Apple’s audio department is currently working overtime. After a long-awaited update for the AirPods Pro, the company has now released fresh firmware for the second generation of the original version of the completely wireless earplugs. The previous version 2A364 goes up to 2D15, as users noted on Tuesday. Interestingly, this corresponds to the version status that AirPods Pro has also received.
Only Apple knows what’s new
As usual, there are no release notes for the update – so it remains unclear which errors Apple has fixed and / or which new functions might exist. However, it is clear that firmware 2D15 is bringing some AirPods owners out of trouble. Apple had, as it became known in April, in the meantime distributed replacement AirPods with an unpublished firmware called 2D3. If these were only delivered individually, this led to a serious problem: it was not possible for the users to connect the freshly delivered earphones to existing AirPods, the pairing process failed.
Since the AirPods (Pro) firmware generally cannot be downgraded to an older version – at least by the user himself – then all that helped was to ask Apple for another replacement plug or to put the devices in the drawer until one newer firmware was available. This has now been done with version 2D15. Accordingly, users can update the unpublished firmware on their replacement devices to this version level, as can existing plugs with version 2A364. This means that the devices are compatible with each other again and can be paired.
Déjà vu all over again
It’s not the first time that Firmware AirPods (Pro) owners are in trouble. With the Pro models, Apple had initially distributed and then withdrawn firmware with defective functions, forcing users to live with the bugs if they didn’t want to contact Apple’s replacement service. The much awaited update didn’t appear until early May.
With AirPods and AirPods Pro, Apple unfortunately does not make it easy for its users to import new firmware versions. The update is carried out regularly “over the air” when the earplugs are connected to an iPhone, which in turn requires the current iOS version. One trick that works most of the time is unpairing the AirPods (Pro). Then you plug it into the charging case, connect it to the power and start a new pairing process. The new firmware should be called up and installed.
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