There are pros to wireless headphones and the right choice for many people, but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that. I personally use Bose over ear heaphones that have an optional cable you can attach and connect and it has come up an incredible number of times. There is so much pain if you switch for more than two devices, forget to charge, at unsure something is paired, etc that all goes away with having a cable option for when it is more convenient.

Exactly. Removing the headphone jack is incredibly hostile to those of us who want to use wired headphones, and clearly motivated by the insane profits of wireless earbuds. And the worst part? It's working. Just look at the AirPods business and you'll see exactly why Apple does it.

For myself, I'm sticking with an older phone and IEMs with replaceable cables. Super happy with it because I'm OK with the tradeoff of dealing with the wire instead of dealing with batteries and replacements every 2-3 years. So sure, Apple has made some profit off of wireless buds. But they could make even more profit by adding a headphone jack and allowing folks who want wireless buds to use them. (no, dongles and lightning headphones do not solve this issue -- I want to be able to use the same connector for all my devices, and I want to be able to use it while charging) At least add it to the SE, for Pete's sake.

You could always get the dongle to support the wired headphones. My teen daughter is using it now that she has lost her airpods.

Tried it, Apple-made dongles fail with incredible frequency, and non-Apple made ones just don't work.

> But they could make even more profit by adding a headphone jack and allowing folks who want wireless buds to use them.

How would this generate more profit for Apple?

For one thing, I'd buy an iPhone again.

I wonder how many people have actually stopped buying iPhones due to the removal of the minijack. I bet it’s noise to Apple’s revenue. I also expect that they save more in the hardware simplification than they lose on sales.

I'm sure it's 100% worth it for them financially. Me not buying an iPhone because it doesn't have a headphone jack means nothing to them.

I think what will hurt them in the long run is their pattern of user-hostility will start to affect their image. For instance:

* Right to repair gaining steam (Apple now introducing some basic form of parts availability)

* Apple eroding their image as a Privacy company (Apple had to delay their "child safety" tools after public outcry)

* iMessage lock-in (Apple users "bullying" Android users due to Apple's hostile UI choices).

Those are just the recent examples that come to mind.

It'll all add up until Apple has a PR problem that actually does start affecting their bottom line, and then they'll have to make concessions that'll make people happy again.

Probably not a lot. But it's one of those "death by a thousand cuts" things I can't ignore in an iphone purchase. Between that and the fingerprint reader, I'm out. If they brought either back I could justify it.

I really do miss my headphone jack. Not being able to charge and listen to music at the same time is dumb as hell.

However, my 6 was proper dying, so once they bought out the SE or whatever with a sensible form factor and fingerprint scanner I was convinced it was better than trying to switch

The iPhone SE2 has a fingerprint reader. It's a lower quality device though.

Looking at my SE2 right now. What you mean lower quality? (Btw it has no minijack)

Not flagship. Non-OLED screen, single rear camera, no face recognition, smaller battery, etc.

GP's requirements were either a fingerprint sensor or headphone jack before switching.

That is called less features, not less quality.

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> but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that

What are you talking about? Is someone stopping you from using wired earbuds?

You're not technically stopped, you just have to pay extra money to get an adapter, with the additional downside that you can no longer charge the phone while using those headphones.

For me, it's not the cost or the ability to charge my phone, but the fact that the adapter can get lost. I can't leave it plugged in because I use my headphones with non-iPhone devices too.

I perpetually loose my headphones anyway. If I had an adapter too, I'd find myself unable to listen to anything twice as often.

The old jack was also more solidly connected than the current inclement weather port (sorry, can't remember ifit's lightning, thunderbolt, or wizard strike).

> get an adapter, with the additional downside that you can no longer charge the phone while using those headphones.

Shouldn't such an adapter have a female USB-C connector and pass that through to the male one, with the headphone jack being branched off? Do those not exist, or are they prohibitively expensive? Did the Apple "dongle" mentioned in sibling comments do it that way? (Sure oughta, IMO.)

The official Apple one, at least, does not do that. I don’t know if there are others which do.

Then one would think someone else has exploited such an obvious(?) market opportunity. (BTW, I deliberately didn't write "with a T-branch for the audio jack" or similar, because the stem of the T should obviously be the male USB-C going up into the phone, so the audio and the incoming USB-C go out to the sides. Then you can still stand the phone upright on top of them.)

Did they stop including the dongle in the box? I haven’t bought phone in a couple of years so I honestly don’t know.

I can understand the complaint about charging. Although the fanboy answer is of course wireless charging.

They've stopped including it, but they sell it for $9 with free shipping.

The next thing to go will be the physical SIM card tray - takes up a similar amount of space which is better utilized for battery capacity or other features, and also makes for easier waterproofing if removed.

They stopped including it a while ago, I think they stopped with the XS.

Or, if you get a wired->BT adapter like the FiiO uBTR, it’s another device you have to remember to keep charged.

(Btw there are 3.5mm to lightning adapters that let you charge while listening, just not made by Apple)

I agree, but the awkward "omg an airpod fell off after bumping into something/someone" is also a real thing. They should have an optional cord between the pair.

This is exactly why I have the old-school style with a wire connecting them that sits on the back of your neck. I had my toddler rip an earbud out just once for me to realize that was a design feature I had to have. As an added bonus, I find they're way easier to throw on and off (just loop them around your neck and tuck them in your shirt) in between tasks.

Something like this: https://en-us.sennheiser.com/headphones-bluetooth-momentum-f...

> I had my toddler rip an earbud out

and then put it directly into their mouth right (airpods are the perfect choking size)? Yeah, i can totally see the need to have them attached together in that situation. heh what is it about toddlers that makes them constantly try to kill themselves.

Curiosity.

I had the opposite experience - I had the ones with a wire between them when my kid was a baby and had to stop using them as soon as he was able to grab things. That wire was so tantalizing and the buds got forcibly ripped out of my ears every time! I switched to some very cheap (and relatively large = easier to grab out of a small mouth if necessary) AirPod knockoffs and only put in the ear on the other shoulder from where I was holding the baby.

Now he's older and when he gets hold of them he tries to put them in his ear rather than his mouth. I've been cutting down on wearing them when I'm around him anyway, since he's copying everything now.

The problem with this design is that anything that rubs or bounces against the cable transmits sound into your ear (like a children's cup telephone). This makes them annoying to use while exercising. I find that the style connected by a solid hoop mostly avoids this.

in-ear will never work for me. I feel raped when I have to put them into the ear canal.

Beats Flex have the same BT chip as the AirPods and a different design that holds both ear pieces to the back of your neck.

This cord works (although I found that they helped to pull the airpods out of my ear): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089B5T9L7?psc=1

These hooks are a much better solution: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089B5T9L7?psc=1 Despite their flimsiness, they have not failed on me once while running, etc.

Both of these "solutions" have the obnoxious problem of needing to be removed to charge the airpod. The Powerbeats Pro has built in hooks that are nice and sturdy, but the case is obnoxiously massive compared to the airpods case.

My problem is that I must have freakishly small ear canals, because neither of these earbuds actually fit into my ears - despite trying nearly every aftermarket replacement eartip.

The Shokz openrun pro doesn't need to go into my ear and kinda works, but the sound quality sucks for music and the head loop protrudes from the back of my head and isn't adjustable.

Over ear headphones don't work with hats or bike helmets, so those are only good sometimes.

My next step is to pay $150(!!) for a custom piece of silicon to attach to the airpods (which will still have to come on and off for charging): https://www.adv-sound.com/products/eartune-fidelity-custom-f...

I guess I could pay $500 for these: https://www.adv-sound.com/products/m5-tws-custom

Or maybe I could get surgery to enlarge my ear canal (haha)

If anyone reading this has any better advice, I'm all ears (hahaha) Sigh -

Aftershokz Aeropex, silly name aside, is a decent product that gets you a Bluetooth device you can wear all day without losing

I love my aeropex, but i’d be half inspired to write a similarly styled article about the annoying uniform beep notification UX- especially if you’ve paired with multiple devices and one is not quite in range.

That's exactly what I use. I have a set of airpod pros I use most of the time, but I can't stand having my ears sealed all day, and having waterproof ones I an wear in the shower is awesome.

My only gripe with them is that the quality is way lower than even fairly cheap normal ear buds, so I mostly use them for podcasts and books.

I've got these, bluetooth on them works great, and the bone conduction is really interesting. It's really nice being able to hear your surroundings while having some kind of audio playing. Or if you don't want the surrounding sound, they come ear plugs. Really comfortable to have on too, I barely even notice them (if at all) when I'm wearing them.

Should be mentioned though, for the price the music quality is worse than what you'd get with other devices. It reminds me of a higher quality phone speaker. Definitely not bad compared to some headphones I've used, but it's not amazing. Hasn't been an issue for me though, I happily use them when working. Voice audio sounds perfectly fine. IMO you get them for the other benefits, not because they're the best sounding thing on the market.

Agreed. They're great for walking around outside while on a phone call, listening to a podcast, or listening to music while exercising outdoors – not for "getting into the music". Airpods are better at doing both, based on what I've heard.

Shure as well, one you use the over the ear loop style it's hard to downgrade to anything else.

Which ones are you referring to?

Agreed. They're pretty great.

Don't know if Apple sells them but they do make third party neck things that slip around the stems and are basically what you're asking for.

From a sibling comment:

> Aftershokz Aeropex, silly name aside, is a decent product that gets you a Bluetooth device you can wear all day without losing

Make sure if you get bone induction headphones that you test them out in louder environments before running or getting them dirty. For me, I had to turn them up so high when outside with normal street noise that they gave me a pretty terrible headache.

>I had to turn them up so high when outside with normal street noise that they gave me a pretty terrible headache.

You have to be really careful doing that. It's very easy to screw up your ears with bone conduction headphones if you try to drown out background noise by increasing the volume.

Yeah, I returned them! Thanks for the heads up regardless.

I have a pair which have a cord between them and hooks over the outside of the ears, because regular headphones don't retain in my ears. I don't think I could last even a day with airpods without losing one of them.

Do you have the model number?

Just got AirPods 3 and pro to try out and I have not had it just fall out that way with either.

I have fumbled with the 3s while trying to remove them while walking. I think it’s the stem and how light they are.

I use the "PowerBeats Pro" for this. I don't know if they've been updated with some of the newer features, I bought mine a couple years back when they came out.

The current version of the Powerbeats Pro has separate buds for each ear, but I have the newest revision of the regular Powerbeats for this exact reason.

They even have the H1 chip and all of the quick pairing/built-in Apple magic that Airpods do.

An eyeglass strap works great for this. Put the loops around the airpod stems instead of the eyeglass arms.

I’ve thought about this, but y’know they won’t fit into the charging pod anymore with something (anything, really) on them.

I only endorse this approach for when exercising outdoors, riding the train etc.

And actually most of the time when I'm outside the house I prefer to be able to hear my environment, for safety reasons.

Yes. Mobility is why I got the Air Pods Pro to begin with. I don't use them with my Air and I don't even want them to pair with my Air; wired ear buds are fine (and cheap!) for that. But they're great for walking and working out. The Air Pods Pro even stay in my ears while erging.

Still, the OP's complaints are valid. But when they work, which is most of the time, they're great. Surprisingly (but not insanely) great.

Tangent but what’s “erging”? Never heard this before and the spellcheck has a red squiggly below it, so it has not heard of it either.

Shorthand for ”using an indoor rowing machine”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indoor_rower?wprov=sfti1

Erging is rowing on an indoor rowing machine. They were originally called an "ergometer," which was then shortened down to just an "erg" over time.

It's a really great exercise, and pretty good training for rowing crew (though it's not quite like the real thing).

It refers to rowing on a stationary rowing machine, the kind you would see at a gym

Indoor rowing

I'd pass the wires through my shirt, keep them from snagging or pulling my ears too much.

Back in the day I made good use of those oversized jacket pockets to pop my CD player in - then you just run the cable up under your shirt and you're good to go.

It's surprising how little of a hassle headphone cables can be - I understand that the market is going elsewhere but I've stuck with wired and couldn't be more content. This does have the side effect that I've been soft locked out of Apple phones though, so I switched over to Android devices.

The lightning to 1/8" adapter is <$10 and very small. Works 100% of the time.

Back in my day I used my tape player the same way. Plus it was smaller and more compact than those new fangled cd players!

Seems so obvious, how could anyone not realise this after one time of snagging the cord when it's outside of clothing?

I used to wear my wired earbuds like this at times. They would still snag (though less frequently). The cord has to exit my shirt to get into my pants pocket and that’s where they would snag. That plus snagging on jacket zippers at the neck.

Plus the annoying telephonics that the wires cause was enough for me to finally buy wireless earbuds. Yes, I can try to route the wire under my shirt. Yes, I can try to wrap the wires around my ears to cut down on the telephonics. But all that is more hassle than dealing with Bluetooth.

This works but then all my music has a muffled rubbing sound from the cable that reaches my ears while I walk around. This is what I used to do, but wireless is still better IMO for headphones on the go.

Admittedly that is an annoying problem, but it's quite simple to arrange the cable as it exits around your neck to stop it happening. I guess it's just a personal preference thing in the end of the day. I personally find wireless annoying on the go, I only use them at my shared office space because they have noise cancelling, so I can keep music at a sensible level and blot out all the background noise; with wired I need the volume at a frankly stupid level to keep me from hearing the office noise.

Ditto. And since we now wear masks at the office, one notices how wireless earbuds are "mask compatible" when you try using cabled ones.

Wired earbuds are amazing with masks. If you put them on before you put on the mask, when you need to take one off to hear something, the mask straps hold it conveniently hanging near your ear. A fumbled airpod rolling across the floor is not an improvement.

Really? I always see them go flying when taking off a mask to eat or drink. The random protrusions to escape the faraday cage that is your head don't seem to interact well with elastic loops.

Yeah, and Bluetooth phones / buds are much better for running.

I used to jerk my wired earbuds out of the jack all the time.

Do you wear a headband or something else to secure them?

I haven’t tried running with my AirPods yet, as I feared they would eventually fall out.

I used to run with AirPods multiple times a week, and used them while walking around and on public transit. I've done the same with AirPods pro borrowed from my S.O.

Did they ever fall out? Only a small portion of the time. Half the time I noticed it and caught them.

Was the idea of them falling out stressful? Hell yeah. Nothing like a $50+ bud to stress the hell out of you when you're trying to get a run in and it just will. not. sit. in. your. ear. correctly. Add sweat to the equation and things get messy quick. And the fact that in some places, like public transit, you have a good chance of losing the bud forever if it falls out.

I am much happier with the IEMs I've been using for a half a year or so now. They hook over my ears optionally, so they're never really in danger of falling out and I never have to mess with them. And they're wired to me anyway even if they do fall.

I have Pixel Buds and I haven't tried running with them yet (it's been cold since I got them for Christmas).

I used to run with Bluetooth over-ear headphones, which was great in winter, and, uh, less great in summer (the foam would get completely soaked and foul-smelling).

The ear supports on the Pixel Buds are pretty secure, though, I expect it to be OK, especially at my pace.

I can shake my head around like crazy and my airpod pros don't fall out. Never had them fall out running which I try to do 3 times a week either.

Nope, if AirPods fit your ears they stay in. I have first gen set that I still use for biking and big drops or bumps have zero effect.

This is my approach. At my desk? Sure, wired is fine. Even have a full DAC/amp setup (JDS Labs Element II) that I plug my trusty old Sennheiser HD6XX’s into.

While I’m up and moving around, or relaxing on my bed watching something on my iPad with a cat that has an inclination to chew on cables? AirPods/Bluetooth.

You can just run the wire under your shirt/jacket

For a while, most of the hoodies I bought for workouts actually had a cutout in the kangaroo pocket for routing headphones inside of them. The newer ones don't though, you'd have to cut it yourself.

Just pass the cord through your shirt or under your jacket. #innovation #thinkdifferent #buymystock

This was such a big issue with my wired Sony headphones. Can't tell you how many I've gone through.

On another hand, I've a pair of Bose wireless headphones for close to 6 years now. Battery is still good enough for 2+ hours of workout.

I always feed the cable down the back of my neck and underneath my shirt or jumper. The bonus is that I can take them out of my ears and they'll dangle like a necklace, so I can tuck those under my shirt as well.

Haha yes. I remember rocking my HD580's with their awkward 12' cable plus an adaptor for the 1/4" plug outdoors. Kids these days have it a bit more easy.

I know this comes off as sounding like an old man, but you could also just walk around without your ears plugged up and pay attention to your surroundings.

My go to solution for such annoyances is to pass the cable through the inside of my shirt. Not the most elegant solution but saved me a lot oh headache :D

I found that I could solve the snagging problem by just running by headphone cable through my shirt.

I get that no cables can be nice and convenient, but routing the wire through a shirt/jacket helps avoid getting caught

edit: lol, an instant downvote - didn't realize I was on Reddit. It was at best a suggestion for when you have to get by with cabled headphones. I'm not on some holy war.

I used to just put the cable under my shirt.