AirPods Pros making crackling static noises

I called Apple support last Thursday and told them about my issues with the AirPod Pros I bought back in Feb. My replacements came in the mail this morning, haven’t had a chance to use them yet lol, hoping they work like they’re suppose to. Apple puts a temporary hold on your credit card until they receive the defective pair back in the mail. These AirPod Pros are truly the biggest pile of crap product they’ve ever released. They need to stop selling them, and recall them. Release the next generation of them when they’ve worked out all the bugs and issues. These things are $360 here in Canada after tax, I expect them to be absolutely flawless for that price. I’m done with Bluetooth/noise cancelling earbuds/headphones, they’re not worth the $$. A good ole pair of $30 wired Sony earbuds is good enough for me lol.

Apple replaced my defective airpods Last month with a new one last month. The same crackling issue re occurred last week on the new pair of airpods. Got it again changed.

i have now replaced airpods with Apple twice. It looks like this is a systemic issue or a hardware issue and they should be refunding customers who wish to go for alternatives.

I'm so frustrated with this issue. Bought my first pair in February, got them replaced in May, now the replacements are exhibiting the same rattling/crackling problem in August. Something definitely isn't right with the Airpod Pros. I have never experienced this lack of quality control with an Apple product. Something needs to be done, a statement from Apple about the acknowledgement of this widespread issue, a recall, SOMETHING!!!!. Gonna return the replacements.

I got my original pair as a gift in November of 2019. Had the left one replaced in March and am now waiting for the right bud replacement. My girlfriend got a pair at the same time but has had no issues. I'd advice anyone to wait to purchase a new pair until the 2nd generation comes out. It's pretty ridiculous that both of my buds had the same problem.

I just dropped my AirPods Pro off to a repair center for the third time because of popping in yet another earphone. On my way out I passed a string of people with broken MacBooks. “We don’t ship junk” I guess this promise died with Steve Jobs.

To be honest with the exception of my AirPod Pros, I've been very happy with my Apple products over the last 15-20 years. I've always gotten my $$ worth out of their products, but these AirPod Pros are garbage. They should've been recalled and pulled from stores months ago. Customers shouldn't have to be getting these things replaced 3 or 4 times, that should be a wake up call for Apple to recall them and stop manufacturing them until they've worked out the glitches.

Same issue here. It wasn't happening a few days ago and suddenly I'm hearing this subtle crackling sound and sometimes slight feedback noise when I speak. No issue when transparency and noise cancellation are off though, so it seems like there might be an issue with the microphone.

Piling on, I've had mine since Feb '20 and they have been GREAT! Starting a couple of weeks ago, I began to notice "crackling" in the left Airpod with any movement or touch. It has gotten progressively worse. Speaking (flexing my jaw) or touching them creates the noise. Turning off transparency or noise cancellation stops the noise, which to me implies it is something with the pickup mic.

Finally hopped on the support page, opened a chat, explained the issue with the agent. He had me unpair and re-pair the airpods, which had no effect. Apple is now sending me a replacement left Airpod (after leaving a deposit). That whole experience was quick and easy, and if you have NOT done that, I recommend it. Now, fingers crossed that the problem is permanently resolved.

I hope you have it resolved but as a lot of ppl on this thread have mentioned, we've been on our 3rd or even 4th replacement. As you have said...'fingers crossed' Good luck, but this gen of APPs are crap.

Irnaggie - I think the problem is more that many people have had to replace theirs 3 or 4 times which is crap. My 3rd ones apple told me I needed to go into a store to diagnose the problem, I dropped them off and a week later was told to come back and get them. I asked the rep what the issue was, his response “we didn’t even test it and are just replacing them”

what does that tell you? 😒

This fixed it for me. I wasn't hearing crackling but people I spoke with said I sound robotic and so I concluded it was an issue with my mic. I would typically jump from using my pods on my mac and then my phone and didn't realize that multiple pairing could have caused the issue.

I have had the same issue. Apple support suggested I wait for a new SW update - did so, two times (two SW versions) and the problem did not just refuse to go away, other issues appeared. That was the moment I took them in for a warranty repair and they swapped them for me for brand new ones. Try pushing them to do so with yours, too, since it clearly is a HW related problem and they better start handling their shi*...

My right Airpod has static in Noise Cancellation and Transparency, not in Off. I did find that, after listening in Off for 15-mins or so, it seems to somewhat be better when switching to Noise Cancellation. Not perfect, but better. This problem seems in need of a software update.

Really strange fix but my right side was having issues and I noticed when I squeezed the stem to change the mode it sounded better. I used a little scotch tape to compress the stem and it seems to work for me.

not a great fix considering I hear they’re replacing AirPods for the buzzing but might be a temp fix for some.

I have same problem with really cheap cracking buzzing sound quality from my AirPods Pro which I have exchanged two weeks ago for the same reason in apple store !! I think this is revolting that apple is charging £250 for AirPods which honestly sounds the same as those one from Amazon for £25. I am going to return mine again and I am going to ask for the refund. Upgraded software didn’t work those AirPods are just crap