Eight Useful Tips for New AirPods and AirPods Pro Owners

Did you just receive a new accessory? We've put together a list of tips, tricks, and features that you might not know about.

If you're new to the device, we have a list of helpful tips on how to use it.

AirPods Basics

8 Useful AirPods Tips for New Owners

1. Keep Your AirPods Safe With Find My

If your AirPods are lost or stolen, you can use the Find My app to find them. If the battery holds out, you can use the Find My network to find a lost set of AirPods even if you don't have an Apple device.

You're going to want to make sure you enable "Notify When Left Behind" so you can be notified if you forget your AirPods. If you want to turn it on, open the Find My app, tap on your AirPods in the list, and then use the "Notify When Left Behind" option. Find My features can be used for the AirPods Max.

The built-in speaker in the case of the AirPods Pro 2 will allow you to use the "play a sound" feature to find them if they're lost.

2. Activate or Deactivate Automatic Device Switching

If you swap your Apple device for a Mac, the AirPods connection will transition from one device to another, because they have a feature that allows them to automatically connect to whatever device is in active use.

Automatic switch can be useful, but it can be turned on if you don't want it to be switched on. These steps can be followed to manage it.

1. Connect your AirPods to your ‌iPhone‌.
2. Open up the Settings app.
3. Tap on your AirPods in the section below the Apple ID.
4. Tap on "Connect to This ‌iPhone‌."
5. Choose "When Last Connected to This ‌iPhone‌" to turn automatic switching off, and choose "Automatically" to turn it on.

When "Automatically" is turned on, your AirPods will connect to your phone when they're in your ears. AirPods will only connect to the last connected device if "When Last Connected to This iPhone" is chosen. This feature works with many other devices.

If you don't like Automatic Switching and want it off completely, you will need to disabling it for each device connected to your account. Apple handles it on a per- device basis.

3. Turn on Announce Notifications

All of your notifications, including Messages, can be announced by the AirPods.

How can I turn it on?

1. Open up the Settings app.
2. Tap on "Notifications."
3. Tap on "Announce Notifications."
4. Toggle on "Announce Notifications."
5. Toggle on "Headphones."

When you have the headphones on and the notifications toggled on, you will get an opportunity to respond to notifications from your favorite apps. If you have an incoming text message, you will be able to send a reply all hands-free if you choose to.

You can choose the apps that you want to use Announce Notifications with so that you don't get a lot of notifications from your phone.

4. Check Your AirPods Battery Life

There are many ways to keep an eye on your battery life. When you connect the AirPods to a device, they will tell you the battery level.

If your AirPods are connected to your Apple Watch, the control center can give you battery life information. We have a dedicated AirPods battery that you can use to check your battery life.

5. Use the Force Sensor to Control Playback

You might not be familiar with the physical controls if you have upgraded from the original AirPods, the AirPods 2, or the AirPods Pro.

There is a force sensor in the stem of the AirPods 3 and Pro. The force sensor can be used to control the media

• Single press - Play/Pause audio
• Double press - Skip forward
• Triple press - Skip backward
• Press when there's a call - Answer incoming call
• Double press on a call - Hang up
• Press and hold - Activate ‌Siri‌ or Swap Between ANC/Transparency (‌AirPods Pro‌ only)

You can change what the long press force sensor gesture does on the AirPods Pro by setting it to noise control. The only way to use the AirPods 3 is with the press and hold gesture.

Touch based gestures can be used to adjust the volume on the AirPods Pro.

• Swipe up on the ‌AirPods Pro‌ to increase volume
• Swipe down on the ‌AirPods Pro‌ to lower volume

These gestures will not work if you do not have a Force Sensor with you. You can double tap to do certain things with the tap gesture in the settings app.

6. Make Sure Spatial Audio is Activated

It is possible to follow the movement of the iPhone with supported audio and video thanks to spatial audio. It is possible to turn on or off spatial audio using the Control Center.

1. With your AirPods connected to your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌, open up the Control Center. If you don't know how, we have a guide.
2. On the volume slider, you should see a little icon that looks like the AirPods. If you don't see it, reconnect your AirPods.
3. Long press on the volume slider.
4. Tap on the "Spatial Audio" option.
5. Choose between Off, Fixed, or Head Tracked (on supported devices).

Fixed will allow spatial audio to be used but without head- tracking. The full spatial audio feature is possible with Head Tracked.

You can see what spatial audio sounds like by connecting your AirPods to your phone and selecting the "Spatial Audio" option.

You can personalize your experience with the Personalized Spatial Audio feature in the settings section of the app. The TrueDepth camera on your phone will give you spatial audio that is tailored to you.

Many third party apps also support spatial audio, which works with the Apple TV app and Apple Music.

7. Use Active Noise Cancellation

It's helpful to know how to turn on and off the active noise cancellation feature on the AirPods Pro and Pro 2. The ANC can be found on the AirPods Max.

1. With the ‌AirPods Pro‌ connected to your ‌iPhone‌, open up the Control Center.
2. Long press on the volume icon.
3. Tap on Noise Control.
4. Drag the slider to Noise Cancellation, Off, or Transparency depending on the mode that you want.
5. Alternatively, press and hold on the stem of the AirPods to manually swap between ANC and Transparency mode, or use the ‌AirPods Pro‌ section in the Settings app to access Noise Control.
6. If you're using the Settings app, drag the Noise Control slider to your preferred position. To the left turns on ANC, the middle turns it off, and the right side turns on Transparency.

When you have both of your AirPods in your ears, active noise cancellation can be turned on, but there is a trick to do.

1. With ‌AirPods Pro‌ connected, launch the Settings app on your ‌iPhone‌.
2. Tap the AirPods Pro tab just under your ‌Apple ID‌ banner.
3. Scroll down, then tap Accessibility.
4. Scroll down again, then under "Noise Control," toggle on the switch next to Noise Cancellation with One AirPod.

8. Use Adaptive Transparency (AirPods Pro 2 Only)

The second-generation AirPods Pro have an expanded transparency feature that is able to adjust to the sounds around you, tones down loud noises, and doesn't block out all sound.

If you want it to be turned off or double checked, follow these instructions.

1. With the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 connected to your ‌iPhone‌, open up the Settings app.
2. Tap on ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2.
3. Scroll down to Adaptive Transparency and toggle it on or off.

It's ideal for day to day use and concerts where the music might be loud enough to cause hearing damage if you use adaptive transparency.

Learn More

To learn more about the different features of your new earbuds, we have a dedicated AirPods 3 and a dedicated AirPods Pro 2, both of which walk through all the different features and will be useful as you learn to use your new earbuds.