North Carolina man uses Apple charger to charge AirPod Pros. Then they catch fire: ‘Almost burned my house down’

Every now and then, people refer to an excellent piece of music as “fire.” But no matter how fiery a song is alleged to be, it rarely results in it making earbuds or headphones literally spark into flame.

One woman is going viral thanks to her boyfriend's Apple earbuds literally “exploding” overnight. Now she's asking Apple for answers.

‘Why did they catch on fire? Riddle me that'

In a video with more than 13,400 views, Makenna Stickler (@makstickler7) confronted Apple about her truly bizarre experience with her boyfriend's AirPod Pros.

“Hi, good afternoon, I have a message for Apple,” Stickler said in her video. “… Listen closely, because I'm not happy, okay? You know what I woke up to this morning?”

Stickler then picked up a visibly battered AirPod Pro case and held it up for the camera. The case appeared burnt. She also panned the camera to reveal her vanity, which was covered in what looked like soot.

“These are my boyfriend's AirPod Pros,” Stickler said, visibly irritated. “His AirPod Pros that caught on fire in the middle of the night.”

Stickler then went on to clarify that they “caught fire” while charging overnight—and yes, she was using an “Apple-certified charger.”

“Yeah, certified by you,” Stickler said while addressing the Apple company. “Funny. So why would they have exploded? Why did they catch on fire? Riddle me that … Why is there soot all over my vanity?”

Stickler ended her video by demanding “some compensation for the trauma that [Apple] put [her] through with almost burning [her] house down.” She expressed complete bewilderment as to how this could have happened and wondered if this was a common occurrence.

“Has anybody had this happen to them?” she asked. “Like these were fine, and they just caught on fire in the middle of the night. … They were melted shut. My boyfriend got them open, but like, are we being serious? I should sue you.”

Are people's AirPods really catching fire?

Apple has issued multiple warnings over the years regarding safely charging its products. Essentially, Apple had previously stated that it's safe to charge your electronics overnight, but only if they're properly ventilated. Otherwise, they can overheat.

As reported by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), Apple's user manuals caution that “devices, cables and chargers can get warm and cause discomfort or even injury.”

“… ‘Do not sleep on a device, power adapter or wireless charger, or place them under a blanket, pillow or your body when they are connected to a power outlet,'” AARP stated. “Instead, keep the iPhone, power adapter and any wireless charger in a well-ventilated area away from the body when charging.”

Others' experiences

As far as AirPod incidents specifically, multiple Apple customers have shared horror stories online of their AirPods or Apple chargers overheating, catching fire, or even exploding. One post in r/airpods had a picture of an AirPods case with a hole apparently melted through it. The post's author said their “case was charging and outta nowhere [they] heard a pop and smoke. [They] look[ed] over and [their] AirPods case [had] just melted/exploded.”

Other Reddit users have shared similar pictures and testimonies that their “AirPods exploded/melted while charging.” One consumer even shared a picture of a melted AirPods case to an Apple community discussion board, saying that after only 10 minutes of charging their “bed was smoking and [their] AirPods were smoldering and melted into [their] mattress.”

But it's not just random internet users reporting AirPod fires; Stickler's own viewers littered her comment section with testimonies and warnings of their own.

“My old iPhone put a hole in my mattress,” commented one viewer. “It overheated.”

“One of mine melted in the case,” said another. A third wrote, “3 days ago I plugged mine in, as soon as I put them down it started sparking.”

“The battery in my phone started swelling so much that the screen was popping out,” wrote one commenter. “It got so hot to the touch that I couldn't hold it for even a minute … [Apple] said I should BUY a new phone, but they didn't have time to help me that day. I told them that it is fine and I will leave, but if my phone catches fire or burns me, I will file a lawsuit. Left that day with a free new phone.”

Buzz News has reached out to Apple via email and Stickler via TikTok comment.

@makstickler7 @apple what's going on babe??? #apple #airpodpros #fire #fyp #foryoupag ♬ original sound – makennastickler