Not all of Apple AirPods Pro 2 hearing health features will be available worldwide

You can already buy AirPods Pro 2, but not its hearing health features.

During this year’s Apple Glowtime event, the company announced an updated lineup of AirPods along with its latest iPhones and smartwatches.

It revealed that one of Apple’s earbuds, the AirPods Pro 2, will have a hearing health feature.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) then approved the company’s software, which is supposed to turn the AirPods into a hearing aid device.

Users online reacted positively to the news about the functional AirPods. Many said the earbuds would be much cheaper and less noticeable than a traditional hearing aid device.

Apple has announced several more health features, such as hearing protection and hearing tests, in addition to the hearing aid.

With a hearing test, users can monitor their hearing over time without going to the doctor. The FDA also approved this feature.

Another feature Apple introduced is hearing protection, which reduces noise in loud environments.

However, Apple notes that the hearing protection feature is only available in the US and Canada. This information, found in the footnotes, prompted an online discussion, with people getting irritated about not getting all of the promised features.

“Understandable when you factor in that it’s acting as a medical device and therefore needs to pass local clearance in each territory first,” noted one Reddit user, indicating a possible reason Apple can’t yet enable the same features in every country.

However, with people expecting new and better features from Apple products, the unavailability is disappointing.

“I can understand the need for approval but this year has felt like ‘new thing, but not for you.’ All of the cool exciting things are being phased out over many months and then only in certain regions,” said another user.

One Reddit user also noted that “maybe,[...], they should have indicated the regional restriction during the announcement. I wonder how many people bought the Airpod Pros in preparation for the feature to be available just to be surprised by this restriction.”

On its website, Apple has indicated that both of its features – the hearing test and the hearing aid – should become available in more countries once they get confirmation from certain authorities. The features should then become available “in more than 100 countries and regions.”