AirPods 2nd Gen - Microphone stopped working after 6A321 firmware

I am also having problems with the microphones on my airpods (3rd gen). I took them to the apple store and they updated the software but the problem is still there. I just realized that if I am in a complete silence environment microphone will not work, but If I have some “kind of loud” background sound it works. So when the apple genius tested inside the mall it worked well, but inside my car or at home it doesn’t. It just started happening after Apple released the last firmware update 6A321, towards the end of January.

Same problem here! Since my AirPods 3 updated to 6A321, both microphones no longer work properly. The people I talk to on the phone tell me that they can hardly understand me and that it sounds like I'm very far away from the phone. I then made some tests with the voice recorder app and the sound volume actually "jumps" extremely from normal volume to extremely quiet. This applies to both microphones and also when you set it to only use the left or only the right microphone. The update has therefore made the AirPods unusable.

I took my Airpods for the second time to the Apple store. I explained to them what what was happening, showed them some voice memos recorded with the AirPods and they also tested it inside the store and realized it wasn’t fully working. Since my Airpods were still under warranty they replaced them with new ones, so, if yours are still under warranty I would recommend making an appointment with at Genius bar to have them checked!

I had a long call with Apple Support about the problem and pointed out that there are many other people who describe the problem in forums. I was then given a link to which I could send the voice recordings to illustrate the problem. However, all they could tell me was that there would surely be an update soon that would fix the problem. But I didn't accept that. My AirPods are unusable in this form. The same applies to my wife's AirPods Pro, by the way. Her pods have also updated to 6A321. I have an appointment at the Apple Store tomorrow. I'm curious to see what they say, because our AirPods are out of warranty.

Exactly the same story, only with the right bud.

I have the same problem after firmware updates to 6A321. I hope resolves it quickly Apple!