Apple Explains iPhone's New Alert Shown When Fake AirPods Are Connected

Starting with iOS 16, users may see a "Cannot Verify AirPods" alert on their iPhone if they try to connect fake AirPods to the device. Apple shared more information about this alert today in a new support document spotted by developer Steve Moser.

iOS 16 iPhone Unverified AirPods Alert
The support document indicates that unverified AirPods can still be connected to an iPhone, but may not perform as expected.

Apple's alert features a prominent "Don't Connect" button, but users can tap on the smaller "Connect in Bluetooth Settings" link to proceed with connecting the unverified AirPods if they choose to. Twitter user "Tommy Boi" shared a video of the alert in action a few days ago after connecting fake AirPods to their iPhone (NSFW warning: the video's background music contains profanity and viewer discretion is advised).

The alert was first discovered in code for the iOS 16 Release Candidate last week.

Related Forum: iOS 16

Top Rated Comments

zilchfox Avatar
21 months ago
Good way to validate you’re buying genuine AirPods from Craigslist and the like. Also good that you can still use them anyways.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
russell_314 Avatar
21 months ago

A person would have to be really desperate to use fake AirPods
There’s actually a market for them. Some people just don’t want to pay full price
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
killramos Avatar
21 months ago
My AirPods the Apple Store replaced 2 months ago are flagged as fake lol. Seems like the feature works super well
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CapitalIdea Avatar
21 months ago

I've had a few pairs of fake air pods

they aren't much worse sounding than real ones. if you like the form factor but don't care about owning apple everything they can be a decent buy

only issue I've had with some pairs is that the batteries sometimes crap out pretty quickly
But this isn’t about just liking the form factor. This is about devices that falsely report that they are legitimate apple products instead of scammy trash.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
visualseed Avatar
21 months ago

A person would have to be really desperate to use fake AirPods
A lot of people think they are buying real AirPods at a good but still reasonable price. Since real AirPods are often being sold at steep discounts, it's hard to even warn people about deals that seem to good to be true.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nathansz Avatar
21 months ago

A person would have to be really desperate to use fake AirPods
I've had a few pairs of fake air pods

they aren't much worse sounding than real ones. if you like the form factor but don't care about owning apple everything they can be a decent buy

only issue I've had with some pairs is that the batteries sometimes crap out pretty quickly
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...