Apple Officially Retires Beats Updater Utility in Favor of Over-the-Air Firmware Updates - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Officially Retires Beats Updater Utility in Favor of Over-the-Air Firmware Updates

Apple has officially retired Beats Updater, the software utility that lets users update the firmware of their Beats Wireless headphones, earphones, and speakers.

beats updater
Beats Updater allows users to plug their Beats product directly into the USB port of their computer to check for firmware updates online, but with Apple's growing tendency to deliver over-the-air updates to wireless products via iOS and iPadOS, the company clearly feels the utility has reached the end of its life.

Beats Updater is still available to download for use with the following products, but Apple says no new versions will be available in future.

  • Beats Solo2 Wireless
  • Beats Studio Wireless
  • Powerbeats 2 Wireless
  • Beats Pill 2.0
  • Powerbeats
  • Powerbeats Pro
  • Powerbeats3 Wireless
  • Solo Pro
  • Beats Solo3 Wireless
  • Beats Studio3 Wireless
  • BeatsX

If you have one of the Beats headphones or earphones listed below, pairing them with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will update them automatically. If you have an Android device, download the Beats app for Android from the Google Play store to update your firmware.

  • Powerbeats
  • ‌Powerbeats Pro‌
  • Powerbeats3 Wireless
  • Solo Pro
  • Beats Solo3 Wireless
  • Beats Studio3 Wireless
  • BeatsX

Apple recently released over-the-air firmware updates for AirPods (second generation), AirPods Pro, Powerbeats, ‌Powerbeats Pro‌, and Solo Pro. The new firmware adds automatic switching support to these models and requires iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS Big Sur, or later. In addition to automatic switching, AirPods Pro also gained a new spatial audio feature.

Tag: Beats

Popular Stories

Beats 360 Feature

Apple Likely to Announce Beats 360 This Month

Tuesday September 8, 2026 12:48 pm PDT by
Apple today released a firmware update (4A203) for its upcoming Beats 360 headphones, suggesting that a launch is approaching. With the firmware now available, it seems likely that Apple will announce the Beats 360 at some point in September. Beats 360 have already leaked across multiple regulatory databases and retail listings over the past several months, and soccer stars like Lamine Yamal ...
Beats 360 Feature

Beats 360 Over-Ear Headphones Leak in Retail Listings

Wednesday August 19, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
One of the Beats codenames MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 update (B518) appears to be for the Beats 360, a new set of over-ear headphones that we could see launch soon. Multiple Reddit users found signs of the Beats 360 on UK websites like Amazon, though those listings have now been removed. The headphones have a look that is distinct from the existing Beats Studio Pro over-ear...
WWDC 2026 Game Controller Icon

Apple's Rumored iPhone Game Controllers Will 'Likely' Come From Beats

Sunday September 13, 2026 4:25 pm PDT by
Earlier this month, references to two unreleased Apple game controllers were allegedly spotted in macOS 26.7 beta code, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has shared more details. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the controllers have been in development for more than a year, are for the iPhone, and will likely have Beats branding. Acquired by Apple in 2014, Beats has expanded beyond...

Top Rated Comments

az431 Avatar
78 months ago

Apple getting rid of something that just works...
What a surprise!!!
I must have missed the part of the article where it states that wireless updates usually don't work.


Just like getting rid of iTunes 12.6.5.3.
So, we have to download the same thing over and over if we have multiple products.
This is the way Apple considers "for the environment".
A firmware update doesn't affect the environment any more than your post.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
78 months ago

Great. So now you plug them in and wait for them to update when they feel like it like the AirPods? STUPID
No. They update when paired and not in use. Just like AirPods.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
78 months ago

Apparently you haven’t been one of many here where this just doesn’t work that way. There are entire threads dedicated to it.
Correct. It always just works for all the AirPods and AirPods Pro in this house. But, then, we aren’t obsessed forum members who demand the update immediately and aren’t willing to wait a day until it updates.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jbachandouris Avatar
78 months ago
Great. So now you plug them in and wait for them to update when they feel like it like the AirPods? STUPID
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
-DMN- Avatar
78 months ago
Apple getting rid of something that just works...
What a surprise!!!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
78 months ago

Just like getting rid of iTunes 12.6.5.3.
So, we have to download the same thing over and over if we have multiple products.
This is the way Apple considers "for the environment".
Turn on caching on your mac and it will download once and then be served to everything on your network.

And over the air means that there are more zeros than ones in the updates, which means less power usage /s
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors