Overview
- Apple issued public firmware 8A358 on October 7 for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods 4 with the official note of bug fixes and other improvements.
- On October 9, Apple released developer beta build 8B5014c for the same models, available only to enrolled testers using the AirPods beta option in iOS, iPadOS, or macOS.
- Coverage indicates the beta likely prepares for iOS 26.1 expansions to Live Translation, with reports pointing to added support for Chinese (Mandarin simplified and traditional), Italian, Japanese, and Korean.
- Firmware updates install automatically while the earbuds are charging and near a paired iPhone, iPad, or Mac on Wi‑Fi, and users cannot manually trigger standard installations.
- Apple warns that once AirPods beta firmware is installed it cannot be removed, and the device remains on beta software until a non‑beta release becomes available.