Dyson Airwrap i.d. Review: Clever Curls, No Straightening, £479.99
The i.d. is Dyson’s app-connected Airwrap. Its one real new trick is a timed curl sequence, and the reviewers who have used it say it works. What it does not do is straighten, and since September 2025 there has been a newer Airwrap above it that does. We look at the Straight+Wavy set, the one most UK shops stock, and say where the Curly+Coily set is different.
Where the reviews line up
Our three sources are TechRadar’s hands-on review, the owner threads on Dyson Community (Dyson’s own forum), and the buyer ratings at Argos and Dyson. They agree on more than the gap between their scores would suggest.
Three things come up again and again. The i.d. curl sequence makes the Airwrap easier to use. You press one button and it times the wrap, the heat and the cold shot for you. TechRadar says the timing is stored in the styler, so after you set it up you do not need your phone with you. It is a drying tool as well as a curling tool, and the box reflects that. And results depend on your hair. TechRadar says air-made curls “tend to fall out far sooner” than curls from hot tongs, though they lasted longer than with rival stylers she tried. Argos buyers say the same: some had to use styling product to make curls hold.
There are two honest caveats. First, the setup depends on the app. You need the MyDyson app and Bluetooth to create your curl profile. The busiest i.d. thread on Dyson Community is about the curl button not working, and owners there fixed it by reinstalling the app or switching the feature off and on, not by repairing the styler. Second, the buyer scores are lower than the reviewers’ praise: 4.3/5 from 240 at Argos, and only 3.9/5 from 4,023 on Dyson’s own site.
Should you buy it? Buy it if you curl or wave your hair often and want lower heat than tongs give you. If you want sleek, straight hair, buy a straightener. Shop around too. Argos had it at £399.99 on the day we checked, £80 below Dyson’s price.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- TechRadarEditorial test by Ruth Hamilton, scored 4.5/5 for performance. The only hands-on review here.
- Dyson CommunityDyson’s owner forum. One i.d. curl button thread has 8 replies, and every fix in it is to the app.
- Argos and Dyson4.3/5 from 240 at Argos (83% recommend). 3.9/5 from 4,023 at Dyson, across all i.d. versions.
Before the review: which Airwrap is this?
There are three Airwraps on sale, and their names are easy to mix up. The Airwrap i.d. reviewed here costs £479.99 at Dyson and is still part of the range. Above it, the Airwrap Co-anda 2x arrived in the UK in September 2025 at £579.99. TechRadar reports that Dyson claims it has twice the air pressure and 30% more power, plus an AirSmooth attachment with two unheated plates that work as an air straightener. If straightening matters to you, the i.d. does not have that attachment. The i.d. itself comes in two sets. Straight+Wavy has two barrels and smoothing brushes. Curly+Coily has one barrel, a diffuser and a wide-tooth comb. Both cost the same at Dyson.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Straight+Wavy set | Fast dryer, Dryer+Flyaway smoother, conical Airwrap barrel, 40 mm Airwrap barrel, soft smoothing brush, large round volumising brush, presentation case | Dyson UK, Ceramic Patina/Topaz. A John Lewis listing for another colour has an anti-snag loop brush, filter brush and detangling comb instead |
| Curly+Coily set | Fast dryer, Wave+Curl diffuser, wide-tooth comb, large round volumising brush, firm smoothing brush, conical Airwrap barrel, presentation case | Dyson UK. Only one barrel and no Flyaway smoother |
| i.d. curl sequence | Wrap, then curl, then cold shot, each timed to your hair profile. Start it with the central button | TechRadar and Dyson |
| App needed? | Yes, for setup: MyDyson app plus Bluetooth. After that, the sequence is saved in the styler | Dyson says the app is needed. TechRadar says the phone is not needed after setup |
| Heat | “Keeps temperatures under 150°C”, and measures air temperature “over 40 times a second” | Dyson’s own claims, not tested by anyone we found |
| Motor power | 1,300 W | Dyson and Argos agree |
| Airflow | 13.5 litres a second | Dyson |
| Cable length | 2.675 m (Dyson) · 2.68 m (Argos) · 2.7 m (TechRadar) | The same cable rounded three ways. One Sephora buyer says it is shorter than a normal dryer’s |
| Weight | 0.595 kg (Dyson) · 0.6 kg without attachments (TechRadar) | Dyson does not say whether its figure includes an attachment |
| Straightening plates | None. It smooths with brushes and air. Air straightening plates are on the Co-anda 2x | Dyson and TechRadar |
| Barrel direction | Set by hand: twist the cool-touch knob on the barrel | TechRadar |
| Guarantee | 2 years, registered automatically if you buy from Dyson. Refurbished: 1 year | Dyson. Argos and John Lewis also say 2 years |
| Price | £479.99 at Dyson · £399.99 at Argos · £479.99 at Sephora UK | All checked 5 October 2026 |
TechRadar
This is the only proper hands-on review in our three, and it explains the i.d. curl feature better than Dyson does. You take a short quiz in the app about your hair type, length and the look you want. The app turns that into a three-stage sequence: wrapping, curling, then a cool shot. If you are new to it, you get longer to wrap the hair. If your curls drop quickly, you get a longer cool shot. You push the central button up and get on with it. Hamilton’s description is to “drape a bit of hair over the wand, wiggle it about a bit”. Once the quiz is done the styler remembers the sequence, so you do not need your phone with you. The app just shows a countdown if you want one.
Her reservations are the ones you would expect. It is expensive. Results vary with hair type. And air-made curls fade sooner than tong curls, although hers lasted longer than with rival stylers. She also points out that it dries well but not as fast as a dedicated Dyson dryer, and that the barrels do not reverse on their own. You set the direction by twisting the cool-touch knob. She does not mention noise. Her verdict is that it is worth the money for people who curl their hair regularly and care about heat damage.
Watch: NEW Dyson Airwrap i.d. Curl
Concentrates on the i.d. curl sequence TechRadar describes. Confirmed from two search listings, not fetched: see the caveat box below.
Watch on YouTube ↗Dyson Community
This is where you find out what happens after the box is opened. The most useful i.d. thread is a problem report: the i.d. curl button stopped starting its timed countdown. Eight owners replied with the same problem. Their fixes were both on the phone. One wrote, “In the MyDyson app settings, try turn off and on the i.d. curl feature.” Several others said uninstalling and reinstalling the app solved it. Owners in the thread concluded it was an app problem rather than a fault in the styler.
The same forum has Dyson’s own launch post, written by a community manager on 29 August 2024. It confirms the two sets and says the MyDyson app “calculates wrap, style and cold shot times at the push of a button”. Read the two posts together and you get a fair summary of the i.d. The clever part is software. It works without your phone once it is set up, but you are relying on the app to set it up and to fix it if the sequence stops working. If you would rather not use an app at all, you are paying extra for a feature you will not use. The older Airwraps without the app are worth comparing.
Watch: Dyson Airwrap i.d. Honest Review for Fine Hair
An owner’s view on fine hair, the hair type where Argos buyers report the most mixed results. Confirmed from two search listings, not fetched.
Watch on YouTube ↗Argos and Dyson
Both shops sell the styler on the same pages where these ratings appear, so treat them as buyer ratings, not tests. The surprise is that Dyson’s own score is the lowest. Its 3.9 from 4,023 ratings combines the Straight+Wavy and Curly+Coily sets in every colour, so it cannot tell you which set people liked more. We could not see the reviews themselves on Dyson’s page, because they load in a way our checks could not read. Sephora UK shows a similar 3.68/5 from 478 reviews. Its page also mentions a diffuser and a wide-tooth comb, which suggests its reviews are pooled across both sets too.
Argos is the more useful page for the set itself: it is the Straight+Wavy listing, and buyers there praise how easy and versatile it is and how light it feels. The complaints are about results, not faults. It works less well on some hair types, styles do not always last, and some buyers needed styling product to make curls hold. A Sephora buyer adds the one practical complaint we found anywhere: the lead is shorter than a standard hairdryer’s. A low average with no faults reported usually means some buyers expected more than air styling can do. That matches what TechRadar says about curls fading faster than with tongs.
Watch: Dyson Airwrap i.d. Multi-Styler and Dryer Review!
A general walk-through of the set and its attachments. Confirmed from two search listings, not fetched.
Watch on YouTube ↗Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- The i.d. curl sequence times the wrap, heat and cold shot for you, which makes it easier to learn.
- After setup the sequence is saved in the styler, so you do not need your phone each time.
- It dries hair as well as styling it, with a Fast dryer and smoother in the Straight+Wavy box.
- Dyson says the heat stays under 150°C, well below most tongs and straighteners.
- The same barrel curls both ways. You twist the cool-touch knob to change direction.
- 2-year guarantee, registered automatically if you buy from Dyson.
What people complain about
- No straightening plates. For poker-straight hair, buy a straightener.
- Air-made curls fade sooner than tong curls, and some buyers need product to make them hold.
- You need the app to set it up. The best-known i.d. fault is an app problem.
- Buyer scores are mixed: 3.9/5 from 4,023 on Dyson’s own site.
- £479.99 at Dyson, and the newer Co-anda 2x sits only £100 above it.
- The cable, at about 2.7 m, is shorter than some buyers expect from a dryer.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you curl or wave your hair several times a week and want lower heat than tongs give you, and you are happy to use an app once to set it up. Pick the Straight+Wavy set for straight or loosely wavy hair. Pick Curly+Coily if you want to dry and define natural curls. Check prices before you buy. Argos was £80 cheaper than Dyson when we looked.
Look elsewhere if you mainly want to straighten. Our ghd Platinum+ review covers a heated straightener, and the Co-anda 2x adds air straightening at £579.99. If you mainly want a fast dry with some smoothing, our Shark SpeedStyle review covers a cheaper dryer with styling attachments.
What we could not check
- The videos were confirmed by search listing, not by opening them. YouTube was blocked when we checked. We confirmed each video by finding the exact link and title in two differently worded searches. The listings did not name the channels.
- The 150°C limit and the “40 times a second” measuring. Both are Dyson’s claims. No review we found measured the temperature.
- Noise. Not one source, whether reviewer, owner or Dyson, gives a figure or comments on it.
- Refurbished price. Dyson lists a refurbished Straight+Wavy (Amber Silk) with a 1-year guarantee and a free detangling comb, but it was out of stock and showed no price, so we cannot say if it is a good deal.
- Exact box contents for your colour. Dyson’s Ceramic Patina/Topaz set and an older John Lewis listing (Ceramic Pink/Rose Gold) list different brushes. Check the listing for the colour you are buying.
- Which set the ratings refer to. Dyson’s 4,023 ratings, and probably Sephora’s 478, cover both sets and every colour combined.
- TechRadar’s review date. One check of the page showed it published on 12 April 2025. Another said “first reviewed March 2025”. We give both.
- An independent test. We found no Which? result we could see and no UK lab test of the i.d.
- Whether the weight includes an attachment. Dyson gives 0.595 kg without saying, and TechRadar gives 0.6 kg without attachments.
Sources last checked 5 October 2026. Dyson prices change often and its sales are frequent, so check the price in front of you before ordering.