AirPodsSource: iMore

What you need to know

  • In April, we reported that Apple seemed to be shipping replacement AirPods with new, unreleased firmware
  • As a result, users were unable to connect the replacement to their existing AirPods, because the firmware didn't match.
  • Apple has now issued a new firmware update to solve the issue.

Apple has released a new version of its firmware for its second-generation AirPods, fixing an issue that had previously plagued users who received a replacement bud from Apple.

Back in April, iMore reported that Apple was shipping single, replacement AirPods with a new version of its firmware, 2D3 installed. The problem was that this was not compatible with the existing AirPods firmware, and so people were unable to use their new replacement AirPods bud with their existing one. From that report:

If you have a faulty AirPod and Apple sends you a new one out, cross your fingers. If the replacement ships with firmware 2D3 installed you're going to have a problem. That's because firmware 2D3 isn't public yet – preventing you from updating your existing AirPod to match.

And as it turns out, that's a problem as many people on Reddit and social media have found out. AirPods need to be running the same firmware in order to pair with each other, and because firmware 2D3 isn't available, updating to it is impossible. That leaves one AirPod running an older version of the firmware and no way to sort the problem out.

As reported by AppleInsider, a new firmware update, version 2D15 is now available for Apple's second-generation AirPods. This means that users can now update both of their AirPods to the same version of the more recent firmware, hopefully solving any pairing problems they may have previously been experiencing.

AirPods firmware updates automatically, so you don't need to do anything. You can check your AirPods firmware in the 'About' section of 'General' in the 'Settings' app, just make sure your AirPods are connected!