Have you recently brought a new pair of AirPods for a price that seemed too good to be true? Luckily, some signs can help you distinguish fake AirPods from genuine ones.
To tell your AirPods apart, you must first check its packaging and box. The lettering would be flat gray and not reflective on real AirPods. There should be a lightning port for charging, and it should shut magnetically. The bottom of specific models of real AirPods would have an oval-shaped vent. Lastly, you need to verify its serial number.
We have created an extensive guide with multiple signs to distinguish real AirPods from fake ones and find their model.
Telling AirPods Apart
If you don’t know how to tell your AirPods apart, our 7 methods will help you check if your AirPods are genuine or fake.
Packaging and Box
One thing that adds to an Apple premium purchasing experience is its packaging. Fake AirPods will likely have a cheaper feel to their packaging, and the letters on their box would be more shiny and reflective instead of flat gray.
Inspect the box thoroughly, as AirPods replicas might have grammatical and spelling mistakes.
Charging Port
All Apple products traditionally have a lightning port, which is true for the AirPods. So if you have a type-C or any other port in the case of your AirPods, you might have received a fake product.
Case
Try to get a general feel of the surface of your AirPods case. In cases of counterfeit devices, the plastic would feel flimsier and cheaper.
When closing, the genuine Apple AirPods would shut magnetically, unlike the fake ones, and would also have a status LED light at the front.
Bottom Vent
The bottom of most fake AirPods would have a circular-shaped vent instead of an oval one. However, this might be different for some models, so it’s better to check the other signs first.
Automatic Pairing
Another sign that can be a quick identifier for genuine Apple AirPods is their automatic pairing feature. You might be in troubled waters if your iOS device doesn’t automatically get a pop-up pairing menu when brought close to the AirPods.
AirPods Features
When you’ve paired your AirPods to an iOS device, you will get an “i” sign next to their name in Settings > “Bluetooth”. When you tap it, you will see various options on a genuine device like “NOISE CONTROL”, “Spatial Audio”, etc.
You might have a counterfeit device if none of these options are available on your AirPods.
Serial Number
Apple offers a unique AppleCare service for their genuine devices. Using the serial number present on your device, you can easily check if your AirPods are genuine or not.
The serial number of AirPods is generally located on the underside of the lid and the right earbud. It might be a little harder to see as it’s written in tiny letters.
However, once you’ve found the serial number, go to Check Coverage on a web browser of your choice, enter the serial number present on your device, type in the captcha code, and click “Continue”.
If you have a genuine Apple product, the website will find and tell you its exact model, and you’ll be eligible for AppleCare.
Checking Original AirPods Model Number
Once you’ve made sure that you have an authentic Apple product, you might want to know the generation and the model of AirPods you are using.
While you can always find these details from Check Coverage, there is a quicker method where you won’t need to look hard to decipher the number on your AirPods.
- Connect your AirPods to your iOS device.
- Go to the Settings app and tap “Bluetooth”.
- Tap the “i” icon on your AirPods to view their details page.
- Scroll down to find the “Model Number” and the “Serial Number” of your AirPods. You can quickly identify your AirPods model name and generation from the list.
Summary
In this guide, we’ve discussed how to tell your AirPods apart with the help of several methods. We’ve also discussed getting to know your AirPods model name and their generation.
Hopefully, this article has helped you make a safe purchase decision for your Apple Device.
Frequently Asked Questions
While the external look of the first and second-generation AirPods is identical, many internal changes have been made.
The second-generation AirPods from Apple offer marginal improvements over the first-generation model in terms of audio and speech quality, conversation time, and support for Siri voice commands.
The second-generation, the third-generation, and the AirPods Pro are the three sets of AirPods that Apple now offers, and all have somewhat different features, looks, and sounds.
