Apple's AirPods are such a great product that many folks – like me – use them every day. Unfortunately, after you use them a lot, the rechargeable batteries start to wear out. Instead of listening for up to five hours before needing to recharge, you eventually may find the batteries wearing out after only an hour, or even less. And because you cannot open up AirPods to replace the batteries yourself, many folks respond by spending $160 on a new pair of AirPods — with a new charging case, even though they didn't really need a new charging case. Apple does offer an AirPods battery service, but it costs $49 for each AirPod, so that will cost you about $100.
Kevin Purdy of iFixIt writes about a new company called Podswap which came up with a way to replace the batteries in a pair of AirPods. For only $60, the company will send you a refurbished pair of AirPods, and then you use the same shipping box to send back your AirPods. Podswap refurbishes the AirPods that you sent in by replacing the battery and cleaning the product, and then the company sells that pair to the next person, and so on. You keep the same charging case that you had originally, and you use your original case with the refurbished iPods.
I haven't tried Podswap, so I cannot vouch for the company. However, iFixIt is a trusted website when it comes to repairing Apple products, and so I trust Kevin Purdy when he says that, based on his experience, the service seems to work as advertised. Check out the iFixIt article for more information. Podswap currently only works with first and second generation AirPods, not the AirPods Pro.
I like the idea of spending only $60 instead of $160 or $100 when your batteries start to wear out. And it is also nice to know that when you use Podswap, your old AirPods are being reused instead of ending up in a trash heap somewhere.
