Airpods Pro 2 noise cancellation worse after firmware update 7A294

Same for me. From best AirPods with which I bragged to everyone who didn't have a pair of AirPods to checking if ANC is even turned on. We need to get Apple's attention so maybe have everyone else affected, comment on this thread.

Same here. Noise cancellation is worse and very frustrating, especially when commuting or when the someone is watching TV while I'm watching a podcast on my phone. I tried resetting the AirPods to factory settings, tried with another Iphone 14Pro... same thing, ANC is worse than before the update.

Unfortunately, it’s the same for me. Sometimes I even check if I actually have the noise cancellation mode turned on because so many sounds are coming through. I hope Apple will do something about it because, in fact, they’ve ruined my favorite headphones.

I was on a train yesterday and could hear everything. It’s almost completely pointless having noise cancelling turned on.

I’m sat here writing this, listening to the radio as someone sat at a table 2 metres away and I can hear everything they are saying to each other.

Prior to iOS 18 the noise cancelling was decent on these same earphones.

I hope apple fixes this.

I am experiencing the same issue!

After iOS 18 update my noice canceling is weaker! I am pretty sure thet Apple reduce the noice canceling at least by 30%-50% and i dont know the reason!

i had the best earpods in the market and now its like a usual earpods. You cannot understand a lot of difference between transparency and Noice canceling! Its frustrating!

what is going on Apple? Will this problem solved anytime soon?

I am experiencing the same issue - it is a bit like ANC isn’t on at all. It is much weaker than before updating to iOS 18. I really hope this is not planned obsolescence.

I can literally hear water dripping with ANC on on my AP2. It’s mind-boggling that Apple doesn’t allow us to opt out of or at least confirm firmware updates for the AirPods, the same way we do for iOS updates. It’s unfair that they can push out updates that downgrade functionality without giving us a choice.

Same here. I want my old good noise cancellation back!

Same here. It's so frustrating because I am a guitarist of a rock band, and I use my AirPods Pro as ear protection in loud shows. It used to have the perfect amount of noise reduction in adaptive mode. Now, even in noise reduction mode, I can hear much more noise than in adaptive mode. I was so happy to have found the perfect protection for my ears, and now Apple took this out of me.

Same here. I can hear everything in the office now, and even worst when I go into the workshop with all the machinery. Very dissapointed, I hope they release a report explaining what happened and fix it.

Same here. Great noise cancellation previously, now basically no noise cancellation. I use them in a noisy office setting and can hear every outside conversation, HVAC noise, etc. as if I didn't have AirPods in my ears at all. I loved these AirPods when I got them 6 months ago, now not sure that they're worth even keeping at this point.

Shame to see the best ever feature in the Airpods pro 2 that no one could deny became such a mediocre noise reduction at best, I’ve bought them less than a month ago and I am really regretting my decision now

It happened to me that someone was calling my friend in a large room and I had the permeability mode on my AirPods pro 2. I had the music completely turned down.. And suddenly I hear as if someone was calling me who was calling her.. Loud and completely clear and I was about 10 meters away from her. She had no idea and I could hear her call beautifully and she didn't have a handsfree..

Yeah 7a305 broke my AP2's ANC completely. I'm certainly Apple's captive, and they can apparently do anything they want to me, but after reading all of this, I'm even nervous to pay their ransom and re-buy AP2's, because apparently it happened to new ones as well. Very, very disheartening for the brand.