iOS 16 detects fake AirPods
The new iPhone operating system warns users if they want to connect fake AirPods. However, Apple has not stopped using it (yet).
Apple is known for integrating detection systems into iOS, with which, for example, spare parts that have been purchased can be detected. This has led to conflicts in the past, because the company has even deactivated third-party components – allegedly for security reasons. So far, however, this hardware nailing has not affected any external devices. This is changing with iOS 16, which is due to be released this Monday evening: according to user reports, the operating system can warn for the first time when counterfeit AirPods are connected.
Warning about the wrong plugs
However, this currently has no practical effects – only a corresponding dialog, which is likely to unsettle the affected user, appears. According to 9to5Mac, it then states that “these headphones could not be verified as authentic AirPods”. “[Deshalb] they may not work as expected.” The new “feature” for detecting fakes is part of the release candidate of iOS 16, which has been available since last week.
In fact, counterfeit AirPods are a big problem for Apple – and their customers, if they don’t know it. For years there have been an enormous number of fake products, especially those from China, as Mac & i showed in a test. Some come relatively close to Apple in terms of quality, but many are also complete junk. What they have in common is that they try to pretend to be Apple devices on the software side in order to use operating system functions, which does not always work. Apple now seems to have found a way to clearly distinguish its own AirPods from fake goods.
There are no consequences yet
After all: Apple is not yet refusing to support the devices, although it would be technically possible. However, users can immediately prevent a connection to the counterfeit devices when they are detected – there is a corresponding button. That alone should help to keep users from using it – also because the message sounds quite threatening. Apple also links a text on its support portal that explains how to spot fake AirPods.
For the group, high revenues are lost due to the fake products. Last year, there were estimates that fake wireless headphones worth over 60 million US dollars were intercepted at the border in the USA alone. They mostly come from China. Mac & i had already noticed in 2020 that even the firmware was copied or imitated. This was also confirmed in the Bluetooth settings of the test devices at the time. On the iPhone, for example, the same options appeared as with the real AirPods: For example, the “automatic ear recognition” can be switched off with the plagiarism, in which a sensor checks whether the headphones are in the ear – but sometimes it doesn’t even exist .
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