AirPods Pro firmware 2B588 reduce the noise cancelling capability

I bought my AirPod Pros on day one. Was extremely happy with it, especially how well it blocked out all the noises. I only ever needed to have my volume set at half-way to enjoy my music. Sadly now the noise cancellation barely exists; I can hear footsteps, cars passing by, every tick of the pedestrian red light. It simply doesn’t work.

I’ve taken in my AirPod Pros for repair 3 times for other reasons and ended up getting a replacement, which had the old firmware at first, and the noise cancellation difference was seriously night and day. Only lasted until it automatically updated the firmware though.

I am extremely disappointed and frustrated at Apple for basically removing the single most important feature of the AirPod Pros. Can anyone tell me where I can file a complaint about this?

Contact AppleCare. Schedule a call or chat with them. They contacted me and asked for more information (as others on this forum mentioned happened to them). The rep that I talked to said he was logging all of the info and sending it up to Engineering. I have also been updating him on other parts such as the new version 2C54 that also has the same issue, etc.

I tried the newest firmware on an airplane yesterday, noise level at around 67 dB, It does a decent job in cutting the engine low frequencies but the engine higher frequencies and the people around me were audible.

It fails big time when the situation is much less noisy like at home or in a quiet road.

Yeah I hope they will fix this. I spoke with Apple two or three times now and they keep collecting information and I let them know that both 2B588 and the newest firmware have the same issue and they are forwarding it up the line... It seems like just a simple fix via another update. I just hope they will fix it (and soon)...

Agreed. I’m in constant contact with an AppleCare rep who is forwarding all of what I’ve been experiencing up for chain. They are also aware of this forum post since that rep referenced this post when contacting me. So I hope they will fix it. The ANC is now only 5-20% of what it was before!

Apple, please fix this soon. If downgrading firmware was possible, I would have done that immediately :(

2B588 and 2C54 are the only firmware versions with this issue thus far for me (and consensus on this forum).

Previous launch firmware did not have this issue. (Fact, not speculation. Please... stop editing the post...)

[Edited by Moderator]

Just spoke to the wife hers are doing the same thing, she thought it was just her ears : ( went ahead and chatted to Apple and told them hers too. If they don’t have a update or fix soon- ours will be going back for the Sony’s.

What’s sad is you know their technical engineers knew that there was a degradation of ANC when they adjusted something else. I can’t believe this would have ever made it past change management etc.; especially right near the holidays. It’s a good way to see a lot of returns and brand loyalty loss for sure.

Apple keeps removing my posts because they are a "feedback or a feature request that was not constructive". I'm pretty sure all of us sharing our issues and concurring on what is happening is both constructive and not a feature request. We are helping each other out.

Right now, as posted above, we can only really submit feedback to Apple directly and/or contact AppleCare and open a case. A lot of us have done so and carrying on the discussion on discussions.apple.com seems to be constructive. Please don't censor us when we are already frustrated with a firmware issue that we are trying to constructively come together to find a solution about.

Sharing experiences with AppleCare will allow others to see what can or will happen when they contact AppleCare and what current solutions are available.

Thanks. Happy Holidays Apple!

Reporting same issues, I noticed the weaker ANC while is was on vacations in Amsterdam, got to the local store and talked to the staff, they don't have any reports of it, but they did have heard about the dizziness while using the airpods.

Its understandable that Apple want to the address the health problems around it but killing the ANC is not the solution!

Just give us a slider or something to turn it up to a desired level.

Yep that’s what the wife and I are worried about- we loved them up until the last two updates and we returned both sets because of this. I just hope they are still shipping with original firmware so people know how good it could have been and take them back until they recognize the issue and fix it- either by adding a slider which imho is the best solution- or allow people to revert back manually. They also need to start including firmware notes as well- this was super dirty on what they did and imho they could be held liable by selling a product and ”dumming” it down after purchase and expectations of product.

Lower level support may not know but Apple engineers sure do. This was absolutely intentional but the motivation will never be known. My personal belief is that the initial ANC caused too many reports of dizziness and headaches.

Both times, “low level” support took 5-6 mins breaks to check engineers feedback. Upon direct question, they reported that Apple is not aware of any issues with firmware update. It’s an hardware problem.

Also, if that was the case, with millions and millions units sold, this topic would have skyrocketed already.

I think it’s asinine software design AirPod users DO NOT have the ability to:

1) Force an AirPod firmware update. It seems 2C54 may be a step in the right direction vs 2B588. My AirPod 2s did it within 2 hours of the update being released.

2) Enable or disable auto updates

As someone who was inconvenienced by the whole HomePod 13.2 firmware bricking debacle, Apple is far from infallible. Props to Apple for handling it reasonably quick, but it highlights the quality issues people have experienced with iOS 13.x and shortsighted planning and lack of understanding of user needs. At least I can now disable or force a firmware update on my HomePod.

The amount of time I’ve wasted trying to update my AirPod Pros to 2C54 from 2B588 is RIDICULOUS. About ready to return them and buy some Sony or Melomanias. Oh and now one of my AirPod Pros isn’t being detected when it’s in my ear.

I agree. There should be ways to allow the updating of firmware similar to how Apple Watch is handled but Apple considers these to be firmware and not software updates (which is true but it's still something happening over the air and in the background automatically)... which leads to the next point about disabling updates or searching for an update.

Some rude members on this forum were yelling at another person for saying it was "hard" to update to 2C54... I defended the person saying that it took my AirPods about 3 days (each time charging wired while connected to the iPhone) for them to update randomly.

Apple rep said they do not push out these updates all at once to every device and that they are done in batches (similar to how iOS updates are "requested" and not everyone gets it instantaneously otherwise the servers would die in a second).

I don't understand why you are being so passive aggressive here... Please... just be polite. There is no reason to archive this post.

We would love to hear the results of your tests but many of us have already spoken to Apple reps on multiple occasions and have learned about how deeply spread this issue is. If it was a hardware problem, I would have had them swapped already... It's clear that everyone here had no issues until the 2B588 firmware was updated. Firmware is much more "tight" or "close" to hardware than software is so it could appear to be a hardware issue when it was just a bug or some silly choice to reduce the ANC in the code.

Also your tests would have to show the ANC noise canceling function on the both the original AirPods Pro firmware which I believe was 2B584 and then further on either 2B588 and 2C54. We aren't saying there is NO ANC on 2B588 and 2C54... We are saying that it has been reduced down to about 15-30% of what it was on the shipping firmware.