Apple Powerbeats Pro 2 Has a Built-in Heart Rate Monitor
Wireless headphones are great, but they can be the same from one brand to another. Most of them stick to the classic AirPods design language – small buds, usually with some kind of stem, that move around in the charging case. Of course, everyone has their own list of pros and cons, but the product category has certainly homogenized.
However, the recently announced Powerbeats Pro 2 seem a little different. Of course, these new headphones do everything you’d expect from a $250 pair of headphones: They have active noise cancellation and a transparency mode—the latter of which transmits sounds from the world around you so you can hear what’s going on with your headphones. They’re IPX4 sweat- and water-resistant and have a decent 45-hour battery life when you factor in the extra charge from the charging case.
But they look different from other headphones thanks to the “earhooks” on the earbuds. (I’d say the Electric Orange color helps in this regard, too.) If you find that traditional wireless headphones tend to fall out of your ears, the Powerbeats Pro 2’s hooks (carried over from the original Powerbeats Pro) can offer extra support. But again, if you’re used to the feel of traditional headphones, the added pressure from the ear hook may be different. I would recommend trying both types of headphones if you are unsure. But either way, the visual differences definitely make the Powerbeats Pro 2 stand out.
Powerbeats Pro 2 can track your heart rate
However, the built-in heart rate monitor caught my attention. These sensors are located on the side of each earbud and monitor your heart rate through the ear. It’s like having a little Apple Watch in each ear—it’s a little weird, but also really cool. These aren’t the first headphones to do this: as CNET’s David Carnoy noted , Sennheiser’s Momentum Sport headphones feature similar sensors. In Carnoy’s experience, these heart rate monitors were quite accurate, as were the ones on the Powerbeats Pro 2.
Beats says the heart rate sensors in its new headphones work on a range of platforms, including Apple, Android and other Bluetooth-enabled fitness equipment. However, it’s worth noting that if you use Powerbeats Pro 2 with an Apple Watch, the Health app on your iPhone will work from the watch, not the headphones. You’ll have to remove your Apple Watch or turn off the heart rate monitor on your watch if you want to rely on the heart rate sensors on your Powerbeats.
If you don’t like the earhooks on the Powerbeats Pro 2 or are just a die-hard AirPods fan, don’t worry: the technology is coming to Apple’s flagship headphones, but not right away. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman , the new AirPods are still “many months away,” so the Powerbeats Pro 2 will remain Apple’s only headphones with heart rate tracking for a little longer.
Other benefits of Powerbeats Pro 2
While Powerbeats work with many platforms, they are definitely designed for Apple’s own ecosystem. If you have other Apple devices, your Powerbeats will switch between each device when an audio source is played, just like other Apple headphones. There’s also personalized spatial audio, audio sharing (RIP headphone splitters), and hands-free Siri if you want to ping the assistant while wearing headphones.
The headphones also have physical playback controls via the “b” button on each earbud, as well as volume controls on both. For someone who’s still using a pair of first-generation AirPods Pro, the physical controls built into the earbuds are very tempting.
In Carnoy’s review for CNET, he found the Powerbeats Pro 2 to be very similar to the AirPods Pro 2 in sound quality and noise-canceling performance, although he felt the AirPods had more consistent performance overall. The Powerbeats Pro 2 lacks some of the AirPods Pro 2’s features, such as Adaptive Audio , which automatically blocks out noise above a certain decibel, or Conversation Awareness, which lowers the volume when it detects you’re talking to someone.