Review: Airpods Pro 2 with Android

I’ve been using the Airpods Pro 2 with an Android phone for the past few months. Recently, I came across the Librepods project, which aims to unlock Apple exclusive features available for Android users. This requires rooting the phone, so I’m too keen on installing it, but I was curious about what I’m missing, which prompted this post.

This review is about 3 years too late, because the newer Airpods Pro 3 are already out. But most of these observations are about using the Airpods Pro 2 with Android, which should mostly also apply to the newer generation.

I’ve avoided the Airpods Pro 2 in the past because they have a reputation of not working too well with Android. But after using it for 3 months, I realized it’s a viable choice for Android users, albeit rather pricy for the features available, compared to other options in the price range.

What works well

Sound quality is leagues above the Jaybird Vista and the Galaxy Buds Live that I’ve been using daily until now. I’m not an audiophile, but I’d say they sound about as good as the Sennheiser HD1 over the ear headphones that I used in the past.

Noise cancellation is where it really blew me away. The in-ear fit is great, so I found the noise cancellation better than that of the HD1s. The Galaxy Buds Live are technically ANC earbuds, but they do a worse job than the non-ANC Jaybirds with isolating noise, so the Airpods are huge jump.

Controls. You can use the stem to control a bunch of things, like answering calls, play/pause, volume and toggling noise cancellation. You’ll need an Apple device to change what each action does, but I’ve been happy with the default settings.

Battery life is pretty decent at 6 hours, and with the charging case that goes up to 30 hours, so I’ve only ever run out of battery a couple of times. Even then charging for a few minutes will top it up enough for a while. With wireless charging support, it’s easy to throw it on to a charging pad, and not worry about it for days.

What doesn’t work well

Spatial audio is something I didn’t know I wanted until I tried using it with the iPad this week. The head tracking makes it so much more immersive, and it sounds a lot better. Really wish this worked on Android.

Conversation awareness automatically lowers the volume and enhances voices when it detects that you’re speaking to someone. This is exclusive to Apple devices. On Android, it only turns off noise cancellation when nothing is playing, which isn’t particularly useful.

Automatic ear detection is the other one where taking off one of the earbuds will pause whatever’s playing, but this doesn’t work with Android either.

Battery status isn’t visible when connected to Android. This is a bit annoying, but I’ve mostly not had to worry about battery levels, so it’s not a huge downside.

Firmware updates will only work if it’s connected to an Apple device, which is a problem if you don’t have any devices you can connect it to.

Customizing the settings of the Airpods can only be done on Apple devices. The stock settings work well for me so it’s not a big problem, but having a Macbook to tweak it is nice. Apple doesn’t let you easily tweak the EQ even within their ecosystem, so this is mostly for customizing the controls on the buds.

Device switching works seamlessly between my Macbook and iPad. I could have two videos open, and it will switch to whichever device starts playing. This is one where I can understand why this won’t work on Android.

Other factors

Comfort: They are very lightweight, but I still found them less comfortable than the Jaybird Vista. The latter have fins to stabilize the earpods for workouts, so I find them better for longer use, while the Airpods become tiring after a couple of hours. Ironically, I’ve been using the Airpods more for workouts, and the Vistas for long calls!

No AptX codec suport, so you’ll have to switch to AAC codecs on Android. AptX has lower latencies which is useful for keeping audio in sync with video. I haven’t been able to notice any lag, and AAC does have better sound quality, so I’m not too bothered by the lack of AptX support.

No voice assistant unless you have an iPhone. I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking to a voice assistant in public anyway, so not having to use Siri is actually a pro, in my book.

Verdict

Overall, I’m happy with the Airpods. Now that I’ve tried out spatial audio, I’m going to miss that on the phone, and ear detection would have been nice, but i’m still happy with everything else. However, if there are things that really bother you, installing Librepods should solve most problems.

I got the Airpods for free as part of a promo, but if I were buying a pair of today, I’d look more closely at alternatives that work well with Android. Both Sony and Bose seem to have similar earbuds that work great with Android. However, despite the flaws, the Airpods would be right up there for consideration.