5 features you didn’t know your AirPods could do

Ever since their debut, certainly one of AirPods’ greatest promoting factors has been their simplicity and ease of use. Open the case close to your iPhone and a card pops up, faucet Connect, and you’re able to hear. Just pop them out of the case and into your ears to reply calls, take heed to music, watch movies…and music even pauses robotically when you take out a single bud.

But the truth that they’re really easy to make use of implies that thousands and thousands of AirPods homeowners are in all probability unaware of a few of their extra superior features and settings. You could not have ever thought to even search for them!

Here are 5 issues you could have have ever recognized your AirPods can do. (And most of those additionally work on Beats Fit Pro and Powerbeats Pro, or different Beats merchandise with Apple’s H1 chip inside.)

Read texts with out your iPhone

With iOS 13, Apple made it doable for Siri to learn incoming messages on to your AirPods, so you didn’t need to take your cellphone out of your pocket on the health club or out on a run. With iOS 15, that has expanded to announce notifications, together with Messages, calls, reminders, and supported third-party apps.

Open Settings, faucet Notifications, then faucet Announce Notifications. Here you can toggle the characteristic on and off, however you’ll additionally see an inventory of the apps you can announce notifications with, and allow or disable them individually.

For messages, Siri will hear for a Answer after studying your notification, and you can Answer with out saying “Hey Siri” first. Just anticipate the message to be learn and say one thing like “Tell her I’ll be there at 5” or “Reply I’m running a little late” or no matter. Siri will learn again your Answer earlier than asking if you need to ship it.

Share what you’re listening to with a pal

You and a pal can concurrently take heed to the audio from a single iPhone, every with your personal quantity management. Provided you each have AirPods or supported Beats earbuds, that’s.

To do this, open Control Center on the iPhone you need to share audio from (swipe down from the higher proper fringe of your display). In the audio management, you’ll see an AirPlay button (the triangle with circles emanating out of it). You’ll additionally discover it on the play controls on your lock display. Tap the AirPlay button and you’ll see an inventory of audio gadgets with an choice to Share Audio on the backside. Tap it and your pal should maintain their AirPods near your iPhone with the buds inside their case, much like what you do when first pairing them.

You’ll see your mates AirPods pop up on your display with a Share Audio button. Tap that. You ought to now each be listening to audio from the identical iPhone. Tap that AirPlay button once more to see quantity sliders for each units of AirPods, which you can modify individually. To cease sharing, faucet the checkmark subsequent to the AirPods you want to cease sharing with.

Apple

Change what the faucets do

By default, double-tapping your AirPods will play audio (or skip ahead if it’s already taking part in). If you have first-gen AirPods, it is going to invoke Siri. With AirPods Pro, urgent the drive sensor on the stem will play/pause, double-pressing skips ahead, triple-pressing skips again, and if you press and maintain it adjustments the noise cancellation settings.

You can modify all these behaviors. (However, you can not change the habits of the drive sensor on the stem of third-gen AirPods.) Open Settings then faucet Bluetooth. Then faucet the little (i) button subsequent to your AirPods or AirPods Pro.

Here you’ll discover settings to alter the press-and-hold habits on your AirPods Pro (however not any of the faucet habits, sadly). If you have common AirPods, you can change what the double-tap operate does, and you can change it for the left and proper ear independently, so you can have two completely different double-tap capabilities enabled.

Apple

Boost your conversations

This one is only for these with AirPods Pro–it’s not out there on some other AirPods or Beats merchandise.

Conversation Boost is an accessibility setting that focuses on the sound within the spoken voice frequency vary solely proper in entrance of you, so you can extra simply hear the particular person you’re speaking to, with out boosting the remainder of the audio round you. This is a type of settings that’s extraordinarily helpful however is buried so deep in settings menus that most individuals received’t discover it.

Open Settings, then Accessibility, then Audio/Visual, then Headphone Accommodations.

Scroll to the underside and faucet on Transparency Mode, then activate Custom Transparency Mode. Here you’ll discover a bunch of settings to tweak Transparency Mode on your AirPods Pro, together with a toggle for Conversation Boost.

IDG

Automatically swap between gadgets

If you’re signed in to your Mac, iPhone, Apple TV, or iPad with the identical Apple ID (and it has two-factor authentication enabled), they are going to by default swap from one gadget to a different. Stop taking part in audio on your iPhone, begin taking part in it on your Mac, and your AirPods will play the audio from your Mac.

You may get a notification on your Mac; simply click on Connect to verify you need to use your AirPods.

You could need to flip this characteristic off, although. First, ensure that your AirPods are related to your iPhone and in your ears. Then open Settings > Bluetooth and faucet on the (i) button subsequent to your AirPods.

Tap Connect to this iPhone after which you can toggle between Automatically or When Last Connected to This iPhone.

On your Mac, ensure that your AirPods are related and in your ears, then open System Preferences and click on Bluetooth. In the Connect to This Mac menu, select between Automatically or When Last Connected to This Mac.