expiredcaptainguy posted Dec 06, 2025 08:08 AM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expiredcaptainguy posted Dec 06, 2025 08:08 AM
Costco Members: AirPods Pro 3 w/ Active Noise Cancellation + 2-Yr AppleCare+
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AppleCare as in the default 1 year warranty doesn't cover battery degradation, but AC+ that Costco bundles with your purchase here does and it's a free pod replacement. I've made claims for both my APP1 and APP2 when the pods battery degraded significantly enough with my AC+ plan and it's a free replacement. They mail you a shipping box and you return the dead pod and they send you a new one
Also the Genius Bar is wrong about the new replacement pod calibrating to existing old pod's battery life. My left APP1 battery failed outright and wouldn't charge at all and was replaced in 2021. It was very evident the replacement left pod would last anywhere from 30 minutes to nearly an hour longer than the original right pod before I made an AC+ claim to get the right pod replaced
Same with the APP2s, the replacement pod absolutely does not "sync down" to the existing pod's degradation. They'll just both make the do-do-do-do sound but the newer pod will continue doing whatever it is that it was doing in passive mode (no ANC or transparency) after the old pod hits 0% until the new pod itself also hits 0%
And if you'll forgive me, I'm gonna believe what was said to me about battery degradation by a genius with the manager present.
There may be exceptions, but generally speaking any device you own that is covered by AC+ gets free repair or replacement for battery degradation if health is below 80% original capacity
If you were charged $58 for both pods, they billed you for accidental damage and not a battery concern. Honestly, you should've pushed back more. Service visit experiences differ WILDLY between different stores. I've had AC+ coverage denied for other devices at one store, but I'm fortunate enough to live in close proximity to like 5 others within a 20 minute driving distance so I just changed stores and all was well
You can also check the deductibles for different types of service for various products with AC+ coverage here:
https://www.apple.com/legal/apple...ductibl
Or use their get an estimate tool below to check deductibles for AirPods specifically. Battery services for AirPods have $0 deductible for AC+:
https://support.apple.c
And as far as the new pod calibrating to the old pod's battery life, you don't have to take my word for it. But be advised that Genius Bar interactions are not interactions with service technicians. Anything technical that Genius Bar or floor sales associate says to you should be taken with a grain of salt. They're customer service with minimal technical knowledge or know how of the products. You can think of them as a service writer at a dealership service center. Same goes for managers. My experience with APP1 and 2 not crippling themselves based on the older pod is purely anecdotal, but from an engineering perspective it also makes little sense for a pod to communicate its degraded battery health to the host device or other pod and sandbag the battery performance of both. This dark pattern only serves to increase user friction after they've presumably already been frustrated by having to replace (at cost or for free) one pod and wait for the replacement to ship and I can't imagine is an effective strategy to drive sales since it doesn't disable the AirPods outright or make them unusable; just more annoying
In fact, to prove both my points about the highly variable experiences from store to store as well as FoH associates lacking all but the most basic technical understanding of products, I encourage you to ask about new and old AirPods syncing battery runtimes to match the shorter pod's health the next time you're at an Apple Store. I'm extremely confident not only will the answer change, but the exact mall store location that provided you with this information might not even respond the same way
Lastly, there's just 0 documentation or discussion of this being an issue anywhere. Apple sells 10s of millions of AirPods annually, and yet you won't find a single thread on Reddit or macrumors or Apple Community forums observing or discussing this phenomenon
Guessing you don't use them much? I use them up to 12+ hours/day. First Gen couldn't even hold a charge by the time 2nd Gen came out 3 years later. And that was after I'd gotten a free pair because of a recall issue a year in.
2nd Gen I left abroad with family in October. Didn't use them nearly as much because AirPods Max had much better NC, so they still got decent battery life. I'll get them when I return and give them to a friend. I was planning to replace them anyway though as they're my last Lightning product.
3rd Gen were the only ones I paid full retail for, but via Costco because AirPods are Apple's least reliable product.
I haven't flown with them yet, but twice I've been in places with loud equipment (one was Dyson hand dryers and the other was commercial freezers) and hadn't realized it except the person I'm talking to says they can't hear me at all. I take one out of my ear and realize it's deafening outside and I'd need to yell for them to hear me. Unreal! I also have the AirPods Max, and APP3 have better NC.
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2nd Gen I left abroad with family in October. Didn't use them nearly as much because AirPods Max had much better NC, so they still got decent battery life. I'll get them when I return and give them to a friend. I was planning to replace them anyway though as they're my last Lightning product.
3rd Gen were the only ones I paid full retail for, but via Costco because AirPods are Apple's least reliable product.
I haven't flown with them yet, but twice I've been in places with loud equipment (one was Dyson hand dryers and the other was commercial freezers) and hadn't realized it except the person I'm talking to says they can't hear me at all. I take one out of my ear and realize it's deafening outside and I'd need to yell for them to hear me. Unreal! I also have the AirPods Max, and APP3 have better NC.
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