Apple issues mystery AirPods firmware 8A358 update ahead of iOS 26.1

AirPods are constantly receiving new firmware updates, often just to fix minor bugs that affect a small number of users. Other updates provide necessary improvements to deliver new features coming in an iOS update.

Apple just updated the AirPods firmware to version 8A358from 8A357, for all models with the H2 chip: this includes the just released AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 (with and without ANC).

Apple’s AirPods firmware tracker page states that this update offers the standard “bug fixes and other improvements.”

Given the very small increase in the version number, it’s likely that this fixes minor issues with the new AirPods Pro 3, or helps with the iOS 26.1 update that adds several new languages ​​to the live translation feature.

There’s no way to force update your AirPods, but we have an article describing how AirPods firmware updates work and how you can force them.