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The PowerBeats Pro 2 have one major flaw
Published onFebruary 28, 2025
When Apple announced that the new PowerBeats Pro 2 would include heart rate monitoring capabilities, fitness enthusiasts had reason to be excited. The prospect of premium workout earbuds with excellent sound quality and noise canceling that could also display your heart rate on gym equipment screens seemed like the perfect fusion of audio and fitness technology.
Apple’s marketing materials prominently featured this functionality, showcasing the earbuds connecting to treadmills and other gym equipment while delivering Apple’s signature audio experience. The setup process even walks users through heart rate monitoring as a key feature.
Music or heart rate monitoring. Pick one, because with PowerBeats Pro 2, you can't have both at the gym.
In reality, it turns out you can’t listen to music from your iPhone while simultaneously sending heart-rate data to a fitness machine—a frustrating limitation, especially given that Beats is an Apple brand.
Is the PowerBeats Pro 2's inability to play music while tracking heart rate on gym equipment a dealbreaker for you?
This fundamental design flaw undermines the entire purpose of workout earbuds with heart rate monitoring. You either run on the treadmill in silence to track your heart rate or listen to music without any insight into that data, but never both. Where’s the fun in that?
Oddly enough, this isn’t an issue for Android users, as the PowerBeats Pro 2 works with any Android app that supports Bluetooth heart rate tracking. A Beats PR representative has confirmed this limitation, stating plainly: “You cannot listen to music with your iPhone while also paired with the gym equipment for heart rate.”
Even worse, even if this limitation is fixed in a future firmware update, it won’t really matter. The cruel irony is that the data itself is largely unreliable because the heart rate monitor isn’t very accurate.
Even if Apple fixed the connection issue tomorrow, the heart rate data itself is too unreliable to trust.
Comparing heart rate data with devices like an Apple Watch, multiple tests from DC Rainmaker reveal complete dropouts of heart rate data during running, poor performance even during moderate exercise, and significant struggles with high-intensity intervals, even during stationary cycling. This isn’t all that surprising, given that wrist-based sensors simply work better because they sit against skin with minimal movement and abundant blood vessels near the surface.
At $249, the PowerBeats Pro 2 delivers excellent noise canceling and a secure fit for workouts. But the heart rate monitoring feature, prominently marketed as a key differentiator, fails on a fundamental level.
This creates an impossible situation for gym-goers: listen to music without seeing your heart rate on equipment displays or sacrifice music to see questionable heart rate data. Neither option fulfills the product’s marketed promise.
Why pay $249 for premium earbuds that force an impossible choice no fitness enthusiast should have to make?
For fitness enthusiasts who truly need heart rate monitoring, just stick with regular earbuds for music and get a dedicated wrist-based heart rate monitor like an Apple Watch or Fitbit. You’ll get more reliable data and can still enjoy your workout playlist without any compromises.
For now, the heavily marketed heart rate feature remains an unfulfilled promise in the Powerbeats Pro 2, forcing users into a choice no one should have to make for the asking price.
If you’re looking for more affordable workout earbuds that won’t force this compromise, check out our list of the best workout earbuds for more options.