Your AirPods don’t have to come from the exact same set to work properly. You can use two different AirPods together, provided they’re the same type or model. The same also applies when pairing AirPods with a different case.

Unfortunately, pairing two different AirPods isn’t always a walk in the park. That’s because the mismatched firmware makes them incompatible right off the bat. So, getting them to work correctly as a pair will require some extra steps. Here’s what to do when your replacement AirPod or AirPod Pro isn’t pairing correctly:

Update the AirPods’ firmware

As mentioned earlier, mismatched firmware is often the culprit behind AirPod pairing issues. Your old AirPod has already undergone a series of updates to improve its performance. In contrast, your replacement AirPod has none of these updates. This firmware incompatibility is what creates connection and pairing glitches.

Naturally, the best way to fix this is by updating the firmware of the replacement AirPod. But since there’s no option to update AirPods’ firmware manually, you’ll need to go the roundabout way. Here’s how: