AirPods Pros making crackling static noises

I had the same crackling sound issue on the left piece and a buzzing sound in the right piece. I have spent a crazy amount of time with apple support over the last 3 months on this issue and finally decided to take the AirPods Pro to the Apple store.

Visited the Genius Bar yesterday after a 1 hour drive. After waiting for 2 hours in queue, they did some basic test and decided to replace both the left and the right Airpods Pro pieces. To my surprise, the firmware of the replaced left earpiece (2B584) was different from that of the right earpiece (2B588) and simply the airpods were not usable together the whole of yesterday. Again had to spent an additional 1 hour with apple support, then followed the steps given in my previous post to sync up the mismatched firmware versions to the latest firmware version (2D27).

Today is my second day with the replaced Airpods pro. The crackling and the buzzing sound, touch wood, has not reoccurred till time.

While am happy that my replaced AirPods Pro is finally usable...have a lot of questions and doubts which are unanswered....

1 - Is the issue a generic hardware issue or a software issue?

Basically, have this question as I did not get a chance to check if installing 2D27 solved the the crackling sound in my old problematic Airpods pro. The version of the old problematic AirPods Pro was 2D15 at the time of replacement and apple does not give any control for its consumers to directly initiate the firmware update for Airpods.

2 - Will the crackling & buzzing sound reoccur on the replaced AirPods Pro after some time of usage ?

Have started using my replaced AirPods Pro very frequently since I replaced it yesterday. Am worried that this problem will start after the warranty period....and so I want to find out sooner, if it re occurs again, at least within the warranty period....so that I can have it replaced again.

3 - If the answer to my 1st question is that the AirPods Pro has a generic “Hardware Issue”.....Is Apple ready to consider a recall and replacemeant of problematic AirPods Pro beyond the warranty period?

In such similar situations in that past, apple has extended the warranty of some of its faulty products beyond the normal warranty date of the product. They extended replacement of Apple Watch series 1 beyond 3 years for a generic battery issue which caused the Apple Watch series 1’s back cover to pop out. So the question is...will apple take a similar stance for the faulty Airpods Pro design ? (Although it Is not conclusive that this Issue is a hardware design issue, due to lack of communication from apple regarding this specific issue)

I strongly feel apple should beef up its communication on the faulty Airpods pro “Crackling & Buzzing sound Issue” and extend warranty for its faithful customers who are a victim of this situation especially due to the following reasons !!

A - Given the fact that this particular issue is so much widespread

B - People have spent so much time with Apple’s support and Genius Bar

C - The AirPods Pro is not a cheap piece of device that customer have to go through this trauma.

Apple, you need to talk more on what is going on here !

I had this issues and worked through it with Apple support. They ended up replacing the right AirPod for me. The whole experience was as pleasant as working with support can be. That worked for a couple months but the issue seems to be back. It is the worst when I talk, it sounds like a blown speaker. I found turning off the noise cancellation or transparency fixes the issue for me. I am hoping this is a software issue and they can send a fix over the air.

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 went to the Apple store and they swapped my left ear bid without hassle. I was clear in everything I tried and they were cool and easy about it.

I recommend cleaning out the invisible debris as described above: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250825380?answerId=252027662022#252027662022

I had the same issue after 4 months. But only the left piece had the issue. I brought it back to Apple store. They replaced the left one right away!

The fix is to get them replaced under warranty.

I seem to fixed the problem by removing and reinstalling the rubber of the right airpod. So far after one day the static cracking sound disappeared.

I just went to service center the other day and they replaced the right earphone for me. So far it’s all good now.

Replacements arrived - they seem to work a lot better. No issues with noise cancellation. It seems to work a lot better too ... hardly did anything before. Managed to pass the fitment test.

I’ve started hearing this annoying crackling in some songs and I didn’t understand why it only happened on the right AirPod... Finally, I tried to turn off noise cancellation and transparency mode, and the issue vanished. The fact that it’s a software issue relieved me so much, you’re right, these things are way too expensive to have bugs, but luckily it’s “just” a bug 😉

The only way to get it click less was to set the rubber cup little bit wrong. If I put it on correctly it rattle but if I leave like 0,1mm on the side it rattle less. It must be the rubber cup that make the clicking nois when it touch the black part around the AirPod.

After a second chat with Apple Support, they are replacing both of my ear buds. They should be here tomorrow. My fingers are crossed that this won’t happen again, but given the seemingly lack of information about this makes me wonder if there is a true fix. I hope the truth comes out eventually.

I had the exactly same problem on my right side Airpod pro about 1 month ago. Reset, re-pair dont solve it. I had to send in for replacement. Apple replace another one for me after 10+ days I sent in.

Now, My left side having same exact problem. I called in and they ask me to send in to shop for a Physical check. Problem now is the shop already closed due to Government's COVID-19 directive until 14 April or maybe will get extend longer.

Unfortunately, due to Apple's Policy in my country. They cannot do the "mail-in service" meaning they send a replacement to me first, make a hold charge on my credit card. I send back to them, once they check and confirmed is the real problem. They will release the CC hold.

I hope Apple can implement the "mail-in service" in my country due to COVID-19 situation. But as of now, i stuck with ONE faulty Airpod pro.

As a workaround for when you are moving or eating, you can turn off cancellation and ambience. On the BT config of your phone you can set the long press on the airpods to circle between the three modes (Cancellation, Ambience, Off)

For me with the last update, the problem improved greatly. I can usually make the crackling disappear by shifting with the piece a little bit. Though the issue isn't gone completely.