It’s no secret that AirPods have changed the way that we live our daily lives not just as Apple product users, but as a society too.
AirPods can be found almost anywhere now, whether that is when working at the office, at the gym, going to the grocery store, or even when on an airplane.
I purchased the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) after previously using AirPods 3 and the first version of the AirPods, along with a pair of AirPods Max headphones that I will still use to this day.
My purpose for buying these is that I work in a warehouse (outside of writing for Appleosophy) where the machinery can get pretty loud from time to time. These AirPods 4 with a pair of earmuffs have helped block out the sound tremendously. The sound at work became a problem late-last year and into early 2026 for me due to an acute concussion I suffered in October 2025.
Still though, the ANC has been nothing short of tremendous with the AirPods. They’re not perfect by any means but are certainly better than the noise cancellation, or lack thereof, on the AirPods 3 and first generation AirPods I used to wear regularly.
Some might have gone as far as to get the AirPods Pro since the ANC on those is said to be even better than on my new AirPods 4. However, I chose to not do that because I have never been fond of the earpiece tips on the AirPods Pro. No matter how many times you seem to clean your ears, I have always found to find those things to be magnets for earwax.
Design-wise, I like how these look quite similar to the AirPods 3. Apple is known for it unique designs and refreshes of said design, but sometimes having a next generation product or accessory look the same or close to the previous generation is not always a bad thing.
Where the AirPods 4 I have found have issues is specifically with the battery life. Apple states that they have up 30 hours of listening time using the case, up to five hours of listening time on a single charge, and up to four hours of listening time with ANC turned on.
That all sounds nice but when you’re using these things the way that I am, I feel like I am frequently having to take them out of my ears to charge them. Even with that, I also feel as though at work I have to keep my charger on me each time I go in for a shift, not just for the always-looming fear that my iPhone 15 Plus won’t have enough “juice” to get the job done for the night, but more so for my AirPods 4 because of the battery life on them.
I completely understand that using ANC is going to use up more energy on the AirPods, but if Apple is going to promote these the way they do, they’re going to have to do so in a way where these are still getting I’d say 6-8 hours of ANC playback on a single charge.
Other than the battery life, these are nice AirPods to have. They’re great if you are looking to go for a walk or run, need some ambiance of other noise at times when working a white collar job, or if you simply need a moment of quiet to decompress at the end of the day.
Also, another thing I did with these (after dropping the case one night at work) AirPods was get a decent case for them. Since I am an Anglophile, that case became the UK’s Union Jack flag.
Overall, the AirPods 4 with ANC get 3.5/5 stars from me. The battery life is where they lose some “weight” in their rating. The design and functionality is still good, and hopefully in the fifth generation version, the battery life with ANC will be much improved.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
