Six new features iOS 18 brings to AirPods Pro

iOS 18 is an update designed for the iPhone, but it adds several new features to the AirPods Pro 2, Apple’s latest earbuds. The new features require ‌iOS 18‌, iPadOS 18, or macOS Sequoia and a firmware update that will be released when Apple rolls out its new software this fall.

This guide highlights all the changes coming to the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2.

Head gestures

If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to confirm a Siri request or decline a call without using voice commands or your hands, there’s a solution.

Head gestures are a new form of control for the AirPods Pro that let you nod your head up and down or shake it back and forth to decline a call or interact with Siri. When you get a call, you can essentially shake your head to say no to decline it or nod your head to accept it.

When you respond to ‌Siri‌ to control incoming or outgoing notifications and messages, you can use the same gestures for yes and no without having to speak.

Voice isolation

With Voice Isolation, ‌AirPods Pro‌ can reduce loud background noise when you’re on a phone call, allowing the person you’re talking to hear you more clearly.

AirPods Pro use machine learning to detect and isolate ambient noise like wind, nearby cars, people talking, and more, blocking out the sound and prioritizing your voice. Voice Isolation is a feature coming to the original AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2.

Improved adaptive audio controls

Adaptive Noise Control is designed to adjust active noise cancellation and the sound you hear in response to ambient noise in your environment. Adaptive Audio used to be an all-or-nothing setting, but with ‌iOS 18‌, there are more precise controls to adjust the feature to allow more or less noise to come through.

Custom Spatial Audio for Gaming

Personalized spatial audio is a feature that already exists for movies, TV shows, and music. It uses the TrueDepth camera on your ‌iPhone‌ to scan your face and ears, developing a personal profile that customizes spatial audio just for you.

With ‌iOS 18‌, Apple is expanding custom spatial audio to games, with the goal of delivering more immersive audio for gameplay. Game developers can integrate spatial audio into their games as part of this change. Custom spatial audio for games is coming to ‌AirPods Pro‌, AirPods Max, and third-generation AirPods right now.

Voice quality in games

‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 feature voice quality improvements for in-game chat and streaming, plus dynamic head tracking and support for 16-bit 48kHz audio in games.

Lower latency

According to Apple, AirPods Pro deliver the best-ever wireless audio latency for mobile gaming, thanks to improvements in iOS 18. With improved latency, you’ll see little to no delay when you perform an in-game action and hear the resulting audio, making for a more responsive experience.

Other AirPods models

Most of these features are limited to the latest AirPods Pro models. Head movements and voice isolation won’t be available on devices other than the AirPods Pro 2, but custom spatial audio for gaming will be more widely available.

Learn more

You can find much more information about all the new features Apple added in ‌iOS 18‌ in our iOS 18 roundup.
This article, “Six New Features iOS 18 Brings to AirPods Pro” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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