Good analysis. Thanks. I do wonder if $apple will discover that the user is always not in the US region after activation and hence, disable the functionality?
Hello, I really want to thank you for the work you have done. In my country, this feature is still not active, and we are still forced to pay more for a life assistant that should be easily accessible, while the people selling hearing aids continue to control the market.
At first, I asked for help from you on X and by email, but you didn’t see it. So I followed your steps and managed to set up an ESP32 to mimic Wi-Fi signals from the US.
For me, the microwave and aluminum foil didn’t work, so I drove to a place where there were no other signals.
After many attempts, I saw that my iPad thinks it is in the US, but somehow the AirPods keeps the last connected location in its memory and doesn’t allow the hearing aid menu to appear. Even when I saw the menu a few times, it didn’t become active and disappeared immediately.
Maybe if a pair of AirPods that has never been activated is turned on in such an environment for the first time, it could activate the menu, but I couldn’t succeed.
I reset the AirPods many times, but somehow it still says the last connected place.
audioaccessoryd Region support changed for identifier HearingProtection: Unknown --> Unsupported, whyNotVisible: CountryIsSupportedOnLocalDevice, whyWeCantUse: CountryIsSupportedOnLocalDevice
whyWeCantUse: CountryIsSupportedOnLocalDevice
To the engineer friends working at Apple, I congratulate you because you have done your job in the best way, it’s really a great achievement. But waiting for country regulations in health-related features is really frustrating. Wouldn’t it be nice if you left a little flexibility to get around these things, even just a little?
Unfortunately many MANY people no longer use X and refuse to. Could updates be posted elsewhere so we can know what’s happening with this important workaround?
This is impressive. The features are still not working in Czech Republic too. There is a simple hack to run Hearing Test without hassle: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/3130205a8ecc4203818a164316f938ae - just run the Shortcut. Could this work for enabling Aid too?
EDIT: it worked until the last beta, not working anymore.
I'm a Neurologist from Mumbai, trying to get this to work for my father, but I but having some issues.
- esp, iPhone, WiFi-only ipad, air pods pro 2 (labelled 2nd generation) all bought in India.
- on windows, using arduino ide, uploaded the script to esp32. Checked WiFi networks (on phone and computer) - as expected fbguest xfinity etc show up. Didn't see menlo park.
- went to building basement. Made certain there were no other networks - no extra WiFi, cell phone or GPS signals seen. Zero.
- ran esp32. Rebooted ipad. On console, WiFi regulatory country was shown as being changed to the US. but, there was a message saying the health app didn't have any country sent.
- the hearing aid options didn't show up in the settings.
- tried with both iPhone and ipad, resetting them both, resetting the airpods / finally using a US vpn on my computer (? Just in case).
.
.
.
Any ideas?
- Do I need to wait for a longer time (I waited for 10 min)
- Do I need to buy the air pods PRO 2 in THE US (or iPhone or ipad?)
.
.
.
In terms of woekarounds, I do have a few relatives in the US.
1) if they sign into their devices but *using my id* and enable hearing on their ipjones, will it work on all my devices in India?
I'm a Neurologist from Mumbai, trying to get this to work for my father, but I but having some issues.
- esp, iPhone, WiFi-only ipad, air pods pro 2 (labelled 2nd generation) all bought in India.
- on windows, using arduino ide, uploaded the script to esp32. Checked WiFi networks (on phone and computer) - as expected fbguest xfinity etc show up. Didn't see menlo park.
- went to building basement. Made certain there were no other networks - no extra WiFi, cell phone or GPS signals seen. Zero.
- ran esp32. Rebooted ipad. On console, country was shown as being changed to the US. but, there was a message saying the health app didn't have any country sent.
- the hearing aid options didn't show up in the settings.
- tried with both iPhone and ipad, resetting them both, resetting the airpods / finally using a US vpn on my computer (? Just in case).
Any ideas?
- Do I need to wait for a longer time (I waited for 10 min)
- Do I need to buy the air pods PRO 2 in THE US (or iPhone or ipad?)
In terms of woekarounds, I do have a few relatives in the US.
1) if they sign into their devices but *using my id* and enable hearing on their ipjones, will it work on all my devices in India?
Hi there. I'm a tech journalist from South Africa who got the hearing aid working on my pair. However, someone shared this article to me as they cannot get it to work. I just want to add, not sure if relevant now, that I purchased my AirPods Pro 2 in California and the feature is working on my iPhone 16 Pro from SA, set to SA region and SA English (for Apple Intelligence).
Great job! I followed your instructions in France for my AirPods and it works! I didnt'use a microwave, just a Faraday bag. As it was impossible to completely block the signals, I removed the SIM card before proceeding, and cut of the WiFi of my box, connecting my MBP with an ethernet cable to the box.
In a bag if you put an ESP32 module it dies immediately (too hot I suppose). So I used an ESP32 with an external antenna, and put just the antenna in the bag, with the iPhone.
On the console i had a US localisation at a moment, but quickly it returned to 'FR'. I didn't think it was a success before getting off the iPhone from the bag, but it was ! The iPhone was set to an US location, and the clock did match this location. Finally I could configure the hearing assistance.
Hi JP I’m trying to reproduce in Brazil and thought about using the bag as well… glad to hear positive results… unfortunately my ESP32 do not have external antena but I was thinking in going to a subway station to try as there are no WiFi’s underground.
I was also trying to modify the arduino file to reflect other locations. Were you able to do that or use the existing one to match FB HQ?
Hi Ricardo, you can't do it in a parking or the subway because you need to have an ethernet connection to your Internet box and to connect your iPhone to your Mac with an internet share via usb.
For getting other locations, you can visit https://wigle.net/index, search for a location and you get 100 sssid/bssid. Then you have to replace the values of the arduino script with your own values. Don't forget to change the length of the ssids in the script.
JP thanks for the fast reply! Subway line has 5G signal, so my plan is get my cel, share internet to Mac using usb-c cable, start vpn on Mac, then share vpn connection to iPad using another usb-c cable and try it out…
As for other SSIDs location I tried to run the arduino script with those SSIDs but no luck.. I’m not a big python expert so not sure what was going on there. My idea was to create a new arduino file with somewhere in Paris to try to use the same methodology to try to free sideloading from Brazil which is only available inside EU countries.
BTW when you successfully able to do your hearing aid, were u on which iOS version?
Do you get an error when you compile the arduino script? If compilation is a success, you have no syntax error. If the 100 BSSIDs match the 100 SSIDs, and the 100 lengths match the SSIDs, it is possible that the manipulation fails for another reason.
Perhaps side-loading is limited to your country by a method other than that used for the hearing aid.
As far as I read, sideloading taking into consideration several aspects such as: gps, vpn usage, Apple ID, billing location, etc
I believe you can bypass all expect the location when using iPad without gps…
I was planning to try it out but no luck compiling the arduino with those SSIDs…
I could give more info on twitter or telegram if you want to exchange users. My user on both x and telegram is @ratoxico if you don’t mind help me there
Anyone have a setup in Hyderabad. I have also purchased the AIPP2 hoping that the hearing aid feature will come. I have hard of hearing and really need this. Please let me know if anyone could help
this is awesome. My mom in india (Bhubaneswar) has hearing loss and I sent a new Pro and my wife who was visiting upgraded my mom's iphone12 and I was remotely watching the frustration of not finding this feature. I honestly do not know when India regulatory body will allow this for Apple to enable, and really want this to be unlocked.
Good analysis. Thanks. I do wonder if $apple will discover that the user is always not in the US region after activation and hence, disable the functionality?
Hello, I really want to thank you for the work you have done. In my country, this feature is still not active, and we are still forced to pay more for a life assistant that should be easily accessible, while the people selling hearing aids continue to control the market.
At first, I asked for help from you on X and by email, but you didn’t see it. So I followed your steps and managed to set up an ESP32 to mimic Wi-Fi signals from the US.
For me, the microwave and aluminum foil didn’t work, so I drove to a place where there were no other signals.
After many attempts, I saw that my iPad thinks it is in the US, but somehow the AirPods keeps the last connected location in its memory and doesn’t allow the hearing aid menu to appear. Even when I saw the menu a few times, it didn’t become active and disappeared immediately.
Maybe if a pair of AirPods that has never been activated is turned on in such an environment for the first time, it could activate the menu, but I couldn’t succeed.
I reset the AirPods many times, but somehow it still says the last connected place.
audioaccessoryd Region support changed for identifier HearingProtection: Unknown --> Unsupported, whyNotVisible: CountryIsSupportedOnLocalDevice, whyWeCantUse: CountryIsSupportedOnLocalDevice
whyWeCantUse: CountryIsSupportedOnLocalDevice
To the engineer friends working at Apple, I congratulate you because you have done your job in the best way, it’s really a great achievement. But waiting for country regulations in health-related features is really frustrating. Wouldn’t it be nice if you left a little flexibility to get around these things, even just a little?
Unfortunately many MANY people no longer use X and refuse to. Could updates be posted elsewhere so we can know what’s happening with this important workaround?
This is impressive. The features are still not working in Czech Republic too. There is a simple hack to run Hearing Test without hassle: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/3130205a8ecc4203818a164316f938ae - just run the Shortcut. Could this work for enabling Aid too?
EDIT: it worked until the last beta, not working anymore.
You can actually launch it directly by navigating to this URL: x-apple-health://HearingAppPlugin.healthplugin/HearingTest
Yes but won't work ,it just does the test
Yep, that's correct.
Awesome!! Really inspiring 🤩
Hello i need a help to unlock this feature, can you help me!!! It would be life saving moment for me. You can contact me on what app at 8438997760
Hi Guys,
Great work with this stuff!
I'm a Neurologist from Mumbai, trying to get this to work for my father, but I but having some issues.
- esp, iPhone, WiFi-only ipad, air pods pro 2 (labelled 2nd generation) all bought in India.
- on windows, using arduino ide, uploaded the script to esp32. Checked WiFi networks (on phone and computer) - as expected fbguest xfinity etc show up. Didn't see menlo park.
- went to building basement. Made certain there were no other networks - no extra WiFi, cell phone or GPS signals seen. Zero.
- ran esp32. Rebooted ipad. On console, WiFi regulatory country was shown as being changed to the US. but, there was a message saying the health app didn't have any country sent.
- the hearing aid options didn't show up in the settings.
- tried with both iPhone and ipad, resetting them both, resetting the airpods / finally using a US vpn on my computer (? Just in case).
.
.
.
Any ideas?
- Do I need to wait for a longer time (I waited for 10 min)
- Do I need to buy the air pods PRO 2 in THE US (or iPhone or ipad?)
.
.
.
In terms of woekarounds, I do have a few relatives in the US.
1) if they sign into their devices but *using my id* and enable hearing on their ipjones, will it work on all my devices in India?
Thank you for this work.
Best wishes,
Dr. Siddharth Kharkar
Hi Guys,
Great work with this stuff!
I'm a Neurologist from Mumbai, trying to get this to work for my father, but I but having some issues.
- esp, iPhone, WiFi-only ipad, air pods pro 2 (labelled 2nd generation) all bought in India.
- on windows, using arduino ide, uploaded the script to esp32. Checked WiFi networks (on phone and computer) - as expected fbguest xfinity etc show up. Didn't see menlo park.
- went to building basement. Made certain there were no other networks - no extra WiFi, cell phone or GPS signals seen. Zero.
- ran esp32. Rebooted ipad. On console, country was shown as being changed to the US. but, there was a message saying the health app didn't have any country sent.
- the hearing aid options didn't show up in the settings.
- tried with both iPhone and ipad, resetting them both, resetting the airpods / finally using a US vpn on my computer (? Just in case).
Any ideas?
- Do I need to wait for a longer time (I waited for 10 min)
- Do I need to buy the air pods PRO 2 in THE US (or iPhone or ipad?)
In terms of woekarounds, I do have a few relatives in the US.
1) if they sign into their devices but *using my id* and enable hearing on their ipjones, will it work on all my devices in India?
Thank you again. God bless.
Dr. Siddharth Kharkar
Any one from Bangalore can you help me ,am not a technically strong guy to do this
Hi there. I'm a tech journalist from South Africa who got the hearing aid working on my pair. However, someone shared this article to me as they cannot get it to work. I just want to add, not sure if relevant now, that I purchased my AirPods Pro 2 in California and the feature is working on my iPhone 16 Pro from SA, set to SA region and SA English (for Apple Intelligence).
I am in bangalore, is there a way I can get the feature unblocked in the airpod pro 2?
Hi
Great job! I followed your instructions in France for my AirPods and it works! I didnt'use a microwave, just a Faraday bag. As it was impossible to completely block the signals, I removed the SIM card before proceeding, and cut of the WiFi of my box, connecting my MBP with an ethernet cable to the box.
In a bag if you put an ESP32 module it dies immediately (too hot I suppose). So I used an ESP32 with an external antenna, and put just the antenna in the bag, with the iPhone.
On the console i had a US localisation at a moment, but quickly it returned to 'FR'. I didn't think it was a success before getting off the iPhone from the bag, but it was ! The iPhone was set to an US location, and the clock did match this location. Finally I could configure the hearing assistance.
Hi JP I’m trying to reproduce in Brazil and thought about using the bag as well… glad to hear positive results… unfortunately my ESP32 do not have external antena but I was thinking in going to a subway station to try as there are no WiFi’s underground.
I was also trying to modify the arduino file to reflect other locations. Were you able to do that or use the existing one to match FB HQ?
Hi Ricardo, you can't do it in a parking or the subway because you need to have an ethernet connection to your Internet box and to connect your iPhone to your Mac with an internet share via usb.
For getting other locations, you can visit https://wigle.net/index, search for a location and you get 100 sssid/bssid. Then you have to replace the values of the arduino script with your own values. Don't forget to change the length of the ssids in the script.
JP thanks for the fast reply! Subway line has 5G signal, so my plan is get my cel, share internet to Mac using usb-c cable, start vpn on Mac, then share vpn connection to iPad using another usb-c cable and try it out…
As for other SSIDs location I tried to run the arduino script with those SSIDs but no luck.. I’m not a big python expert so not sure what was going on there. My idea was to create a new arduino file with somewhere in Paris to try to use the same methodology to try to free sideloading from Brazil which is only available inside EU countries.
BTW when you successfully able to do your hearing aid, were u on which iOS version?
I was on iOS 18.2 I think.
Do you get an error when you compile the arduino script? If compilation is a success, you have no syntax error. If the 100 BSSIDs match the 100 SSIDs, and the 100 lengths match the SSIDs, it is possible that the manipulation fails for another reason.
Perhaps side-loading is limited to your country by a method other than that used for the hearing aid.
As far as I read, sideloading taking into consideration several aspects such as: gps, vpn usage, Apple ID, billing location, etc
I believe you can bypass all expect the location when using iPad without gps…
I was planning to try it out but no luck compiling the arduino with those SSIDs…
I could give more info on twitter or telegram if you want to exchange users. My user on both x and telegram is @ratoxico if you don’t mind help me there
Anyone have a setup in Hyderabad. I have also purchased the AIPP2 hoping that the hearing aid feature will come. I have hard of hearing and really need this. Please let me know if anyone could help
Thanks in Advance
Great post guys, loved this
this is awesome. My mom in india (Bhubaneswar) has hearing loss and I sent a new Pro and my wife who was visiting upgraded my mom's iphone12 and I was remotely watching the frustration of not finding this feature. I honestly do not know when India regulatory body will allow this for Apple to enable, and really want this to be unlocked.
Any help on how to get this done in Bhubaneswar?