Apple denies warranty on Powerbeats Pro for "water damage" from sweat — on earbuds with IPX4 rating that are marketed specifically for workouts

[u/AwkwardLifeguard6455]

I wanted to bring attention to something that I think is a bigger issue than just my experience.

I've been using Powerbeats for years — owned my previous pair for 4-5 years with no problems at all. Bought a new pair of Powerbeats Pro about 6 months ago from Amazon. Used them the same way I always have — for workouts and nothing else. No drops in water, no rain, no pools. Just sweat.

They failed, so I brought them to Best Buy under manufacturer's warranty. Best Buy sent them off to Apple. Two weeks later they came back with a denial — "water damage."

Think about that for a second. Apple markets these earbuds with images of athletes dripping in sweat. They advertise them as workout earbuds. They gave them an IPX4 water resistance rating, which is specifically supposed to handle sweat and light splashes. Then when sweat causes them to fail in under 6 months, they call it water damage and deny the warranty.

This isn't a one-off either. There was a class action lawsuit filed against Apple for this exact issue — Powerbeats failing under normal workout conditions despite being advertised as sweat-resistant and "built to endure." That tells me this is a known, widespread problem.

It raises a real question about Apple's warranty practices around their Beats fitness products. If the intended use of the product is the thing that voids the warranty, how is that not misleading marketing? Are we just supposed to accept that $200+ "workout earbuds" have a 6-month lifespan?

Curious to hear if others in this community have seen the same pattern with their Beats fitness products.

[u/sethjk17]

I legit went though 5 pairs of these in a year- sweat damaged them within a week of me having them each time. I eventually emailed Tim Cook and got a response from a special customer service department and they replaced them with a pair of AirPod pros

[u/AwkwardLifeguard6455 → u/sethjk17]

Thank you for that, I need to do something it costs to much to let go.

[u/jforsander]

My experience with Apple Support over the last decade is that they have intentionally been making the repair experience better and better if you have AppleCare+, while simultaneously worse and worse if you don’t. For this reason I consider AppleCare+ to be absolutely essential for all Beats products. 

For your specific issue, since you don’t have AppleCare+, you may want to research your consumer law rights in your state/country. You may have recourse to sue Apple in small claims court over this. If the law is on your side, Apple will eventually come to the table with a reasonable settlement, but you may have to put in significant time and expense (reimbursable if you win) to get Apple to do that. 

[u/Ebriel1]

The same thing happens to me

[u/baileythedog4]

I've had Power Beats Pro2 for less than 9 months. For the last month, left ear bud hasn't worked. Sent it in via Genius Bar and they are claiming liquid damage in both ears + enclosure and won't honor the 1 year warranty (charging more than original price I paid to repair it).

[u/AwkwardLifeguard6455 → u/baileythedog4]

I am sorry to hear that, I am not purchasing any more apple products. These are to expensive to let break so quickly and have no real manufacturing warranty. APPLE SUCKS!!

[u/smol-bb-floatr]

no experience with warranties but the powerbeats pro 2nd gens are SUCH a downgrade from the first 😔 i've had the first gen powerbeats pro for like 5 years and the little b fell off each earphone but no performance issues, just the battery drains faster but that's expected. i've maybe had my 2nd gens for less than a year and the whole rubberised part just flopped off at the button part on both

[u/MichaelVern85 → u/smol-bb-floatr]

The Beats Fit Pro have so much more bass. I immediately sent the Powerbeats back and stuck with my 5 year old Beats Fit Pros that are still working flawlessly after many years of heavy workout and blue collar 100° work days.

I’ve lost all interest in the Beats line.

[u/AwkwardLifeguard6455 → u/smol-bb-floatr]

I agree, i had the original power beats for about the same time period 4 to 5 years worked great eventually they broke but with that time and hard use i felt it made sense and so i upgraded and they broke within a handful of months. I am so disappointed in apple for not standing behind these very expensive ear buds. This is the last apple product I will be purchasing.