pair or my money back.

I am fairly confident that in both cases it was a hardware failure.

~~~
fourseventy
I have some friends that live in CZ and they still all call it Czech Republic
and hate the new Czechia name. This is my first time hearing anyone refer to
it by that name before.

~~~
alexdumitru
Here in Romania we've always called it Cehia, which sounds a lot like Czechia,
so it feels more natural now.

------
apinstein
I had this problem with my AirPods Pro, too. Funny thing though... I have
intermittent tinnitus in my left ear, and it took me a few weeks to realize it
wasn’t my ears making the noise but rather a problem w the AirPods. I had been
switching between noise-cancelling and transparency mode, swapping ears, etc
to see if it would go away. It didn’t, so I assumed it wasn’t an audio
processing issue. Then one day I realized I hadn’t tested on “off” mode (since
you only get to this mode through the UI I had forgotten it even existed). The
noise issue went away instantly. Called Apple and they replaced it without
hassle.

Still kinda blows me away that this issue sounded so identical to my tinnitus
that I literally couldn’t tell the difference.

~~~
zdwolfe
Wow! I'm in the same boat. I've had tinnitus for a while and at first I
thought it was just my ears being weird. It got way worse though (the
rattling) and I was able to tell the difference.

------
leokennis
I always wonder with "gates" like this: how many people (what percentage) are
affected?

For example, I never had an issue ever with my AirPods Pro since I bought them
six months ago. Does that make me the outlier? Or is it just that 1% have
issues, but they are very vocal about it (for understanable reasons)?

~~~
noir_lord
Disatisfied people tend to be more vocal.

Something I learnt many years ago when I worked in sales was that a happy
customer might tell one or two people but a pissed off one will tell
everybody.

That said it doesn't negate the underlying issue if it's a real one.

~~~
dx034
A Reason why Apple is affected relatively often is the huge volumes of
products they ship. No other manufacturer ships that many identical phones and
probably no one has shipped that many identical headphones over such a short
time frame.

Even a problem affecting only 0.01% has a sizeable number of affected
customers if you ship 100 million devices. If you only ship 1 million, that
same problem is much less likely to find public support. Apple already has
good quality control (my opinion) but to reach the same level of public
complains as other companies, they need to be several magnitudes better.

~~~
miahi
There is also the expectation of quality, given the branding, price and the
presentation. If a $50 pair of headphones break, it's not a big deal. If a
$300 pair of headphones break (repeatedly, it seems), you start to talk about
it.

------
anonu
Well thats a bummer to hear. I finally pulled the trigger and upgraded to the
Pro after a pretty happy/successful run with the originals (1G).

Actually my revelation that the Pros are inferior came on the first day before
I even popped them in my ear. You can tell just by holding the 1Gs and the
Pros in your hand: note the clearance between the lid and body on the 1G is
almost non-existent compared to the Pro - a sign of better build quality. When
you pop open the lid on the Pros, you note they dont fit snugly in the case.
You can easily wiggle them around making me wonder if the charging contact
will be a problem later on.

~~~
theonemind
Given the speed with which I had charging problems, it surprises me that I
don't hear more people complaining about it. The metal contacts inside the
case of mine don't seem to protrude enough. I can usually get it to work again
with a q-tip... but not by cleaning. I kind of put it down and swirl it around
until it catches on the metal and pulls them out again a bit. Without that, no
amount of jiggling or pressing will get charging contact. Then it happens
again a few days later. The right side started doing it first. The left one
followed a few months later.

But, i just had my own 'rattlegate' around the time of this post, and apple
replaced the case under warranty for me with the bad pod, at least.

------
steedsofwar
I'm on my 3rd or 4th pair. The current ones need to be replaced as they
rattle, first appearing in the left now the right are progressively following
suit.

They are convenient and work well, however the fault rates are incredible. As
soon as apple store opens back up I'll be replacing them for 5th time. At this
point, I have given up and probably go back to SoundMagic in ears or something
with noise cancelling that I can use while riding my motorbike.

PS: I didn't purchase apple care, and my friends/colleagues haven't had any
issues.

~~~
rozularen
Does apple replace them for free?

------
tim58
Antidotally I am a heavy airpod pro user, averaging seven hours a day. I have
two pairs so one is always at full power. I have not experienced this problem.

------
foobarbazetc
I have this exact issue.

The “fix” was to never use either NC or transparency. Just park it on the
middle option.

I really dislike this product.

~~~
jb775
Is there a hardware piece physically rattling inside? Or is this a software
issue?

I have the new airpods but haven't had any issues (besides a single airpod
sometimes not syncing with my phone at first). For what it's worth, I rarely
ever use the mic.

~~~
outworlder
No, sounds like a software issue.

EDIT: other sources are saying it is actually a hardware problem. But there's
nothing actually "loose" that's physically rattling as far as people can tell
(specially since noise cancellation off minimizes the problem)

~~~
another_kel
It's hardware 100%. I had that thing on my left one first only in noise
cancellation and close to max volume. But then I dropped it onto asphalt and
that thing became loud af in any mode on any volume. Doubt that the drop
affected the software.

------
somuchlan
I just dropped my left airpod pro replacement in the mail today. Fingers
crossed this works, I had the right one replaced just three months ago for not
charging. The "seal test" never works either for both ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

I do agree these have by far been the most needy/buggy pair of wireless
headphones I've owned in the past 5 years (Beats, Bose, Sony, Anker, B&O).
Yes, I own a lot of headphones

~~~
mleo
I have replaced my right AirPod (1 in 3 months), but as yet, these don't hold
a candle to the PowerBeats3. I think I went through 5 replacements in 1.5
years.

With PowerBeats, I had to send in the headphones for warranty repair, losing
any use (in the couple of cases they maybe, kind of kept working). For the
replacement AirPod, at least Apple sent the replacement before I had to send
it back to them.

------
DanHulton
Oh wild, I didn't know this was widespread. Happened in my left airpod pro,
and went through Apple Support to get a replacement mailed out. Hasn't
happened to the right one yet, though I _did_ notice a real difference in
audio quality between the new left and the old right. I'm kind of hoping it
starts to rattle so I can more-easily get a replacement for it, honestly?

------
shepardrtc
Up until the other day, I had only needed to replace my AirPods twice so far.
But then the microphone died on the right one and now I will need to replace
them yet again.

I love my AirPods but this is so incredibly frustrating.

Pro tip: Use the Voice Memo app to determine which microphone is failing, and
then go into the Bluetooth settings. You can make the microphone default to
the side that isn't broken.

~~~
Rebelgecko
Sheesh, this is a big reason why I dislike Airpods. They've turned
headphones/earbuds into a piece of disposable tech.

Apple wants to be normalize the purchase of a new pair of earbuds every year.
It sounds like you're about to be on your 4th pair since 2017. Even just
having to replace them twice seems excessive.

I'm on my second pair of corded over the ear headphones since 2008. My current
ones still work, but one of the ear cushions is starting to fall apart.
Instead of throwing all the electronics away, I can just get a new ear piece
on eBay for $3

~~~
samatman
I hear this a lot, but headphones and earbuds are distinct products, and
earbuds have always been semi-disposable for me.

I've only ever had one pair of headphones, which are on their third (fourth?)
cable and needed muff replacement on one side.

Earbuds? The corded ones last me 2 to 6 months before the thin copper in the
cabling work-hardens and breaks.

Airpods are semi-disposable as well, and much more expensive, but convenient
and nice, while lasting quite a bit longer than corded earbuds. My first pair
lasted 18 months, and the battery was fine, I just blew out the speakers. I
value not being tethered to my phone.

Your mileage may vary, I'm kinda hard on my stuff.

~~~
Rebelgecko
That's fair, in general I wouldn't expect small earbuds to be as repairable or
durable as full on headphones.

OTOH, I've been able to keep a pair of wired earbuds going for another year
with heat shrink tubing. Even though that isn't great, just that new lease on
life I've been able to give them sounds like it's comparable to the Airpods
MTBF.

~~~
sudosysgen
I can't recommend getting some good quality earbuds from China, with metal
faceplates (or entirely metal) and replaceable wires, enough. Cables cost 4$,
you can buy a second one off the get-go, and if the connector breaks at least
for mine you can simply unscrew the connector, replace it (it's a standard),
and resolder the two wires.

The key is to spend a bit more and do your research, mine cost 40$ and will
probably last a decade. To name them, the model is KZ ZSX - the sound quality
is absolutely excellent too, and there are impulse response files to make them
sound almost completely perfect.

There are also other more reputable brands such as Shure, but AFAIK none that
will make headphones with metal faceplates for under 150$.

------
markstos
The author calls out Apple for the ecological implications for replacing
faulty AirPods every few months, but accepts no responsibility for purchasing
the AirPods himself-- the product is designed around an embedded battery that
can't be serviced and has a limited lifespan.

If you want ecological headphones, you could buy ones with no battery or a
replaceable battery.

------
dijit
I have this issue; have been waiting for the apple stores to re-open, wasn't
aware it was wide-spread.

~~~
jborichevskiy
I had my faulty Airpod replaced via mail after calling them. They ship you a
working one with a return label and you have a few days to send your broken
one back. They also put a hold on a card as a deposit.

~~~
FireBeyond
No idea why Apple, one of the richest companies in the world, and "all about
the customer" needs to place a hold on my card for a warranty replacement.
I've exchanged a faulty $3,000 camera on Amazon and they overnighted the
replacement, and said that if I didn't return the faulty one within 30 days
they'd charge me. They didn't pre-auth or hold funds.

Better hope you have a credit card, I guess.

~~~
jborichevskiy
Absolutely agree.

My list of questions that begin with “no idea why Apple, one of the richest
companies in the world...” is quite long.

Most recently posed here [https://jborichevskiy.com/posts/spending-
electronics/](https://jborichevskiy.com/posts/spending-electronics/)

------
nolaspring
I contacted apple support and got a new pair. Free (with credit card hold
until I sent the defective pair back). So far so good. But if it happens
again... yeah not sustainable.

~~~
slivanes
My guess is that Apple can replace them 7 times and still be ahead profit-
wise.

~~~
Bnshsysjab
I daresay an iPhone, after R&D costs to Apple and third parties, probably
costs less than $100 in materials.

~~~
Kirby64
You'd be very wrong. Component cost (not including any assembly cost) for any
modern flagship smart phone is well north of $100. North of $300 on most
phones.

Take a look at the cost estimates that most folks do on smartphones (Ex.
[https://www.techinsights.com/blog/samsung-
galaxy-s10-teardow...](https://www.techinsights.com/blog/samsung-
galaxy-s10-teardown)). Apple isn't undercutting other companies by $300+.

~~~
Bnshsysjab
Do you think third party vendors don’t charge for R&D?

------
peignoir
Same here I had both replaced, but they would only let me replace one and
later the other. Replacing was great at first, I observed that the first few
days the sealing test was perfect, but already the test is not passing. I m
pretty sure it’s a hardware problem, could be shock resistance could be wax
could be humidity but it looks like the mic (or many?) who is needed to do the
noise cancellation gets faulty somehow. If it’s a design issue I guess the
only option will be to wait for the next gen, apple might offer a discount if
you bring back your pro but I’m pretty sure they won’t do a thing unless this
becomes a public issue (maybe the European Commission or some class action)
too bad as I love this product hopefully the next gen will fix it

------
zelly
I've had this problem. It comes and goes randomly. Finally someone said
something.

------
rememberlenny
Apple will replace your AirPod Pros if you have this problem. You can submit
the request online and they will just send you a new pair. Most likely you
fall under the support warranty period, and it will be at no cost to yourself.

~~~
dmcginty
In the article the writer says that they've had to do multiple replacements so
far, and having to get replacement AirPods every several months isn't
sustainable or convenient.

~~~
dewey
Writer here: Yes, they replaced them twice and currently in the process of
replacement number 3. I'll just see if I can get a refund though. I'll wait
for the next generation.

~~~
Polylactic_acid
This seems to be a trend with apple products.

------
karxxm
Question for everyone with the Rattlegate problem: Do you brush your teeth
with an electronic toothbrush while you hear something with your headphones?
My theory is that various micro vibrations cause the problem :D

~~~
hollowcelery
I noticed that the rattling was most noticeable when I brushed my teeth with
my electronic toothbrush. Not sure if the toothbrush caused it or not. I
eventually got the faulty AirPod replaced.

------
leakybucket
I had a 'rattling' issue, but mine correlated with moving my head. If I held
very still, the sound was fine. This didn't happen at first, it developed over
time. I wondered if the issue was either loose/dirty silcone tips, even though
I was wearing the best fitting size (and they passed the ios ear tip test).
Cleaning the tips didn't make a difference.

So I bought some new foam tips from www.complyfoam.com , and to my pleasant
surprise, the rattling stopped.

Not sure if this is different from the vast number of other reports, but fyi.

------
BFatts
The over-usage of the "-gate" addition to anything that people take issue with
is getting old as fuck. Seriously, can people not come up with something
better? Also, is it truly a conspiracy? That's what an association to
Watergate is... that or just breaking the law. neither of which is what is
going on. I really, seriously doubt that Apple is conspiring to have their
earbuds rattle.

Please, for the love of everything sane, stop using "-gate" to catch eyes with
your clickbait captions and titles.

------
sprite
Does anyone know a workaround for having to switch microphone to Internal on
MacBook Pro every time you connect AirPods Pro to avoid terrible sound
quality?

~~~
Nextgrid
That's just Bluetooth being Bluetooth. You can either have good sound quality
but no mic or shit sound quality and mic.

I'm surprised and disappointed that Apple, despite the proprietary W1 chip in
the AirPods didn't build a custom protocol to work around this limitation.

------
_bxg1
I've had the same issue. And another, more important one: the noise-
cancelling/passthrough features have gradually ceased to work entirely. I
replaced one bud when this started happening and was making things
asymmetrical (super annoying), then noticed the new one was noise-cancelling
_more_ than the "still good" one, indicating that the other one had started
degrading too. Eventually both of them stopped working for anything but basic
playback.

I've heard theories that the outer mics can get clogged with ear wax over
time, and I tried several different strategies for cleaning them. I even
bought entirely new rubber caps, just in case that contributed. Nothing I did
worked. Eventually I just gave up and bought another pair of the regular
AirPods, which had always worked reliably (I gave away my first pair as a gift
when I got the Pros).

It's honestly shameful that such an expensive product can be so problematic,
but I got weary of being upset about it and just wanted to get on with my
life.

~~~
DominikPeters
A common theory on forums is that noise cancellation was reduced by a firmware
update (to version 2B588), for unknown reasons.

~~~
_bxg1
That isn't what I'm talking about here. It's most obvious on passthrough:
there's simply almost no sound being picked up by the ambient mics.

------
ngcazz
Started a couple of weeks on my pair. Called up Apple. The support
representative didn't ask me a lot of questions and said I'd get a replacement
Airpods for free.

Then I got quoted for a £75 deposit held until sent back the broken one back
and no clarity from the representative on when the deposit would be repaid. So
I just issued a replacement request with Amazon instead.

------
neillyons
Wow. I have the same problem. I just got my left AirPod Pro replaced at the
Apple Store last wednesday because of rattling. (It appears to only happen in
noise canceling mode. When noise canceling is off it doesn't rattle).

A couple days later I started to notice the right airpod is rattling.

I've used up my warranty now so would have to buy a new pair if I want this
fixed.

~~~
jmull
You don’t get at least a year warranty?

------
jzymbaluk
I've also been dealing with rattling and buzzing noises in my airpods pro.
Usually (but not always) turning noise cancellation mode off fixes the issue,
but that totally defeats the purpose of having the pro model. Not to mention
they are nowhere near as comfortable in your ear as the base-model airpods.
Definitely a disappointing purchase

~~~
johncozen
Your point about comfort is accurate. I can sleep with the base model in
comfortably. Not so much with the pros.

------
grawprog
This might be off topic or overly pedantic but why must this be referred to as
'rattlegate'? How is this a 'gate'? In what way does a line of rattling
heaphones resemble an incident where the president of the united States was
caught incriminating himself on tape in a hotel? Why must this term be used
for everything?

~~~
pvarangot
I like to think how everything must be so right in the world were this people
live that what makes them the most active and angry is their pieces of cheap
consumer electronics not working perfectly.

And yeah your Airpods are cheap, $250 for a wireless noise cancelling pair of
headphones that fit in a pocket is wonderfully cheap and Apple can only
sustain that pricing because this fashionable products are almost a loss
leader.

~~~
mmahemoff
Is there a source for that? Similar products are only a fraction of the cost
of Airpods. Granted, they don't work as well, but that's to be expected as
Apple has complete control over the device.

Accessories like this are generally where Apple has enjoyed huge margins.

------
ddlutz
I'm kind of surprised so many people are having issues in this thread. This is
probably the only apple product that hasn't caused problems for me. My iPad
constantly has weird internet disconnect issues, I have the faulty keyboard on
my macbook pro that's just unnaceptable, but never had an issues with the
airpod pros.

~~~
toyg
Fault rates of 50% will make a lot of people angry, but if you're in the
"right" 50% you won't notice it.

The Airpods are possibly the single best-selling Apple SKU at the moment, so
even a 10% fault rate will generate a lot of unhappy people.

------
pgtruesdell
I had my left AirPod Pro replaced in the past few weeks. It was
straightforward and effortless to get support via iMessage, and I got a
replacement in 2 days. It seemed a bit too easy, to be honest, so I figured
Apple knows about this issue and is trying to solve it as quietly as possible.

Interesting to see how widespread this issue is.

------
ryanwaggoner
Am I the only one who prefers the original Airpods to the Airpods Pro? I have
both but I haven't used the Pro ones in months. I find the NC to be a little
finicky, but more than that, I just don't like the way the ambient environment
sounds when I'm wearing them. This is especially true when I'm not listening
to something. With the Airpods, I'll often just leave them in my ears for
hours whether I'm listening or not. With the Pros, I feel like I have to take
them out if I'm not actively listening to something. I also don't like that I
have to squeeze them for controls instead of just tapping (but maybe there's
an option for that somewhere).

I have good over-the-ear headphones for when I really need noise cancelling,
and the rest of the time, the Airpods are perfect for me.

------
macando
Almost 60 people in this thread claimed having this issue with their AirPods
Pro. Doesn't look like a case of 'a loud minority' to me.

I bought mine a few week ago for $370. No issues so far, was supper happy that
after 5 years I had finally found perfect earphones.

~~~
mm89
Zero problems here either. I paid much less than $370 in the USA. Much better
headphones than my Sony wh-1000xm3 or powerbeats.

So at least two of us.

------
Jeremy1026
Yep, I'm having the same issue. Got my left replaced, then about 2 days later
my right started. I haven't gotten around to swapping the right yet as I
didn't want to do them to close together and have them be like, HEYY!

------
ja27
Same happening for about 5 weeks now with my left and now a little bit on the
right. Had the right replaced earlier because it kept randomly buzzing.

It's actually really helpful to see that it doesn't happen when Noise Control
is Off, since I failed to notice that. That gives me a mode that works
temporarily.

Had no real issue getting replacements(for both sides since I think it's
starting on the right too) in the mail just now (since my local Apple stores
are closed). Do need to provide a credit card hold / deposit until you return
the old ones. Last time my replacement included fresh ear tips too so a small
bonus for the trouble.

------
deathanatos
> _Support agreed that this is a problem and sent a new AirPod._

I've had this problem with companies, too.

I owned a Belkin router. If the microwave was on, WiFi devices "connected" to
the router would lose the connection. The router's front panel LED would go
from green to red.

When the microwave was done, sometimes the WiFi would recover … sometimes it
wouldn't.

Support agreed that this was a problem and sent me a new router.

It, of course, had the same issue. I _sort_ of understand the WiFi and the
microwave interfering. I do not understand why it should persist even after
the microwave is off.

Oh well. I later changed to Comcast's router. If you enter in WPA2-PSK key (
_not_ a password, an actual key) and you power-cycle the router (which happens
automatically on occasion) the router will reset the key to the factor default
password. But _only_ the password/key changes, not the SSID or any other
settings.

Support agreed that this was a problem and sent me a new router. (I… actually
didn't want a new router, I just wanted to make them aware of the issue, but
okay.)

And yeah, that one of course does the exact same thing because it's a software
bug, not a hardware one, and I'm the only person on the planet choosing a key
by random generation.

So now I feed the output from urandom through base64 to make it a password,
which goes through whatever KDF (at least, I hope it's a KDF, but my gut
doesn't trust WPA2 that much) WPA2 uses just to get random data into more
random data. Or, IDK, perhaps I should just give up and declare WiFi patently
insecure and just craft a nice riddle for the password.

It is sort of along the lines of something else I've noticed: there are a
_ton_ of companies, who, in one way or another, sell software, but have
absolutely no public-facing bug tracker, and doom their support agents to just
fielding the same bugs all day, which, practically speaking, they likely just
/dev/null those reports, and in the same breath, their marketing department
will shove the words "valued customer" down your eyeballs.

~~~
shifto
I'd also check my microwave if I were you. They shouldn't be leaking so much
as to interfere on a home wifi signal.

~~~
Canadauni
Yah this sounds like a leaky microwave interfering with the 2.4GHz band. I've
had it happen with older microwaves in university housing interfering with the
ubiquiti APs that they had on site.

------
moltar
Interesting. I’ve had mine since November last year and use them for many
hours per day. Haven’t had any issues.

Could it be the way it is being used causing it? Maybe dropping a lot? Or
carrying it in a bag with other items, E.g. magnets?

~~~
fnordprefect
I don't think so, on my anecdatum.

I've also had mine since early November last year, and also use them many
hours a day, mostly at my desk. Never dropped. Either left on desk in case or
carried in a trouser pocket with nothing else except my iPhone.

They were absolutely perfect until about ~6 weeks ago, when the right bud
started to make an awful tinny noise (which I thought was imperfect
cancellation, and a software bug of some kind) when I coughed, which it had
never done before.

Yesterday, I started getting the rattling sound when walking, right earbud
only. Goes away for a couple of steps if you take it out and reseat it, then
comes straight back. Rattles in time with footstep.

Since it's an impulse thing for me (force of cough, force of bouncing when
walking), I'm guessing defective connection (defective solder joint?) that is
misbehaving when stressed?

------
nxpnsv
Had them since January, not a single issue. Perhaps eu gets different batches.

~~~
pantulis
Same here, also in the EU. But seems that the issue develops with time.

------
MindTooth
I currently have mine delivered for a service. Started experiencing the
popping sound. There is something off with these.

Would not change them out though. I’ve also have new Comply Foam ear foam on
their way.

------
disantlor
dont have AirPods but had over the ear headphones that had similar rattling
issues that were just the result of a small hair getting through the mesh and
interacting with the driver

------
badwolf
Apple replaced my left pod for this... Fast forward a few weeks and now the
right pod is doing the same thing.

Meanwhile my regular Airpods are still working like a charm.

~~~
elbigbad
My regular airpods, which are now three years old, are tanks. I use them now
exclusively for running/exercising and they won't die. My new ones are better
for the sound isolation/listening to music, but they rattle now and do migrate
out of my ears when I talk too much, so the latter part of meetings is usually
a little annoying with me needing to constantly re-adjust them.

~~~
dkonofalski
My old AirPods went through the washer on accident and wouldn't power on.
After dunking them in some rubbing alcohol and charging them, they still work
flawlessly to this day.

------
IMAYousaf
Does anyone have a problem with their AirPods (not Pro) suddenly seeming dead
silent? I've cleaned my AirPods very carefully and they are spotless. I've
also had my ears cleaned out, but my AirPods seem to be whisper quiet. I've
done all the tricks of trying to reconnect and disconnect and checked all the
volume settings. Any advice here would be really welcome.

~~~
chis
Honestly I went at the grille with an electric toothbrush for a while and that
fixed it.

~~~
IMAYousaf
I used an ultra fine point and covered it in a tiny hard wax ball to clean off
my AirPods. I bet they're cleaner than even new ones at this point. No clue
why they still sound so faint.

------
nonbirithm
Only sort of related but I hate how I sometimes get the impression that review
sites do not take the date of review into the account when presenting a final
rating.

For example I got an Instant Pot once. It worked fine for a year. Then one day
I was steaming some lentils and it just shut off. No error or anything, it
just shut off without a sound and never turned back on.

And because my continued existence was basically contingent on that Instant
Pot I began to starve.

So I bought another.

Two weeks later it was dead in _exactly_ the same manner.

And I went back to starving.

Then I went back and read the most recent reviews on Amazon and realized that
if I had paid attention I might have noticed that so many other people were
having the same kind of problem and various other mechanical failures and
leaving one-star reviews. But because the reviews section was swamped by five
star reviews from years ago that got highly upvoted, I didn't notice. At
least, that was my impression.

I think it might be hard to change the public's mind if you have a large group
of people leaving reviews saying "it works great" in the first few months of
the product being released, and you build up this false credibility. Then
suddenly a defect occurs that only appears after a very long period, say a
year or more, and people don't bother to update the five star review and
figure it's time to buy a new pressure cooker anyways.

If there were some way of verifying this were the case it would certainly be
frustrating.

Do _all_ the people who wrote those five-star reviews years ago that haven't
been edited still use the product and never had it break on them after a few
years?

Eventually I got a Yedi and it's more convenient since the pressure valve
never clogs like it did with the Instant Pot all the time and is automatic
release. I get the impression that it's just better engineered and Instant Pot
was just overhyped garbage. But still that's my impression because I've had it
for only a month and can't judge if I'll be able to keep using it for another
year yet. Maybe I just got lucky.

Look at how Steam does reviews. If a developer releases a patch several months
after initial release that improves or breaks something, you have a better
chance to know about it since they have a separate rating for only the most
recent reviews. And sometimes the difference between the two is stark. I would
say this is innovative. More sites with review systems really ought to follow
suit.

And I really wish Amazon were like that.

------
SirHound
I had this exact same thing happen with the Powerbeats Pro. A buzzing that
would change in intensity relative to head movement. No music. Annoyingly I
noticed just before I packaged them to return that they were working normally
again. As expected they came back untouched. They’ve not done it since but now
I feel I own a pair of time bombs.

------
yalok
I’ve got a similar problem a couple of months ago - so had around 6 months of
problem-free operation, and then it started out of blue in only one headphone.
Rattling or static noise is added only to certain sounds, looks like depending
on their frequency, and is very audible when noise canceling mode is on,
otherwise it’s almost inaudible,

------
jordache
Same issue with the airpod pros.. clearing my throat or talking a bit loudly
results in a buzz/rattle in my left earbud

------
batmanthehorse
I had this after I dropped my right earbud ~3 feet. There was a click every
time I took a step with noise canceling or transparency mode. The outer grille
on mine was very barely dented. I think this caused the external mic to pick
up unexpected noise and try to cancel noise that wasn't there.

Apple was very quick to send a replacement.

------
jasonrojas
I've been googling about this same exact issue for the last week seeing if
there are any "fixes". damn.

------
akkartik
More on the environmental effects of airpods:
[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/neaz3d/airpods-are-a-
trag...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/neaz3d/airpods-are-a-tragedy)

That they're unreliable is just the icing on this sandwich.

~~~
Teknoman117
Admittedly not tiny little wireless earbuds, and costing twice what airpods
do, my Sony XM3 noise cancelling headset had 30 hours of battery life when it
was new.

After 1 year of full day usage during the work week, they last 24 hours. Kinda
surprised the Airpods battery dies so quick.

~~~
jbverschoor
My airpods last not even 15 minutes of phone call. They were about 18months
old

------
tptacek
I had this problem; Apple just replaced the affected earbud. Hasn't recurred,
it's been a few months.

But, I mean, I've had problems with most of the IEMs I've ever bought at one
point or another. It's just that you don't get to the top of HN with a post
about a pattern of Shure product defects.

------
valine
I was just on Apple's support page for this exact issue. I ordered my pros on
launch day so I was hoping it was a quality control issue from the first
batch.

One thing I've noticed is that the rattling noise goes away if I disable noise
cancellation. It seems to be an issue with the NC microphones.

------
behexen
I've had two replacements on my AirPods Pro so far because of this issue.

First time the issue started after 6 months of use. The second time was within
a week of the original replacement. All good so far after the second
replacement (about a month).

Fortunately Apple makes the replacement process easy.

------
otterley
Had the same problem, spoke with Apple Support over text, got a replacement
sent overnight to me with free return shipping. The only thing that could have
gone better is it never happening in the first place, but overall, I'm pleased
with how it was handled.

------
localhost
I had this problem with my left AirPod Pro for a few weeks and it was super-
annoying. I chatted with Apple support and they replaced it in a couple of
days. But it was annoying having to try a bunch of random things that clearly
weren't going to work.

------
a-wu
I've had my pair replaced for this too. It seems to be an issue with the NC
mics. When neither NC nor Transparency are on, I didn't get the issue. Apple
will do an Express Replacement (2-day new pair, _then_ you mail old pair back)
which is nice.

~~~
badwolf
Mine got so bad I would get the "rattle" anytime music had any amount of
bass/mids. Regardless of noise-cancellation or transparency.

~~~
a-wu
yikes, that sounds like blown out drivers?

~~~
badwolf
Possibly. It started out with just the "rattle" in noise cancellation or
transparency mode. Then I started noticing it any time I talked on the
phone/zoom/etc... (I have a deeper voice) then it started without the mic
being used at all (NC completely off, just music or podcasts) ... Now the
other pod is doing the same thing.

------
cpascal
My left AirPod pro began rattling. It's obviously annoying/upsetting that this
is an issue, but AppleCare+ support was awesome. I chatted with Apple on a
Thursday and on Friday I had a new left AirPod Pro via overnight mail. No cost
to me.

------
jeffwilcox
Yes! This has been driving me insane. I spent an hour on support with Apple,
was sent to Best Buy, but do to COVID-19, cannot get an "appointment" for a
replacement for 2 months... I should have opted for a mailed replacement. :/

------
waheoo
> It also started to behave weird as soon as there was a bit of wind.

Heh evenmy sony mx3s do this in the wind.

So is that the problem? Noise cancelling failure? Generally noise cancelling
has problems with wind, air pods are the kind that probably see a lot of use
outdoors.

~~~
jsmith12673
I'll add that my Bose headphones have also always have trouble in the wind.
That's to that there not be something wrong with the airpods/bose, but Sony's
have a distinct advantage

------
karxxm
Haha I just received a new left AirPod Pro. I was wondering why they send it
so fast and I thought maybe they know this problem, send me a replacement so I
don’t ask any more questions. Rattlegate seems to be an appropriate name for
this!

------
woutr_be
I just got my AirPods Pro replaced last week due to the same issue, it started
with some squeaking sounds, but eventually it became a loud rattling sound and
it became unusable.

Stopped by the Apple Store and they just replaced both he left and right one.

------
emsy
I had a different issue. My right AirPod Pro just flat out refused to connect.
It was still “hissing” from the NC and making the click noise from the pause
gesture. But it wouldn’t connect to my phone, even after resetting the
Airopds.

------
jonplackett
Yep this happened to me too after a few weeks of owning them. Luckily a trip
to the Apple store and they replaced straight away. It made me question them
at the time though. The guy said it wasn’t common back then

------
caseyf7
I had this same problem. One of them rattled so loudly I couldn’t hear
anything else while walking. Had it replaced and then noticed the other one is
doing it, but much quieter...for now.

------
mikairpods
Had this issue on AirPods Pro, first with the left ear approx. 2 months after
purchase and then with the right ear approx. 6 months after purchase. In both
cases Apple replaced at no cost.

------
smcleod
This has happened to me with both my left and right AirPod, Apple was pretty
good about replacing them but it was obviously still annoying especially since
they’re $400 earbuds.

~~~
dkonofalski
>they’re $400 earbuds.

You do realize that the price of these is listed on their website. They're not
$400.

~~~
smcleod
I do realise that, Apple's website is where I got the price from and how much
I paid.

They are $399 (sure, $1 less than $400) in Australia and New Zealand - maybe
you're in a different country?

Link: [https://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/MWP22ZA/A/airpods-
pro](https://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/MWP22ZA/A/airpods-pro)

Screenshot: [https://i.imgur.com/lfyAVod.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/lfyAVod.jpg)

~~~
kristofferR
Australian dollars are worth way less than the American dollars we're talking
about.

~~~
smcleod
I didn’t reply to any comment that was talking about the price in the USA,
state or suggest I was talking about how much they might cost in the USA and
the article was not discussing anything USA specific.

> "Dollar (symbol: $) is the name of more than 20 currencies, including those
> of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Liberia, Namibia, New
> Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States." \- Wikipedia

When you talk about the price of pacemakers, penicillin or Wifi do you expect
everyone to talk about them in AUD just because they were invented there?

Just because you (presumably) live the USA doesn’t mean the rest of the
internet does.

~~~
kristofferR
I'm Norwegian. However, when people on an American website talk about dollars
the americanness of the dollar is obviously implied.

"I made 20 million dollars last year" will usually be interpreted like you are
rich, not that you had a decent salary of 20 million Liberian dollars.

------
tadasZ
I don't have this problem, but a lot of times my right airpod pro does not
connect, so i have to put it back to the case, wait a few seconds ant try
again.

------
Godel_unicode
> The first generation of the AirPods was generally regarded as a perfect
> product

If you don't care about sound quality, isolation, noise cancelation, mic
quality, or using it with a non-apple device of any kind, sure. In other
words, if you primarily care about form and only peripherally about function.

Edit: for reference, rtings gave them a 6.4
[https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/apple/airpods-1-tr...](https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/apple/airpods-1-truly-
wireless-2017)

~~~
dewey
The first generation was never advertised as having a noise cancellation
feature so I'm not sure why that that should be a negative point. They also
work well with non-apple devices as they can just be paired via Bluetooth like
any other wireless headphones.

~~~
Godel_unicode
A perfect product would be a product which has all the features you would
want. How do you adjust their onboard eq from your Android phone? Change their
settings in any other way than volume?

Unless you use the word perfect to mean something other than "having all the
required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics".

~~~
chrisseaton
> How do you adjust their onboard eq from your Android phone?

Almost _nobody_ wants to do this. It's a vanishingly minor requirement. You
end up with a 'Homer Car' forcing all these wacky features in.

I'd actively prefer a product that's simpler, without features like this.

~~~
Godel_unicode
HN: anything other than totally free software is a crime against humanity.

Also HN: Apple knows best, don't adjust your radio. If you think the audio
could be better, you're the problem.

What a horrifyingly boring world we are building in the name of "simplicity"

~~~
chrisseaton
Yeah, guilty, I want simple, boring, but perfectly formed products. I think
many people do.

------
neskiredk
Have not had this issue, after daily use since release.

------
flog
I had this. The first attempt to fix was to ship a replacement rubber
earpiece, which didn't work. Ultimately they replaced the entire earbud.

------
cameldrv
I had the same thing happen. I think that the problem is that the little
grille on the ear side of the airpod is getting clogged with wax.

------
lanevorockz
I can attest to the same issue ... Apple Pods Pro purchased for Christmas, had
the problem twice and replaced both airpods twice already.

------
egypturnash
_picks up her trusty B &O earbuds and kisses them_

Never need to worry about charging them, soft replacable rubber cups fit into
my asymmetrically-sized earholes, they're always there waiting in my bag on
the rare occasion I want to use them, I am gonna be so sad when my 6s breaks
and I have to replace it with either an Android phone or an iPhone with no
audio jack, maybe I'll just get one of those lightning⟷audio adaptors and keep
it on the earbuds forever.

I still do not see how the Airpods are an improvement in any way.

~~~
xnyan
Cables. It's fair if they are not a problem for you, but they are for me and
getting rid of them is a gamechanger. I move around a lot all day, most days.
They were constantly getting caught in things throughout my day and pulling at
my ear in a very unpleasant way, or got caught snagged on something like
ladder I'm climbing and would go flying out of my ears. Hatred.

Airpods (not pro) are fantastic for what they are. They last for hours, charge
in minutes, pair reliably with my iphone 11 and sound very ok. Not great, but
not bad. Ok. Perfect for podcasts, audiobooks, lectures, and calls I have to
take throughout the day.

The famous photography advice "the best camera in the world is the one you
have on you when you need to take a picture" definitely applies. It lets me
listen to spoken word and a little music very comfortability throughout the
day, and I have big cans at home for everything else.

~~~
myopenid2
Just grab a regular Bluetooth earphones then. Those $20 ones may seem to be
too good to be true, but they work and sound great, and you can replace them
on a whim if they do die.

Source: owns a cheapass Soundpeat.

~~~
xnyan
I worked for an electronics testing lab for several years and used about, um,
maybe 20 pairs of different headphones. Bluetooth sucks and most people’s
implementation of it sucks even more. Maybe I have bad luck but almost all
Bluetooth devices I have used have been absolute garbage without apple’a OOB
pairing.

------
aqme28
I've been noticing this on one of mine lately. I didn't realize it was so
widespread. Good to know I'm not the only one.

------
Havoc
Thinking im buying a classic one next time again. Don’t really need the noise
cancelling. Have different ones for that

------
michaelsitver
Can confirm. Apple has replaced (for free, to their credit) at least two,
maybe three airpods for me for this issue.

------
elbigbad
Wow! I thought I had broken mine or something. My left one rattles constantly
as I'm walking, unless I tiptoe.

------
illustriousbear
Same issue.

I had my left one replaced and then the right one. My wife's hasn't failed
yet...

------
ouid
Are airpods really universally agreed upon to be a "perfect product"?

Are we forgetting the price tag, the limited use time, the fact that they add
3 disconnected parts to your phone/headphones setup, or the fact that they
were released along with the removal of a headphone jack, preventing users
from opting out?

~~~
nmfisher
The success of AirPods continues to astonish me. I was gifted a pair, and
they're sitting at the bottom of a drawer somewhere because I find them so
irritatingly bad.

~~~
valuearb
Highest customer satisfaction of any Apple product in history.

~~~
myopenid2
You sure as hell better be satisfied when you're paying quarter of a grand for
an earphone.

~~~
valuearb
AirPods were only $149.

Mine have lasted nearly three years, the first time I’ve ever had earphones
last over 6 months without breaking.

------
gamesbrainiac
I have the exact same problem, and its becoming an issue. If I laugh, I get
rattle.

------
lanks
Crazy! I have had the same issue and have had my left airpod replaced twice.

------
JoshGlazebrook
I had this problem and surprisingly doing a factory reset fixed the issue.

------
borkt
Just want to add same here.

------
pageandrew
I'm having this same issue. Thinking of sending mine in as well.

------
e40
I was seriously thinking of getting these. I think I'll wait.

------
MetalMatze
Glad my first gen still work super fine - even with Android. :)

------
DavideNL
Interesting, I have noticed the same issue this week :'(

------
css
I have received 3 full replacements for this issue.

------
oweqruiowe
Oh nice, mine are getting delivered tomorrow!

------
tomcam
Mine rattle too! Man, I hate that. I assumed it was just my bad luck, and
since peaceful protestors looted my local Apple Store I wasn't able to bring
them in.

~~~
tyre
> since peaceful protestors looted my local Apple Store

There is a difference between peaceful protestors and people who engaged in
looting. Don't conflate the two for the sake of a snarky comment.

~~~
haram_masala
The parent commenter was making a facetious reference to the way the protests
were reported in the news media. They surely know there’s an actual
difference, which was the point.

~~~
elbigbad
Maybe, or maybe they're one of those that use protests as a scapegoat for
everything from the Apple store being closed to new instances of coronavirus.
You just can't tell, so it's not worth engaging.

~~~
tomcam
Especially when you don’t have a clue. I had to call mall security to find out
that it was closed because 20% of the mall was looted. No local media
coverage, and the police wouldn’t tell me why. Can you think of a better way
to get the information? It took me quite a lot of work.

------
jaybeeayyy
My airpods pro are rattling as well. Great.

------
bobsil1
Jogging with them = rattling sound

------
_alex_
Can we _please_ stop using -gate as a suffix for anything on the spectrum from
annoyance to full blown scandal?

~~~
simlevesque
Why ? Rattlegate sounds better than "rattle scandal".

~~~
mienski
But it's not a scandal - it's an issue with a product, not some government
conspiracy

------
flyinglizard
Left rattling here.

------
balls187
Right airpod has rattling issues from time to time, via voice calls.

------
ZoomZoomZoom
This thread shows the absurd level of Stockholm Syndrome between Apple users.
Year after year of user hostility and people still write "at least Apple has
great service" (which is clearly not the case for a noticeable part of users
here).

~~~
neuronic
No it doesn't. Apple has shipped an insane amount of AirPods and even if a
minuscule amount is affected by the hardware issues, thousands of people will
still experience them.

The same goes for Apple support: you won't read online complaints from people
who got their laptop immediately replaced or who were sent a new keyboard
without question.

You will read the bad experiences where potential factors such as own fault or
shitty behavior are not mentioned, further skewing the picture.

Apple can have very shitty service - no doubt - but what really is the overall
experience of support when Apple ships many millions of hardware devices every
year?

You insinuate that people are too stupid or too Stockholmy to apply
consequences after continuous bad experiences and also that Apple just doesn't
give a shit about customers which is absurd.

~~~
tingol
You are literally the example of what he's saying.

Any kind of headphones that are $150 and over are expected to work PERFECTLY.
It's a fucking high end product, there is no company in the world that would
survive having it returned 4 or 5 times without being blasted all over the
internet. Except for apple and its mind controlled apologists...

~~~
jmull
You understand that there is nothing available at any price that works
perfectly, for everyone, all the time?

~~~
tingol
That's a nice straw man you've built there. This is a mass produced faulty
product, not a fringe case where some guy got unlucky and ended up with a
subpar purchase.

~~~
DavideNL
> _This is a mass produced faulty product_

...and Apple is replacing them for free.

~~~
hu3
They replace it for free until they don't.

See top comment on this thread:

> Wow. I've had this same problem for months. I spent over an hour on the
> phone with Support just trying to describe the problem, until they came to
> the conclusion that there was absolutely no way to send me new ones or to
> have me send them my broken ones...because I live in Puerto Rico. The week
> prior, Apple had sent me a new cable for my phone in 2 days flat, yet when I
> had a problem, there was nothing they could do about it.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23826526](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23826526)

Or this one:

> A couple days later I started to notice the right airpod is rattling. I've
> used up my warranty now so would have to buy a new pair if I want this
> fixed.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23830886](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23830886)

\-----------------------------

edit: instantly double downvonted without any replies for demonstrating
anecdotes that shine a bad light on Apple. Stockholm Syndrome exhibit A. This
is why people take any Apple user input with a grain of salt. They tend to try
to shrug problems under the carpet as if these facts would cause them physical
pain.

~~~
DavideNL
So you've identified 2 problem cases of the ~ 90 million Airpod Pros sold. You
get my point, it's not very representative.

------
ngcc_hk
It is not a gate level issue. Any lying. Any secret tape. Any abuse of public
authority involving CIA ...

------
dontreact
The level of hyperbole in calling so many things __*-gate is starting to
really annoy me.

Watergate was a historic breach of trust that to me seems to have marked an
inflection point in the decay of trust in American society.

This person had some issues with a new technology product which were
ultimately resolved.

I know it’s common within certain subcultures to have this kind of lingo and
hyperbole. But you end up sounding really whiny and entitled to my ears.

------
everdrive
Consumer electronics are usually a letdown. The solution should be to buy
fewer of them.

Many of these consumer electronics don't actually save you time, but instead
save you impulse control. There's nothing wrong with traditional headphones,
except you have to think about putting them on, and wrapping up their cord
when you take them off. This doesn't actually take time to do, mind you, but
instead requires the consumer to exercise some impulse control, or to ignore
some inconvenience.

We're a long way away from something like the invention of the washing
machine, which saved countless women hundreds of hours a year. Prior to a
washing machine, you'd be stuck next to the laundry for the duration of the
laundry. Laboring the entire time. The washing machine automated a monotonous
task, and allowed women to do nearly anything else while the laundry was
going. It was an enormous game changer.

Compare that to something like Google Home. What does it do? It prevents you
from having to type in your phone? It's not as if the voice prompt takes a
meaningfully different time than typing a query into a phone. And for that
matter, it's not as if walking over to a traditional computer and typing in
your query takes a significantly greater time than either alternative. No,
what the Google Home does is prevent you from having to think about switching
your task, and that's about it.

Are AirPods any different? Corded headphones don't prevent you from doing
anything, they just require a small amount more impulse control: to wrap them
carefully every time. And in exchange, you get a product that is: expensive,
has a short shelf live (due to using a battery), and apparently sometimes has
reliability issues.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
You've picked a remarkably poor example to make your point. My Airpods (not
the Pro, intentionally) are easily one of the best consumer electronics
purchases I've made in the last decade. And it has little to do with not
having to wrap the cord up. It's that they're so light and unobtrusive that I
can wear them for hours at a time, whether I'm listening to something or not.

~~~
everdrive
I can see I have an unpopular opinion here. I really disagree that this should
be a game changer for anybody, and I think it fits my original example quite
well.

But please know, I don't mean this argumentatively. It's just a difference of
perspective I suppose.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
I downvoted your comment because you didn't present it as your personal
perspective, but almost as a moral judgment that anyone who buys or enjoys
consumer electronics just lacks impulse control or something. Sorry, but no
longer worrying about snagging my headphones cord on workout equipment isn't a
sign of a moral failing :)

~~~
everdrive
Thanks for the explanation, I appreciate the further detail.

------
drcode
I don't know how I feel about these types of threads... the airpods are
something of a technological miracle, I frankly can't believe how reliable
they are despite the shortcomings (I have the Pros and have experienced
occasional rattling issues, as well as connectivity issues, but still less
issues than on similar devices from other manufacturers I had previously)

I kinda feel like overly nitpicking these types of extremely advanced pieces
of technology risks discouraging Apple and other companies from experimenting
on cool new technology.

Can't we just all agree that the Airpods Pro give an awesome experience to 95%
of people, and be happy with how great that is? :)

~~~
totetsu
> risks discouraging Apple and other companies from experimenting on cool new
> technology.

I don't think we have to worry about hurting Apple's feelings.

