Apple‘s wireless headphones AirPods are very popular. But if you only use them for listening to music or podcasts, you’re missing out. Here are the little-known features of AirPods that can be very useful…
You can listen to conversations in other rooms
One of the most useful features of AirPods is Live Listening. This allows you to listen to a conversation in another room as if you were there. This feature is available regardless of the model of your AirPods.
All you need to do is go to Settings on your iPhone and open Control Center. Then simply tap the green + icon next to the Hearing tab. This will bring you to the Live Listening feature with a single swipe down.
Then simply put your AirPods in your ear, click the Hearing icon in Control Center and then click the Live Listening button. This will activate live listening and allow you to listen to conversations in environments where you are not physically present.
You can listen to music together with a friend
This is a feature available on all AirPod models. You and a friend can pair your AirPods to the same iPhone (or iPad) and listen to music together.
To do this, connect your AirPods to your iPhone or iPad. Open your music listening app. Tap the AirPlay button and then tap Share Audio.
Then bring your friend’s AirPods close to your own device. At this stage, the earbuds should be in the box and the lid should be open. When you see your friend’s AirPods on the screen, tap the Share Audio button. This way, two AirPods users can listen to music on one device.
You can have Siri read your messages aloud
With your AirPods in your ear, Siri can voice incoming messages on your phone and tell you who the caller is.
For Messages, go to Settings > Notifications > Speak Notifications and tap Messages. Now, when you receive a message on your phone, Siri will first speak the sender’s name and then the message.
For calls, go to Settings > Siri & Search > Announce Calls and activate the Headphones Only setting. The next time you receive a call, Siri will notify the caller via AirPods.
You can do an ear fit test
To make sure you’re getting the ideal listening experience, run a small ear tip fit test on your iPhone. This will tell you if you’re using the right ear tip. You can change the ear tip if necessary.
To do this, go to Settings > Bluetooth and find AirPods in the list. Then tap the More Info icon next to the name of your AirPods and tap Earbud Fit Test. Tap Continue to start the test.
Your iPhone will play a short piece of music, and after a few seconds it will tell you if you’re using the right-sized tip for your ear.
Find your lost AirPods
If you lose any AirPods, regardless of model, or even the charging case if you have second-generation AirPods Pro, you can easily find it through the Find My app.
To do this, open the Find My app on iPhone and select your AirPods from the list of connected devices. You can also just click left or right in case you’ve lost a single earbud. If you have AirPods Pro 2, you can also click on the charging case and see its location.
The Find My app is very useful in two ways. First, you can see where your AirPods are on the map. Second, if you’ve lost your device somewhere in the house, you can tap the Play Sound button below the map to make your headphones or charging case make a sound.
You can attach your AirPods to your keychain
If you’re wondering what the two small rounds on the side of the second generation Airpods Pro do, let’s tell you right away. Thanks to this small addition, you can attach your AirPods to any ring and make them part of your bag or keychain. In this way, you will always have your headphones with you and you will add a nice accessory to your bag.
You can improve the sound from your AirPods
To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Headphone Accommodations on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap Headset Conveniences, then Custom Sound Settings and follow the on-screen instructions. You can also manually adjust any of the following:
- Adjust the Volume for: Select Balanced Tone, Vocal Range, or Brightness.
- Level: Select whether soft voices should be amplified to Light, Medium or Strong.
- Phone: Apply these audio settings to phone calls.
- Media: Apply these audio settings to media being played or played back.
Transparency Mode on AirPods Pro (all generations): Turn on the exclusive Transparency Mode and adjust the amplification, sound balance and volume to help you hear what’s happening around you.
You can also select an automatic setting from the options below after you have set the personal settings.
You can change touch control settings
You don’t have to use your AirPods with factory settings.
To do this, go to Settings > Bluetooth Settings and tap the More Info icon next to your AirPods.
By tapping Left and Right you can choose which actions to activate between Voice Control and Siri.
You can then go to Call Controls and choose whether you want to mute calls or end conversations with a single tap or double tap.
Although your options are not very wide, we can say that you can achieve useful results.
You can turn on Chat Awareness
We don’t all know about this setting because it’s a bit hidden in the depths, but your AirPods can automatically lower the volume of the content you’re listening to while you’re talking.
To do this, go to Settings > Bluetooth Settings, click on the More Info icon next to AirPods. Scroll down to Chat Awareness and turn the setting to on.
