AirPods Pro 2 headphones complained of problems with audio desynchronization and inconsistent volume

Launched just a month ago, the AirPods Pro 2 headphones have already garnered unwanted attention because of a bug that required the rechargeable and non-replaceable “battery replacement”. More recently, users are also complaining about problems with audio syncing between the two earphones.

The first problem seems to have stemmed from the integration with the Find My service, useful for retrieving earphones accidentally dropped from the ear, with Apple engineers believing it was sufficient to copy/paste the firmware already developed for the AirTag accessory, adding only the relevant changes for the AirPods 2 product. The result, the new Apple earbuds are mistaken by the Find My app for simple AirTags, mistakenly requiring physical replacement of batteries that only require recharging.

But the second problem seems a bit more complex, manifesting itself in desynchronization of sound played between the left-right earbuds. At the same time, beta test group buyers also complain of problems with randomly changing the volume of the sound depending on the content being played. Some parts of the songs played are louder than they should be, or softer.

Clearly firmware in nature, the problem seems to be related to Noise Canceling technology, the complained symptoms disappearing if the ANC function is left off.

Updating to the latest version of iOS doesn’t seem to fix the problem, pointing to the AirPods Pro 2 firmware itself as the source of the problems. At this time, Apple is not offering an official fix for the reported issues.