A woman’s shocking experience has gone completely viral on TikTok after she claimed her brand-new AirPods literally exploded while she was wearing them, leaving her with a serious injury. The user, Bethy (@bethy.mp3), posted a clip showing the chilling result: what looked like a paper towel stuffed in her ear to catch the blood.
She didn’t offer many details about when she bought the earbuds or what led up to the incident. However, she explained via text overlay that her AirPod exploded in her ear around 9 AM, and now she can’t hear anything except a constant, painful ringing or buzzing. It sounds like she’s dealing with immediate tinnitus and potential hearing damage.
Naturally, skeptics immediately jumped into the comments, suggesting she must have been using cheap knockoffs. Bethy quickly pushed back, confirming that they were genuine Apple headphones. She made a really smart point, too: any wireless headphone has a battery in it, so this kind of failure can potentially happen to anyone. She added that she’s still in the process of getting tests and treatment for her ear. Her video has since racked up more than 20.9 million views.
We know AirPods run on tiny lithium-ion batteries, and while the idea of them exploding is extremely rare, it’s definitely possible
Bethy isn’t the first person to claim this has happened, even though you rarely see it. Apple even has specific “safety and handling information” because the risk is real enough. Most of these catastrophic failures trace back to some kind of damage. If the battery gets crushed or pierced, it can short out and overheat, which is a big issue. Extreme heat can also trigger this, so if you’re leaving your AirPods to bake in a hot car, you’re really tempting fate. It’s also possible she just got a dud battery from the factory.
The comments section of Bethy’s video is a wild mix of sympathy and denial. While some viewers confessed that the incident was enough to put them off AirPods for good, many people were firmly in denial. We’re talking about peak tech anxiety here, like you’re telling them to part with their convenient robotaxis despite safety hazards.
One user admitted they “took off my AirPods slowly,” and another said, “Now suddenly I feel like I don’t need AirPods.” However, a huge number of users were determined to ignore the danger. Many people joked that they would simply “pretend this information does not concern my AirPods” and continue using them peacefully. It seems like the convenience factor is just too strong for most people to give up, even after reports of racial biases on Apple’s other technology.
Some folks even tried to lighten the mood by joking about the cause, wondering if the song she was listening to was just too “fire” and triggered the spark. Overall, this incident definitely unlocked a “new fear” for a lot of us who rely on wireless earbuds every single day. You can bet I’m going to be a lot more careful about where I leave my charging case from now on.
Published: Dec 11, 2025 04:30 pm