from Hacker News

Podswap: Keep airpods alive and out of the landfill

by ilarum on 7/11/21, 3:44 PM with 186 comments

  • by Etheryte on 7/11/21, 5:45 PM

    As someone who gets a ridiculous amount of use out of their pods, I really hope this business pans out. I think the product is great, but batteries are consumable products. In fact, I would hope that one day it would be mandatory to offer battery replacements for all products you sell. (Do correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think Apple currently does this for pods?)

  • by specialist on 7/11/21, 6:46 PM

    Just guessing:

    Podswap has stock of both new "blank" bud cases and batteries.

    Crack open buds using some kind of jig. Scoop out the electronics. Solder to new battery. Cram it all back together.

    That's how I'd do it.

    Bonus points for choice of colors. I'd love clear or forest green or deep purple.

    Watching a few air pod tear down videos, I find it weird the battery itself isn't part of the case. Like just use white instead of black. Have the barrel twist lock into place. Makes the battery replaceable. And that extra millimeter of diameter would probably be 50% more mAh.

    I know replaceable batteries is un-Apple. But that's what I'd do.

  • by iansinnott on 7/12/21, 5:40 AM

    I'd just like to chime in to cheer this type of business. My airpods were dying within 60 seconds of putting them on and now they live again.

    (For anyone in Taiwan or Singapore, check out https://www.dr-pods.com/. Roughly 40USD replacement fee. No affiliation, I'm just a happy customer).

  • by bruceb on 7/11/21, 5:52 PM

    I am pro refurbishing/reusing and having less waste but its hard to care about tiny airpods being tossed.

    Maybe they test the message and it resonated better than "Airpods should last longer than your last relationship" or "1 trick that Apple hates"

    etc.

  • by pieterk on 7/12/21, 4:20 AM

    FYI Apple does this for $49 each, this website charges you $59.99 a pair. https://support.apple.com/airpods/repair/service#battery

    Edit: updated pricing thanks to comment by tanduv

  • by ryana on 7/11/21, 9:13 PM

    I’ve used podswap for my Gen 1 AirPods and it was fantastic. It took a couple cycles for everything to be back to normal (full charge, full volume) but they were up front that it takes a few recharges for everything to settle in.

    Absolutely no complaints.

  • by azuriten on 7/11/21, 6:33 PM

    This is a great idea and I wish we had this in the UK. I was quoted £65 to replace my failing, right AirPod and £130 to replace both of them when RRP for new ones are £160.

    I'd much rather replace the batteries of my existing ones then buy a new pair but with such a small price difference to get a pair it doesn't seem worth it.

  • by reaperducer on 7/11/21, 7:07 PM

    The web site states: "The first-ever battery replacement program."

    I'm not sure this is true. Apple had an AirPods battery replacement program before COVID-19. I had my wife's done. I wanted to get mine done this past January, but it didn't seem to be an option anymore. Maybe because of the pandemic and the global supply chain problems and such.

    "Only current" battery replacement program, maybe. But not first-ever.

  • by seriousquestion on 7/11/21, 6:26 PM

    I've heard, anecdotally, of people losing their airpods often. I haven't yet, but curious how common that problem is?

  • by system2 on 7/12/21, 1:14 AM

    I love my Tozo T6, screw apple. $25 and I have better sounding way more cheaper product. I wouldn't care at all if my $25 headsets fail after a year or two. I'd get 6 pairs instead of one Apple. My other bluetooth earbuds worked over 2 years and had no battery problem until I lost them.

    Stop throwing money at Apple.

  • by visualphoenix on 7/12/21, 1:25 AM

    Are they actually replacing the battery at all? Or are they simply sending you “AirReps”? The clones these days cost $30. Most folks wouldn’t recognize the difference, except for the poor microphone recording quality.

  • by TheRealSteel on 7/12/21, 1:13 AM

    Great idea, would love to use this for my dead first gen pair if could.

    It doesn't mention what country or countries this is available in, so I'm guessing it's America only?

  • by ChrisMarshallNY on 7/11/21, 11:30 PM

    This looks great! I just forwarded the link to a friend of mine, that was complaining to me, this morning, about a pair of original AirPods that had a bum battery.

  • by culopatin on 7/12/21, 10:58 AM

    I was hoping this was going to be a service for people who lost one AirPod to build a set. Apple’s pricing of an AirPod replacement puts it $30 from a new set

  • by tokamak-teapot on 7/12/21, 1:18 PM

    Is there an alternative to AirPods that's the same shape? I can't wear the type of earphones that block the ear canal.

  • by jet_32951 on 7/12/21, 9:39 PM

    Rooted Android users can get charge monitoring/settable charge limits e.g. 80%, then stop, with ACCA. GitHub and F-Droid.

  • by deregulateMed on 7/12/21, 12:56 AM

    Over here I'm still using 3$ Panasonic earbuds from 2012.

    I spent $15 dollars so I could have 1 in my car, 1 in my laptop bag, 1 next to my computer, and 2 backup for when I lose them or have new location. Haven't lost them yet.

    Maybe you really do need wireless and it's worth the effort of charging and replacing batteries. Or maybe you are being sold a veblen good and your brain is exploited by a trillion dollar corporation's marketing department.

  • by throw03172019 on 7/12/21, 2:33 AM

    Does it work for the Pros as well? All the pics seem to be the non-pro AirPods.

  • by purplecats on 7/11/21, 11:44 PM

    does this work for pros?

  • by ashayh on 7/11/21, 6:22 PM

    Why do we need a separate business for this?

    Apple should be made to pay for it.

    If anyone finds an Airpod on the street or in trash/landfills, they should be able to take it to the nearest Apple store or mail it and get 20-40$ back for it.

    This should be the law for _all_ and any products, not just electronics. Large corporations have cleverly shifted the responsibility of recycling on the consumer, while they get to reap all the profits and benefits. This was recently well explained in a John Oliver segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fiu9GSOmt8E

  • by smoldesu on 7/11/21, 6:01 PM

    So you're paying $60 to get your earbuds replaced, but you can't use the service if they have any external/cosmetic damage. Something here doesn't add up, is this just because Airpods don't have replaceable batteries?