Apple AirPods Pro 3 review: I’d say these headphones are pricey but packed full of features

There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of headphones made for workouts, yet I see more AirPods in the gym or when out for a run than any other pair. It’s easy to see why. They’re comfortable and pretty discreet to wear, are capable of delivering great sound and are pretty useful to have in your ears when you’re not trying to power through another set on leg day. I tested these new AirPods Pro 3 and they certainly didn’t disappoint.

When Apple officially unveiled the AirPods Pro 3, they became the first Apple headphone to feature heart rate sensor technology. Yes, now you can track your heart rate and calorie burn from your ears.

That decision to make the AirPods a more equipped training companion was a logical next move according to Julz Arney, Senior Director of Fitness Technologies and Fitness+ at Apple.

“We decided we wanted to make the smallest heart rate sensor that we’ve ever made and put it in AirPods,” Arney told us. “That’s because so many people were already using their AirPods in workouts”.

Building on the work already achieved with the Apple Watch, the AirPods Pro 3 can help you close your rings like Apple’s smartwatch, all offering a stronger defence against sweat, dust and moisture compared to the AirPods Pro 2.

Apple says it had the fortune of 50 million hours of workout and activity data from its own Heart & Movement Study to ensure it could include a fitness-first sensor that people can rely on.

This isn’t a first for headphones, but in true Apple fashion, it waited for its moment to enter the fray to show the rest how to do things right.

Design

The AirPods Pro 3 carry that same distinctive, all-white look, with the stem poking out of the bottom. After the many electric toothbrush head jibes directed at the first version, it’s an accepted look with that stem packing great controls without adding bulk to those buds.

There are some changes that Apple hopes makes them a better fit for exercise, including giving them a durability upgrade. Now they’ve been slapped with an IP57 dust, water and sweat resistant rating.

I can confirm that they survived sweaty interval bike rides and getting a soaking on a few morning runs.

Another set of ear tips has been included this time, taking your size options to five. That should ensure that most find a combination that works.

I still think the Pro design in general isn’t going to be the perfect fit for everyone, and while they’re easy to dislodge when I’m pulling a hoodie over my head before a workout, they’ve not dropped out when it mattered.

Features

Apple wants to pump great sound into your ears, but also cares for your ears as well. It’s added a hearing protection mode that taps into its H2 chip to reduce loud sounds around you.

This is ideal if you’re in a class where the noise feels excessive and you can let the Pro 3 come to your hearing aid.

If you don’t want to hear anything but your music, Apple has ramped up the effectiveness of its active noise cancellation. Now the onboard microphones that remove noise can block out even more noise around you letting you fully stay in the zone with minimal distractions.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere and it’s embraced here with Apple’s new Workout Buddy feature. Using AI to look at your previous workout history, your new buddy will give you a motivational push to keep those performance levels high.

AI is also used to break down language barriers and the AirPods Pro 3 can translate languages. That should make them handy if you’re abroad and trying to find your nearest gym or spot for a post-workout snack.

The biggie for fitness fans is the heart rate sensor. Placed inside of both earbuds, these light-based sensors are like shrunken down versions of the ones found in Apple’s smartwatch.

When paired with Apple’s suite of fitness apps, they can display heart rate in real-time and also eat away at the Burn bar when tackling one of Apple’s Fitness+ workouts.

You will be able to use those heart rate tracking skills with other fitness apps you can download from Apple’s App Store.

Performance

Let’s deal with sound first. Whether you crave clarity for podcasts or intercepting a phone call from your phone the Pro 3 are more than up to the task. Need something to do justice to your bassiest playlists?

They don’t falter on that front either. If you thought the Pro 2 were great at blocking out noise, the Pro 3 does it even better. It’s the same for letting sound back in when you switch on the Transparency mode.

Then we get to the heart rate tracking. Now, we’ve been here before. The first headphones to include a heart rate sensor landed over a decade ago.

Since then, there’s been many others where there’s been big question marks over accuracy. In pretty much all my tests, I was impressed with what the Pro 3 had to offer.

I’ve worn them during indoor and outdoor runs, interval rides and HIIT workouts with a gold standard heart rate monitor strapped to my chest to see how they matched up.

I waited for the wildly inaccurate data, but it never came. Whether you use the AirPods alone or combine it with an Apple Watch, you can have three streams of data that’s fused to give you the best results.

There’s more good news with the battery performance. The numbers are up from the Pro 2 with two extra hours if you use the active noise cancellation to block other sounds out. Ditch that mode and that jumps to 10 hours, which is up four hours from the Pro 2.

You are now required to pocket a slightly bigger charging case, but in exchange, you get headphones that can comfortably last a week. Especially when dropping them in the case for five minutes, which gives you an hour of listening time to play with.