TwelveSouth AirSnap Pro AirPods Pro Case Review

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A few weeks ago, I was leaving a bar. The music in the bar was good, but so loud that even with my ear plugs, I needed something to ease me back into silence. I reached into my jacket pocket for my AirPods Pro. As I pulled them out, the case lid, a case from Incase, popped off, sending my AirPods tumbling. They hit the ground, and the AirPods themselves went flying. I was in the middle of the street. At night. I got my headphones and dusted them off before popping them in. Which, by the way, is not clean and a really good way to get an ear infection.

Anyway, this adventure inspired me. It was time to find a case that wouldn’t let my AirPods case fly open and vomit my AirPods when I drop them.

So many cases with a closure are overly rugged looking. Or they’re just huge. I wanted a case that wouldn’t add much bulk, but still protect them from drops, look good, and keep my AirPods Pro in the case.

The TwelveSouth AirSnap Pro fit the profile, and look good doing it. As it turns out, they work really well too.

UPDATE: 1 year in update below

Protection

I broke my AirPods Pro case once, and a stronger case definitely would have protected it. The problem was the lid. It had gotten knocked loose and I only made things (far) worse trying to fix it myself. If I had this case on it, I don’t think it would have been damaged. The leather isn’t too thick, but it’s soft. Around the edges there’s a sort of bumper that can really help with long or hard drops. The leather is firm enough to keep a small air gap around the most vulnerable parts of your case, distributing force. Plus, that leather meets together and the seams protrude from the case quite a bit. It’s enough to make drops sound like a dull thud, rather than a clattering mess.

On top of the drop protection, we also have the benefit of the case having a snap button on it. This holds the case closed securely, so your AirPods won’t go scattering across your floor or the middle of an intersection if you drop your AirPods Pro case. The snap isn’t difficult to undo, but it holds it well enough to keep your AirPods Pro case closed during a large drop.

Appearance

The TwelveSouth AirSnap Pro comes, regrettably, only in leather. Make no mistake, I love the look of leather, I just try to restrict my usage of it because raising cows for leather isn’t very environmentally friendly. Also there’s a part of it that’s a little gross when you think about it too much. Still, real leather likely has a smaller ecological impact than faux leather, as faux leather is basically just plastic that eventually flakes and ends up in the ecosystem and, unfortunately, we’re still raising cows for food in a large enough quantity to cover leather supplies. Meanwhile, synthetic fibers are the number one cause of microplastics in our water, and that’s where your faux leather ends up, either in a landfill forever or in the planet’s water supply.

Anyway, leather looks good, ethical complaints aside. It’s sturdy, durable, and may show a patina with age. Though this case is only genuine leather, and likely won’t change much over time, it will change slightly. Wear on leather often looks good. The “cognac” brown color will be the best for visible wear, as colorful leather often doesn’t wear well, and black leather doesn’t change very much. These come in three colors, with only two seemingly available right now, the cognac and “slate blue” colors.

I had initially been looking for canvas cases with this design. I wanted a snap closure and nice, eco-friendly canvas. However, TwelveSouth only makes their canvas versions for the standard AirPods. These come in a wider variety of colors too, including the red I wanted. Alas, leather is considered more “premium,” and therefore they only sell the pro model with leather.

Subjectively? The leather looks good. The seam around the sides is a bit large looking, but it works for this design. It blends well, looking somewhere between rugged and sophisticated. The black metal accents complete this look. Pressed into the back side is the “AirSnap Pro” name, which also doesn’t look too out of place. That’s the most obvious branding on the case, though the snap has the TwelveSouth “12” logo, and the inside has its leather quality (genuine) and its country of origin (Taiwan).

Features

This case comes with something I specifically wasn’t looking for in an AirPods Pro case: an attachment point. It has a little ring on the side, and comes with both an ‘S’ carabiner and a wrist strap. I didn’t think these would be useful. After all, I usually just throw my AirPods Pro into my bag. However, I started carrying a slim bag, one I can actually wear underneath a jacket so when I take my jacket off at a bar, on the train, or at a friend’s place, I can hang it up without taking my bag off, or I can just take my bag off after my jacket, which is far less clumsy. This bag is too slim to fit my AirPods Pro, a wallet, hand sanitizer, a spare cloth mask, and perhaps a battery pack. But, if I clip my AirPods Pro on the outside, it stores all of that.

Normally I wouldn’t do that. After all, you’re making them a theft target and they could potentially open. But, with the snap being as strong as it is, I’m not worried about them opening. Also, my headphones are usually in my ears and my bag stays with me when I’m out, so it’s not something I worry about. Suddenly I had a way to store my AirPods Pro within reach and in a way that gave me more room in my bag. Win-win.

I mostly use the ‘S’ carabiner, but I did find some issues with it. When it’s clipped directly to the mounting point on the case, it can sometimes interfere with the case closing. To remedy this, I put a small ring from one of my other accessories on it. However, these are small rings made of thin metal, I was worried they could pull loose. So, I attached a second one, for added strength. It works much better, and I wish TwelveSouth had added these retainer rings themselves. Still, if you have keychains lying around, you likely have some way to do this on your own. You’ll definitely prefer it.

Handling

The fact that you have to unsnap this case and that the lid of the case isn’t attached to the lid of your AirPods case certainly makes it a little more difficult to open. You can still easily do it with one hand though. In fact, the extra bit of texture from the sides gives you a better grip on your AirPods. I found the little carabiner helps with grip too, although if you’re using the wrist strap, you’ll have an even better hold on your case.

While I’ll admit, opening the case is certainly more difficult, it’s not so difficult that it’s a problem. I far prefer the extra step of undoing a snap and lifting the lid to get to my AirPods Pro lid to dropping it. With the improved grip and security, that slightly more difficult opening is a small price to pay to make your AirPods Pro feel better designed than they were from Apple.

Charging

At the bottom of the AirSnap Pro case you’ll find an opening to charge via Lightning cable. The leather is thick, but not thick enough to get in the way of wireless charging. You can even keep the case open slightly if you want the confirmation from the charging light. I found the case doesn’t cause my AirPods Pro to get too hot while charging either. Any distance between your device and a wireless charger will increase charging time slightly, but if you’re bothered by it, you can just take your AirPods Pro case out of the AirSnap case. That’s one of the best benefits of it, your AirPods can just slide out.

Syncing

One of the things I hated about previous cases I used was just how hard it was to sync my AirPods Pro with other devices. When you’re syncing with Apple devices, it’s very easy, but if you want to switch to something else, say, TwelveSouth’s AirFly Pro, a Switch, or an Android device, you have to press and hold the button on the back of the AirPods Pro case. Unfortunately, that has been difficult in every case I’ve used because it required more force or covered up the light.

This case makes it next to impossible to press the button or see the light when it’s closed.

So why do I like it? Because you can take the AirSnap Pro case off with ease. Your AirPods case will just slide in and out of the TwelveSouth case. It’s far easier than pass through buttons, frankly. I love how easy it is to take the case off. It won’t accidentally slip out, but if you want to pull it out, it’ll come with ease.

Overall 8.5/10

The AirSnap Pro from TwelveSouth is the best AirPods Pro case I’ve used. I wish it came with a canvas option and included rings to put the carabiner a bit further away from the case, but it’s otherwise a fantastic case. It’s easy to use, improves protection and grip, keeps your AirPods from flying out, and looks great while doing all of that. After trying a few other cases over the years, this is the one I think will last.

You can find the AirSnap Pro on TwelveSouth’s website or on Amazon and other retailers. It retails for $39.99.

Update: 1 Year In

A reader wrote in asking about the status of this case, one year in, so I decided to share some updated photos. Now, full disclosure, this is more like 10 months of use, as I’ve been testing other headphones for the past few months. Still, it may help to see it after repeated use over months.

There’s some splitting on the bottom. Most of the issues are concentrated on the flap. I think that can be fixed with glue fairly easily. The sealing breaking on the leather could open it up to more rapid damage in the future, but hasn’t been a serious concern yet.

Overall, I think it’s holding up quite well. It’s usually tossed in a bag with other items I’m carrying, which can sometimes even include my keys. All things considered, not bad!