A group hacked AirPods to turn them into headphones for their grandmothers.
Three technology experts in India used a homemade Faraday cage and a microwave oven to bypass the location restrictions imposed by Apple.
In early November, Apple released a software update that activated hearing aid features in the AirPods Pro 2. However, Rithwik Jayasimha, who lives in India, was disappointed to discover that these features were not available in his country. Despite the frustration, Jayasimha, along with his friends Arnav Bansal and Rithvik Vibhu, decided not to give up and sought a way to bypass Apple's geographic restrictions.
The group used a clever trick by building a kind of rudimentary Faraday cage over a microwave using aluminum foil. This setup allowed them to activate the hearing aid settings on their AirPods. Jayasimha expressed that he does not believe it is Apple's fault, as he considers the feature to be incredible.
The three friends, who possess skills in hardware and software and are part of a tech collective called Lagrange Point, have received numerous inquiries from other users in India who find themselves in the same situation. They have documented their findings and ensured that there is a high demand for this feature among people who own AirPods or have grandparents who use hearing aids.
To bypass the geographic restrictions, they examined how iOS determines the location of devices. In the case of an iPad connected solely to Wi-Fi, the system checks the region of the Apple Store it is linked to, as well as the time zone, language, and regional settings. A web request is also sent to an Apple service that responds with the country code where the device appears to be based on its IP address.
Their initial attempts to manually adjust the time zone and regional settings were ineffective. After experimenting with hiding the IP address, the team realized that iOS also checks the “service set identifiers” of Wi-Fi, necessary for devices to connect to the appropriate network.
To overcome this hurdle, they built a Faraday cage, designed to block electromagnetic signals, which isolates the iPad from other devices and wireless networks. They placed the iPad inside a “shielded loop,” and using an open-source Wi-Fi location database, they managed to trick iOS into locating the device in California. With this, the AirPods could function as hearing aids in India.
Apple has implemented these features in over 100 countries, but not in India, likely due to regulations related to medical devices. The ability to bypass these restrictions offers a temporary solution for those looking to use the technology in regions where it is not officially available.
Although Apple has not responded to requests regarding these discoveries, researchers suggest that it would be possible for the company to close the gap they found. According to Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity professor, such findings show that those with technical knowledge can easily overcome geolocation barriers.
The three researchers in India anticipate that Apple's features will officially arrive in the country in the near future, but in the meantime, they are willing to help other users interested in manipulating their AirPods. Based on their grandparents' experiences, they have observed that hearing aid functions are valuable in daily life.
Bansal shared that his grandmother, who faces hearing loss, has found a more comfortable and effective solution in the AirPods compared to her old hearing aids, enriching her experience of watching television without feeling like a patient.
