Apple Releases New Beta Firmware for AirPods Pro 3

Tuesday November 18, 2025 11:29 am PST by Juli Clover

Apple today released new beta firmware that's designed for the AirPods Pro 3. The firmware is limited to developers at the current time, and it has a build number of 8B5025a.

AirPods Pro Beta Firmware 2
The firmware comes as Apple is testing the iOS 26.2 update. iOS 26.2 expands Live Translation for the AirPods to the European Union, so the firmware could be related to that.

There is no word on what's included in the firmware update, however.

With iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe, Apple added a beta firmware update installation option that's available from the AirPods settings interface when the AirPods are connected to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, which facilitates beta testing.

Developers can use the beta option to turn on beta downloads.

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Top Rated Comments

DGGoingUphill

11 months ago

My ap3 still doing that whistling/feedback thing on long runs. Is so annoying. Thinking of going back to AP2

Have you had them replaced? Had the feedback and whistling on mine and they replaced them with no fuss. The new ones haven't had these issues at all.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

TracesOfArsenic

11 months ago

Release notes:

* Begins the reduction in ANC performance in preparation for the upcoming models
* Various bug fixes

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

eboychik

11 months ago

Still nothing….

No, that’s it. It’s never the full numerical designation. You got it.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jimscard

11 months ago

You know that the most likely reason the ANC degrades is that your mics get clogged with wax? I got a brush and some isopropyl alc and it improved my APP1 and 2 a lot in this regard. I'll do the same with the APP3 when it comes time.

Don’t do that. Isopropyl alcohol is not appropriate for cleaning AirPods Pro 2 or 3.

Apple has specific instructions for cleaning the meshes - https://support.apple.com/en-us/120409#meshes

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)