Swallowed AirPod Still Works After...Retrieval If this was a review, these AirPods would definitely earn a passing grade.
By Matthew Humphries •
This story originally appeared on PCMag
Have you ever used Find My iPhone only to discover that AirPod you misplaced is actually in your stomach? Probably not, but that's exactly what happened to Ben Hsu.
As The Daily Mail reports, Hsu fell sleep while wearing his AirPods ($199.00 at Amazon) but woke up to discover only one remained in his ear. The other had mysteriously disappeared and he couldn't find it anywhere near his sleeping location. That's when he turned to Find My iPhone, which is automatically setup for locating lost AirPods.
The tracking app informed Hsu that the missing AirPod was still in his room, but without a specific location he continued to struggle to find it, so he opted for an audio hint. It's possible to have the AirPods play a sound as long as they are connected via Bluetooth, and sure enough the missing AirPod retained its wireless link as Hsu started hearing a beep coming from his stomach.
Clearly, Hsu had managed to swallow the AirPod as he slept and had little in the way of options now except to wait and let nature take its course. That's what the doctors at Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital told him as they handed Hsu a laxative.
You'd expect a journey through the hostile environment that is the human gut would render the AirPod useless, but Hsu's experience shows otherwise. The following day, Hsu was in a train station when the laxative's effect was felt and Hsu bravely went searching for his lost little gadget. What he recovered (and hopefully washed thoroughly) was a fully-working AirPod with 41 percent of its battery life left.
It would be unwise for anyone to attempt this on purpose, but it's reassuring to know how hard-wearing Apple's wireless earbuds are if the worst does indeed happen.
