AirPods are now much better: How to use all the new features

With the release of iOS 18 and new firmware this month, the AirPods Pro just got a whole lot better. Apple added new gestures, improvements to gaming support, and more. Below, we’ll run down each of these features and details on how to use them.

New AirPods Features: Head Movements

Available on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

With iOS 18, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 users can interact with Siri and incoming notifications by nodding up or down.

• Accept a call or respond to notifications and messages: Nod your head up and down.
• Decline a call or ignore notifications and messages: Shake your head from side to side.

To use head gestures to interact with Siri, you’ll also need to make sure Announce Calls and Announce Notifications are turned on. Open the Settings app, choose “Notifications,” and make sure the “Announce Notifications” setting is turned on.

Once you have the “Notification Announcement” setting enabled, here’s how to manage head gestures:

1. With your AirPods connected to your iPhone, open the Settings app and tap your AirPods at the top.
2. Scroll down and tap “Head Gestures”
3. Activate the feature and choose with a gesture the one related to “Accept, Reply” and “Reject, Ignore”.

Voice isolation

Available on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Voice Isolation is a new feature available to AirPods users that helps ensure the caller’s voice is heard in noisy environments or near a window. Powered by machine learning and the built-in H2 chip, Apple says the feature isolates and improves voice quality while removing background noise that’s important to the listener.

Note that Voice Isolation has been a feature available on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac for several years. This year, however, it is supported directly on the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4. Here’s how to enable Voice Isolation on your AirPods:

1. During a call, swipe down from the top of your screen to access Control Center
2. Tap the “Controls” button at the top of the interface
3. Tap “Voice Isolation”

Game Improvements

Available on AirPods 3, AirPods 4, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max

iOS 18 also brings custom spatial audio with dynamic head tracking to games for the first time. To make sure this feature works for you, open the Settings app, go to your AirPods settings, and scroll down to “Custom spatial audio.”

If you haven’t already set up this feature, you’ll be guided through a process that includes a Face ID-like scan of your ears to personalize the Spatial Audio experience. This feature applies to things like music and videos, and is now available for games thanks to iOS 18.

Apple also says that iOS 18 brings support for improved voice quality, including 16-bit, 48 kHz audio, for chatting with teammates while gaming with AirPods Pro 2. Latency for AirPods Pro 2 users has also been upgraded.

Personalized Adaptive Audio

Available on AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation

iOS 18 brings more granularity to the Adaptive Audio feature on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4. For those unfamiliar, Adaptive Mode “combines Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode to control the level of noise you hear in your earbuds based on changing noise conditions in your environment.”

With iOS 18, you can now customize Adaptive Audio to better suit your needs and “allow more or less noise.”

1. With your AirPods connected to your iPhone, open the Settings app and tap your AirPods at the top.
2. Scroll down and tap “Adaptive Audio”
3. Move the slider to the left to allow “Less noise” when using adaptive audio or to the right to allow “More noise”.

New AirPods features coming soon

Several new hearing health features are coming soon to AirPods Pro 2 users. A new hearing test feature will allow users to quickly test their hearing using just their AirPods Pro and an iPhone or iPad. Additionally, AirPods Pro 2 are added a new over-the-counter hearing aid feature “for users with mild to moderate hearing loss.”

Apple explains:

With the incredible audio quality of AirPods Pro, a user’s personalized hearing profile is automatically applied to music, movies, games and phone calls across all their devices without having to change any settings. This unique software-based hearing aid feature gives users the ability to fine-tune their experience at any time, making accessing hearing assistance easier than ever at an affordable price.

Apple has already received FDA clearance for the hearing aid feature that will be available on the AirPods Pro 2. The company plans to soon launch the hearing test and hearing aid features in more than 100 countries and regions this fall, including the United States, Germany, and Japan.

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