Apple's latest AirPods Pro 3 land as what PCMag calls Apple's most comprehensive update to its best set of earbuds, and one feature in particular has fitness folks buzzing: built-in heart rate monitoring. Bikerumor reports that a custom photoplethysmography, PPG, sensor uses infrared light pulsing at 256 times per second to read blood flow in your ear and capture your heart rate. The hook, as Engadget notes, is how that data drops straight into Apple's Fitness app and big-name workout platforms like Nike Run Club, Runna, Ladder, and Peloton. From a treadmill grind to a lunch-break jog, it just shows up where you need it.
Why the heart rate monitoring actually delivers
Apple uses an on-device AI model on your iPhone to process heart rate and estimate calories burned, according to Apple. So you get useful insights, not a firehose of unlabeled numbers.
DCRainmaker, who has tested more fitness tech than most of us have tried protein flavors, calls the sensing mind-bogglingly good in his review. High praise from someone who has watched plenty of ear-based systems fall apart mid-interval. The big shift is Apple's sensor fusion. When you wear both Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 3, the expanded Fitness app blends data from both instead of forcing one device to win by default.
What makes these different from PowerBeats Pro 2
Execution matters. On paper, PowerBeats Pro 2 use similar heart rate sensing tech per Apple docs. In practice, the story flips.
In DCRainmaker's testing, pairing was, in his words, a hot mess. He saw dropouts and big misses during hard efforts, with heart rate discrepancies of 15 to 34 beats per minute against a chest strap. That is not a rounding error. That is the difference between tempo and anaerobic and between feeling fine and blowing up.
The kicker, and it is a weird one, is that the PowerBeats Pro 2 heart rate broadcast feature only works reliably on Android. An Apple product that behaves better when you leave the Apple bubble.
Beyond heart rate: what else is genuinely impressive
The upgrades are not just about sensors. The active noise cancellation takes a real leap. Engladget reports it can block twice as much outside noise as AirPods Pro 2 and four times more than the original. Picture a clanking weight room or a roaring subway platform. Cutting that racket keeps focus, and it helps the sensor keep clean contact when your workout gets bouncy.
Water resistance bumps from IP54 to IP57, according to DCRainmaker, which moves them from sweat tolerant to truly workout ready. IP54 covered light sweat. IP57 lets you trust them through long, soggy sessions without worrying about moisture throwing off precise readings.
Battery life gets a meaningful nudge too. Apple says AirPods Pro 3 last up to eight hours on a charge with noise cancellation on, up from six on Pro 2. Two extra hours can be the difference between finishing your long run and hunting for a charger at mile nine.
The new foam-infused ear tips provide better passive isolation and a more secure fit. Less wiggle, more seal, steadier signal. Your ears will notice.
The fitness integration that actually works
These buds do more than stash pulse data. They now record steps, movement, and calories straight to Apple Fitness during workouts, which means no juggling devices or remembering three different app toggles before you hit start.
And those app tie-ins are not just a checkbox. Nike Run Club, Runna, Ladder, and Peloton tap the heart rate stream for real coaching. Nike Run Club delivers cues based on how your heart responds. Peloton adjusts resistance recommendations on the fly. Runna folds the data into adaptive plans. Ladder tweaks intensity mid set. Static plans turn into responsive sessions.
Unlike PowerBeats Pro 2, where Apple Watch data always overrides the earbuds no matter what, AirPods Pro 3 lean on intelligent fusion. If you are wearing both an Apple Watch and the earbuds, the system evaluates data quality from each and prioritizes whichever looks cleaner at that moment.
Bottom line: worth the upgrade for serious fitness tracking?
At $249, AirPods Pro 3 look like Apple's strongest blend of premium audio and useful fitness tech. The heart rate monitoring, while not quite as accurate as Apple Watch in Apple's internal testing, turns in consistent performance that leaves the PowerBeats Pro 2 implementation in the dust.
Stack that with better noise cancellation, tougher water resistance, longer battery life, and tight fitness integration, and you get a setup built for real training without strapping on a watch. Ear-based tracking still has anatomical and physics limitations, smaller vessels in the ear, finicky contact, but Apple's algorithms work around those constraints instead of brute forcing through them.
If you skip a watch or want a reliable backup, AirPods Pro 3 feel like a finished product you can plan workouts around, not a lab demo. Apple seems to have learned from the PowerBeats Pro 2 stumbles and shipped heart rate you can actually trust for training decisions, not just a bullet point to ignore.
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